Wort halten

German

Etymology

Literally, to hold word.

Verb

Wort halten (class 7 strong, third-person singular present hält Wort, past tense hielt Wort, past participle Wort gehalten, auxiliary haben)

  1. to keep one's word

Usage notes

  • The usage of a possessive pronoun is optional, i.e. sentences like e.g. Sie haben ihr Wort gehalten. ("They kept their word.") and Sie haben Wort gehalten. ("They kept word.") are both acceptable and virtually synonymous. This is, however, not true for the synonymous phrase sein Versprechen halten (to keep one's promise) which does require a possessive pronoun.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Further reading