Anziehen is the verb you reach for every morning. It means "to put on" a piece of clothing — eine Jacke anziehen (put on a jacket) — and, in its reflexive form sich anziehen, "to get dressed." It is built on the strong verb ziehen ("to pull"), so its past forms are irregular, and it is separable: the prefix an- breaks off and travels to the end of the clause in main-clause statements. Its mirror-image opposite is ausziehen ("to take off / undress"). Because dressing is something you do to yourself, the reflexive construction is central here, which is where English speakers most often go wrong.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Präteritum | Partizip II (auxiliary) |
|---|---|---|
| anziehen | zog an | angezogen (hat) |
Read this as anziehen – zog an – hat angezogen. The Perfekt auxiliary is haben: you put on (or pull on) something, so the verb is transitive, and transitive verbs take haben — even in the reflexive (sich anziehen) the auxiliary stays haben. The participle is angezogen: the prefix an- in front, then the -ge- of the participle, then the strong stem -zogen (an + ge + zogen). See the participle of separable verbs for the wrapping rule.
Präsens (present)
Unlike geben or nehmen, the verb ziehen does not change its stem vowel in the present — there is no e→i shift. The conjugation is regular in the present; only the past forms are strong. The prefix an- detaches.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | ziehe ... an |
| du | ziehst ... an |
| er / sie / es | zieht ... an |
| wir | ziehen ... an |
| ihr | zieht ... an |
| sie / Sie | ziehen ... an |
The "..." is where the object (and any reflexive pronoun) goes; the prefix an lands at the very end.
Es ist kalt draußen — zieh dir eine Jacke an!
It's cold outside — put a jacket on! (informal; prefix 'an' at the end)
Ich ziehe mir schnell etwas an und komme dann.
I'll just throw something on and then come. (reflexive 'mir')
Was ziehst du heute Abend an?
What are you wearing tonight? (lit. 'putting on'; informal)
Reflexive use: getting dressed
There are two ways to use anziehen, and the difference matters:
- Transitive, non-reflexive: Ich ziehe den Mantel an. — "I put on the coat." The object is the garment.
- Reflexive: Ich ziehe mich an. — "I get dressed." The object is yourself (accusative reflexive mich).
- Reflexive with a garment: Ich ziehe mir den Mantel an. — "I put the coat on (myself)." Here the reflexive is dative (mir), because the garment is now the accusative object and the reflexive marks the beneficiary.
This dative-vs-accusative split trips up nearly everyone. Use mich/dich/sich when you are the direct object ("get dressed"), and mir/dir/sich when a garment is the direct object ("put X on yourself"). See accusative reflexives for the full pattern.
Zieh dich an, wir müssen los!
Get dressed, we have to go! (accusative reflexive 'dich' — no garment named)
Sie zog sich die warmen Stiefel an.
She put the warm boots on. (dative reflexive 'sich' + accusative object 'die Stiefel')
Präteritum (simple past)
The strong past stem is zog (from ziehen → zog). The prefix still detaches.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | zog ... an |
| du | zogst ... an |
| er / sie / es | zog ... an |
| wir | zogen ... an |
| ihr | zogt ... an |
| sie / Sie | zogen ... an |
Er zog seinen besten Anzug an und ging zum Vorstellungsgespräch.
He put on his best suit and went to the job interview. (narrative past)
Perfekt (present perfect)
Built with haben + the participle angezogen. This is the everyday spoken past.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | habe angezogen |
| du | hast angezogen |
| er / sie / es | hat angezogen |
| wir | haben angezogen |
| ihr | habt angezogen |
| sie / Sie | haben angezogen |
The participle stays whole as angezogen; the prefix does not split off in the Perfekt. In the reflexive Perfekt, the pronoun comes right after the auxiliary: Ich habe mich angezogen.
Ich habe mich angezogen, aber meine Schuhe finde ich nicht.
I got dressed, but I can't find my shoes. (reflexive Perfekt; auxiliary haben)
Hast du dem Kind schon die Jacke angezogen?
Have you put the kid's jacket on yet? (dative object 'dem Kind' = beneficiary)
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
Past form of the auxiliary (hatte) + angezogen.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | hatte angezogen |
| du | hattest angezogen |
| er / sie / es | hatte angezogen |
| wir | hatten angezogen |
| ihr | hattet angezogen |
| sie / Sie | hatten angezogen |
Sie hatte sich warm angezogen, doch der Wind war eisig.
She had dressed warmly, but the wind was icy.
Futur I
Formed with werden + the whole infinitive anziehen at the clause end.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | werde anziehen |
| du | wirst anziehen |
| er / sie / es | wird anziehen |
| wir | werden anziehen |
| ihr | werdet anziehen |
| sie / Sie | werden anziehen |
Zur Hochzeit werde ich das blaue Kleid anziehen.
I'll wear the blue dress to the wedding.
Imperativ (commands)
The du-imperative is zieh (no vowel change), with the prefix at the end. The reflexive pronoun comes right after the verb.
| Addressee | Form |
|---|---|
| du | Zieh (dich/dir) ... an |
| ihr | Zieht (euch) ... an |
| Sie | Ziehen Sie (sich) ... an |
Zieh dir bitte die Mütze an, es schneit!
Please put your hat on, it's snowing! (informal; dative reflexive 'dir' + object 'die Mütze')
Konjunktiv II (would / hypothetical)
The synthetic Konjunktiv II of ziehen is zöge (umlaut on the past stem). In speech the würde-form (würde ... anziehen) is far more usual.
| Person | Synthetic | würde-form |
|---|---|---|
| ich | zöge ... an | würde ... anziehen |
| du | zögest ... an | würdest ... anziehen |
| er / sie / es | zöge ... an | würde ... anziehen |
| wir | zögen ... an | würden ... anziehen |
| ihr | zöget ... an | würdet ... anziehen |
| sie / Sie | zögen ... an | würden ... anziehen |
An deiner Stelle würde ich heute etwas Wärmeres anziehen.
If I were you, I'd put on something warmer today. (würde-form, natural in speech)
Government, valency, and the opposite verb
Anziehen takes the accusative for the garment. When you name both the garment and the person, the person becomes a dative beneficiary (Ich ziehe dem Kind die Schuhe an). Its direct opposite is ausziehen ("take off / undress"): Zieh die nassen Sachen aus. Do not confuse it with tragen ("to wear"), which describes the state of wearing, not the act of putting on.
There is also a non-clothing sense: anziehen can mean "to attract" (Magnete ziehen Eisen an) or "to tighten" (eine Schraube anziehen), and intransitively "to pick up / rise" (Die Preise ziehen an — prices are rising).
Der Magnet zieht alle Büroklammern an.
The magnet attracts all the paper clips. ('attract' sense)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich bin mich heute schnell angezogen.
Wrong auxiliary — anziehen is transitive (even reflexively) and takes haben, not sein.
✅ Ich habe mich heute schnell angezogen.
I got dressed quickly today.
❌ Zieh die Jacke.
Dropped prefix — the separable 'an' must close the clause; without it the verb means 'pull'.
✅ Zieh die Jacke an.
Put the jacket on.
❌ Ich ziehe an.
Missing object/reflexive — you must say what you put on, or use the reflexive 'mich' for 'get dressed'.
✅ Ich ziehe mich an.
I'm getting dressed.
❌ Sie zieht heute ein rotes Kleid an, schon den ganzen Tag.
Wrong verb for an ongoing state — use tragen for 'be wearing', anziehen only for the act.
✅ Sie trägt heute ein rotes Kleid.
She's wearing a red dress today.
❌ Ich ziehe mich die Schuhe an.
Wrong reflexive case — with a named garment the reflexive is dative (mir), not accusative (mich).
✅ Ich ziehe mir die Schuhe an.
I'm putting my shoes on.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: anziehen – zog an – hat angezogen (Perfekt with haben, even reflexive).
- No vowel change in the present (ziehe, ziehst, zieht); the strong forms are zog (past) and angezogen (participle).
- Separable: prefix an goes to the clause end; the participle is one word, angezogen.
- Reflexive split: mich (= get dressed, no garment named) vs mir (+ garment as accusative object).
- anziehen = the act of putting on; tragen = the state of wearing; ausziehen = the opposite (take off).
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- ziehen: Full Conjugation and UsageB1 — Complete conjugation of ziehen 'to pull / to move (residence)', an irregular strong verb (ie–o–o) that takes haben when transitive and sein when it means relocate, plus umziehen, Konjunktiv II zöge, and common errors.
- Separable Verbs: How They SplitA2 — How German separable verbs detach their stressed prefix and send it to the end of a main clause.
- Accusative Reflexive VerbsA2 — The most common reflexive pattern, where the reflexive pronoun is the accusative object — including reflexives that govern a fixed preposition.
- Participles of Separable and Inseparable VerbsB1 — Where the -ge- goes when a verb has a prefix: inside separable verbs, and nowhere in inseparable ones — predicted perfectly by stress.
- Reflexive Pronouns: mich, mir, sichA2 — Reflexive pronouns point back to the subject; first and second person reuse the ordinary object pronouns, while the third person uses the invariable sich, and the accusative/dative choice hinges on whether there is another object.
- tragen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of the strong verb tragen 'to carry / to wear', the a→ä present change, the trug/getragen ablaut, idioms, and the errors English speakers make.