Headword
Language German · three-place theft · rauben and berauben on this page, not separate pages · klauen and entwenden noted
Thief, Victim, Theme · case by lemma · German cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[Thief] + low Appl(Victim) + complement of the root (Theme)
stehlen · ThemeACC · VictimDAT · the dative is bracketed as optional in Duden · a line with no dative is also printed
rauben · ThemeACC · VictimDAT · the definition adds force · aus+dative is a place in one printed line
berauben · VictimACC · ThemeGEN · the frame jemanden einer Sache berauben is marked gehoben
A theft, on this reading, has a Thief, a Victim, and a Theme. They are not three equal sisters of one German verb. Voice adds the Thief. Low Appl introduces the Victim, as a possessor-source inside the verb’s domain: the person who had the thing and no longer has it. That is the same kind of added argument as the dative Learner on beibringen, and it is a working drawing. It is not a settled analysis. The root’s complement is the Theme, the thing taken. The case of the Victim and the case of the Theme are not the same on every lemma.
What is different from the English gloss. English Wiktionary prints the source of steal in from (stolen from the gallery, stolen from us, They stole all my money (from me)) and does not print a bare indirect object as that source; the Low German note on Wiktionary’s stehlen page says English He stole me a book matches för, so a constructed steal him a watch is that benefactive and not the victim.
The three-place lines do not stack every marking in one clause. The WDG’s der Dieb hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen and Duden’s jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben print a dative Victim and an accusative Theme. Duden’s er hat [ihm] das Portemonnaie gestohlen puts the dative in brackets. The WDG’s Geld, Schmuck stehlen has no dative. The filled case flip is berauben: the WDG prints geh. jmdn. einer Sache berauben.
Printed stehlen frame · dative Victim · accusative Theme
✓ der Dieb hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen DWDS · WDG text · stehlen
the thief has stolen the watch from him
Printed rauben frame · dative Victim · accusative Theme · force in the definition
✓ jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben Duden online · rauben sense 1a
to rob someone of all valuables
Printed berauben frame · accusative Victim · genitive Theme · gehoben
✓ geh. jmdn. einer Sache berauben DWDS · WDG text · the abbreviation geh. is the entry’s
to deprive someone of a thing · elevated
| Place | Introduced by (working) | German marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief | Spec,Voice | subject of stehlen, rauben, and berauben | structural subject | subject of steal and of rob |
| Victim · stehlen | low Appl · possessor-source · revisable | dative (ihm, jemandem, Duden’s bracketed [ihm], English Wiktionary’s mir) | printed beside an accusative Theme · Duden’s brackets make that dative optional in er hat [ihm] das Portemonnaie gestohlen · a second accusative of the person is unprinted | from + the person in English Wiktionary (stolen from us, from me) · not a bare indirect object |
| Victim · rauben | low Appl · possessor-source · revisable | dative (jemandem, jmdm., ihm, ihr) | printed beside an accusative Theme in jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben and in the WDG’s jmdm. Geld, die Wertsachen rauben · the definition adds unter Anwendung oder Androhung von Gewalt | object of English Wiktionary rob when the person or place is what is robbed (He robbed three banks) · of is a different line |
| Victim · berauben | low Appl · possessor-source · revisable · the case is not the dative of stehlen | accusative in the filled genitive frame (jmdn., den Angeklagten, ihn, jemanden, Werfel’s sie) | the WDG marks jmdn. einer Sache berauben geh. · Duden marks sense b, the sense that prints the genitive examples, gehoben · a dative Victim beside an accusative Theme is not filled by an editorial example checked here | object of rob · English Wiktionary sense 1 prints He robbed three banks with no of |
| Theme · stehlen | complement of the root | accusative (die Uhr, das Portemonnaie, Geld, Schmuck, ein wertvolles Collier, ein Buch) | structural accusative · the line can lack the dative · Duden also prints a bare er stiehlt | object of steal (all my money, a book in the German Wiktionary gloss) |
| Theme · rauben | complement of the root | accusative (alle Wertsachen, Geld, die Wertsachen, den ganzen Schmuck, Geld, Schmuck) | structural accusative · ein Kind rauben is glossed entführen and is not this Theme | the thing, when English Wiktionary prints of (robbed the soldiers of their pay) |
| Theme · berauben | complement of the root · case not settled as a sister of the accusative | genitive (einer Sache, des Beistandes, des Ernährers, seiner Selbstständigkeit, seiner gesamten Barschaft, des Augenlichtes, der letzten Hoffnung, der Sprache, ihrer Felder) | the genitive frame is the one marked gehoben · a line with only the person is also printed: er wurde überfallen und beraubt · Duden’s sense a and the WDG’s opening line write jemandem etwas, and no editorial example checked here fills that dative and an accusative together | of + the thing, where English Wiktionary prints of · sense 3 labels that use figurative |
| Place or source · aus / von / bei | not a fourth argument in this drawing | unprinted as a place on the literal stehlen lines checked · Duden’s plagiarism brackets print bei/von einem anderen as an alternative to the dative einem anderen · aus der Kassette is printed on rauben · aus der Tasche is printed on klauen | the visible dative inside aus is the place’s, in der Kassette and der Tasche · von on literal stehlen is unprinted | from can be a person or a place in the English Wiktionary lines (from us, from the gallery) |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the lemma, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with a German slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same object status), or shift (a bare English object or a from-phrase ↔ a German dative, or an of-phrase ↔ a German genitive). Printed dictionary lines come first. Every other German sentence is constructed, modelled on a printed line. They show the working alignment, not frequency, and not a bilingual corpus.
| Slot | EN form | DE form | Align | EN example | DE example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief | SUBJ of steal | subject | = | He stole a book from me English Wiktionary · gloss of stehlen | Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen English Wiktionary · stehlen |
| Victim · stehlen / rauben | from + person on steal | dative | shift · one German dative · the English gloss uses from | stolen from us · (from me) English Wiktionary · steal | ihm die Uhr WDG · stehlen · jemandem alle Wertsachen Duden · rauben |
| Theme · stehlen / rauben | object of steal | accusative | = | They stole all my money English Wiktionary | Geld, Schmuck stehlen WDG · das Portemonnaie Duden |
| Dative-less stehlen | object, no from | accusative, no dative | = · the Victim is unprinted in the line | They stole all my money English Wiktionary · from me is in parentheses | Ein Dieb stahl letzte Woche ein wertvolles Collier. German Wiktionary |
| Victim · berauben | object of rob | accusative | = | He robbed three banks English Wiktionary · rob sense 1 | den Angeklagten … berauben Duden · sense b · gehoben · jmdn. überfallen und berauben WDG · no genitive in this line |
| Theme · berauben | of + the thing, where printed | genitive | shift · of ↔ genitive · the frame is marked gehoben | robbed the soldiers of their pay English Wiktionary · Shakespeare citation under sense 2 | jmdn. einer Sache berauben WDG · geh. |
| Bare indirect object of steal | He stole me a book · Wiktionary’s Low German note calls this the för reading | not the dative Victim | the German dative is the person stolen from · the English bare object in that note is not | He stole me a book English Wiktionary · Low German note on stehlen · steal him a watch constructed · the same point | mir ein Buch is the Victim in Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen English Wiktionary · High German · not a match for the för gloss |
| Accusative Victim of stehlen | the English object of rob has no case ending | bare accusative person beside an accusative Theme | unprinted · the printed person beside the Theme is dative | — | * Pat hat den Kollegen die Uhr gestohlen. constructed · not a dictionary line |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and German under it. The subject chip is the Thief.
EN · DE · stehlen
He stole a book from me
Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen
DE · English Wiktionary · dative Victim · accusative Theme · EN from
Move the Victim is dative · English spells from
EN · DE · rauben
rob someone of the valuables
jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben
DE · Duden · dative Victim · accusative Theme · the definition prints Gewalt
Move same dative and accusative as stehlen · force is in the definition
EN · DE · berauben
robbed the soldiers of their pay
jmdn. einer Sache berauben
DE · WDG · accusative Victim · genitive Theme · geh. · EN of
Move the cases flip against stehlen and rauben
EN · DE · accusative Victim of stehlen
—
* Pat hat den Kollegen die Uhr gestohlen.
DE constructed · starred · the printed person beside the Theme is ihm
Move English from has no case ending · stehlen prints a dative
Argument difference. English steal X from Y puts the Theme in the object and the source in from. German stehlen and rauben put the Theme in the accusative and the Victim in the dative. German berauben puts the Victim in the accusative and the Theme in the genitive, and the dictionaries mark that genitive frame gehoben. The dative Victim is inside the verb’s domain on the working drawing. It is not an English bare indirect object, and it is not the from-phrase spelled again in German.
Senses kept off this frame. Duden’s sense 2 of stehlen, and the WDG’s sense 2, are motion: sich aus dem Haus stehlen. The grammar label is sich stehlen. The figurative lines stay off the theft frame and are quoted so the datives in them are not reread as the Victim of a watch: Duden jemandem den Schlaf, die Zeit stehlen, the WDG’s jmdm. die Ruhe, den Schlaf stehlen, and Duden’s plagiarism line der Komponist hat [einem anderen, bei/von einem anderen] ein Motiv gestohlen. On rauben, Duden sense 2 is marked gehoben and defined jemanden um etwas bringen. The examples have a thing or a state as subject: etwas raubt jemandem die Ruhe, den Schlaf, den Atem. The WDG’s beständige Sorgen haben ihm den Schlaf geraubt has the same shape. DWDS lists jmdm. den Schlaf rauben among the multiword expressions. die Hoffnung is not in the rauben lines checked here. The printed Hoffnung is the genitive on berauben, der letzten Hoffnung, under the WDG’s transferred line. ein Kind rauben is glossed entführen. The animal lines, Duden’s der Wolf hat ein Schaf geraubt and the WDG’s der Habicht hat ein Huhn geraubt, are the prey sense. The WDG’s sense 2 of rauben is miners’ language and is not this frame.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
er stiehlt · er hat [ihm] das Portemonnaie gestohlen · das Geld für die Sachen hast du [dir] gestohlen · jemandem den Schlaf, die Zeit stehlen · für den Besuch musste sie sich die Zeit stehlen · der Komponist hat [einem anderen, bei/von einem anderen] ein Motiv gestohlen · sich aus dem Haus stehlen Duden online · stehlen · the brackets, in übertragener Bedeutung, and umgangssprachlich on the plagiarism line are Duden’s · grammar stiehlt, stahl, hat gestohlen
du stiehlst, er stiehlt; du stahlst; du stählest, selten stöhlest; gestohlen; stiehl! Duden online · spelling line · selten is Duden’s, on stöhlest
etw. jmdm. heimlich und widerrechtlich wegnehmen, entwenden · Geld, Schmuck stehlen · der Dieb hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen · jmdm. die Ruhe, den Schlaf stehlen · jmdm. die Zeit stehlen · sich aus dem Haus stehlen DWDS · WDG text · stehlen (er stiehlt), stahl, hat gestohlen · the sleep line is marked bildlich
Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen. English Wiktionary · stehlen · accusative and dative · the gloss is He stole a book from me
Ein Dieb stahl letzte Woche ein wertvolles Collier. German Wiktionary · stehlen · accusative Theme · no dative
✓ Während er bewußtlos war, hat man ihm seine Uhr gestohlen. DWDS corpus line · Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues, as DWDS prints the line, Propyläen 1929, S. 1 · dative ihm · accusative seine Uhr
Geld, Schmuck aus der Kassette rauben · jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben · ein Kind rauben · sie raubten und plünderten · er raubte ihr einen Kuss · etwas raubt jemandem die Ruhe, den Schlaf, den Atem Duden online · rauben · sense 1a prints Gewalt · the kiss line is gehoben, oft scherzhaft · sense 2, the sleep line, is gehoben · raubt, raubte, hat geraubt
jmdm. etw. rauben · jmdm. Geld, die Wertsachen rauben · die Einbrecher raubten den ganzen Schmuck · jmdm. die Ruhe rauben · beständige Sorgen haben ihm den Schlaf geraubt · der Habicht hat ein Huhn geraubt DWDS · WDG text of rauben · the sleep line is transferred · the subject of that line is Sorgen
jmdm. den Schlaf rauben DWDS · rauben · multiword list · Hoffnung is not in that list
er wurde überfallen und beraubt · den Angeklagten des Beistandes berauben · die Familie wurde des Ernährers beraubt · jemanden seiner Selbstständigkeit berauben Duden online · berauben · sense a writes jemandem etwas [gewaltsam] entwenden and does not fill that dative in an example · sense b is marked gehoben · beraubt, beraubte, hat beraubt
geh. jmdn. einer Sache berauben · er wurde seiner gesamten Barschaft, des Augenlichtes beraubt · jmdn. seiner Rechte, Ehre, der letzten Hoffnung, der Freiheit berauben · der Schreck beraubte ihn der Sprache · berauben sie ihrer Felder DWDS · WDG text of berauben · geh. is the entry’s label on the genitive frame · the fields line is Werfel, Musa Dagh, as the WDG prints it · der letzten Hoffnung is genitive, on this lemma
beim Nachbarn Kirschen klauen · jemandem den Geldbeutel aus der Tasche klauen · in einem geklauten Auto fahren Duden online · klauen · headword label salopp · klaut, klaute, hat geklaut
man hatte ihm das Geld, die Uhr geklaut DWDS · WDG text of klauen · salopp etw. stehlen
jmdm. die Uhr, Brieftasche, das Messer entwenden DWDS · WDG text of entwenden · geh. jmdm. etw. wegnehmen, stehlen · Duden’s headword label is gehoben and Duden prints no such frame · entwendet, entwendete, hat entwendet
(etwas) klauen ugs. · (etwas) entwenden Amtsdeutsch DWDS · OpenThesaurus row on the theft verbs · 04/2026 as that block prints the date · these are the row’s labels, not a second headword label
Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery. · The problem is the two bicycles stolen from us. · They stole all my money (from me). English Wiktionary · steal · the parentheses on from me are the entry’s
He stole me a book English Wiktionary · Low German note on stehlen · the note equates that English clause with för, against the oblique of the person stolen from
Strings below are constructed, modelled on the printed lines. They are not spontaneous-speech citations and not dictionary lines. Pat continues the named-participant series on lehren. A name does not spell case. den Kollegen spells accusative. ihm spells dative. die Uhr follows the WDG. alle Wertsachen follows Duden. seiner Barschaft follows the WDG’s seiner gesamten Barschaft.
✓ Pat hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen.
constructed · dative modelled on the WDG’s ihm die Uhr and on English Wiktionary’s mir ein Buch
✓ Pat hat Geld gestohlen.
constructed · modelled on the WDG’s Geld, Schmuck stehlen · no Victim is in the line · the omission is printed, and it is not starred
✓ Pat hat ihm alle Wertsachen geraubt.
constructed · modelled on Duden’s jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben · the force component is the definition’s Gewalt, not a fourth phrase
✓ Pat hat ihn seiner Barschaft beraubt.
constructed · accusative Victim and genitive Theme modelled on the WDG’s jmdn. einer Sache and on seiner gesamten Barschaft · the frame’s label is gehoben
* Pat hat den Kollegen die Uhr gestohlen.
constructed · accusative Victim · the printed person beside this Theme is dative · the same accusative is the Victim on berauben, and it is not starred there
* Pat hat ihm die Uhr beraubt.
constructed · dative Victim and accusative Theme on berauben · that pair is the printed frame of stehlen and of rauben · the filled three-place of berauben is accusative plus genitive · Duden’s and the WDG’s jemandem etwas wording is not counted as this example
The participle and wurde are operations on the same places. They do not add a participant. berauben is the lemma that prints a werden-passive of the person.
The Victim of berauben is the subject, and the genitive stays. Duden prints er wurde überfallen und beraubt with no Theme, and die Familie wurde des Ernährers beraubt with the genitive still in the clause. The WDG prints er wurde seiner gesamten Barschaft, des Augenlichtes beraubt. The person is the subject. The Theme does not become a second nominative in those lines. Nothing further is constructed.
stehlen, rauben, klauen, and entwenden. No editorial line checked here is a werden-passive of the theft frame of those four verbs. Duden prints the participle of stehlen as gestohlen in the principal parts, and DWDS prints gestohlenes Geld as a corpus line. Duden prints in einem geklauten Auto fahren. Those participles are not a passive clause. Nothing is constructed.
Principal parts. stehlen is strong: stiehlt, stahl, hat gestohlen. The vowel change is the morphology Duden prints. It is not a second event. rauben, berauben, klauen, and entwenden are weak, on the grammar lines quoted above. be- on berauben does not separate. No particle is printed on stehlen or on rauben.
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The drawing gives the Thief to Voice, the Victim to low Appl, and the Theme to the root. The Victim is a possessor-source inside the verb’s domain, analogous to the dative Learner on beibringen. The case changes with the lemma. Open one sketch at a time. Which phrase is the structural object, when berauben has an accusative and a genitive, is not settled here. Which theta role is the object is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Constructed · the finite verb in C · one external argument on each lemma
[CP Pat_1
[C' hat
[TP t_1
[VoiceP t_1 Voice ← Thief = Spec,Voice
… stehlen or rauben or berauben … ]
T ]]]
✓ Pat hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen. constructed
✓ Pat hat ihn seiner Barschaft beraubt. constructed · the genitive is the Theme
On all three lemmas the external argument is the Thief. English keeps that one subject on steal and on rob. German does not keep the Victim and the Theme in one case frame under that subject.
stehlen and rauben · dative Victim · accusative Theme · working, revisable
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[ApplP_LOW [ihm]_DAT Appl ← Victim · possessor-source · dative
[VP √stehl- or √raub-
[Theme die Uhr ]_ACC ]]] ← Theme · accusative
berauben keeps the same three roles and flips the cases. The drawing does not decide that the genitive is inside Appl.
[VoiceP Pat Voice
[ApplP_LOW [ihn]_ACC Appl ← Victim · accusative · not the dative of stehlen
[VP √beraub-
[Theme seiner Barschaft ]_GEN ]]] ← Theme · genitive · the frame is marked gehoben
✓ der Dieb hat ihm die Uhr gestohlen WDG · dative Victim
✓ jemandem alle Wertsachen rauben Duden · same dative · the definition prints Gewalt
✓ geh. jmdn. einer Sache berauben WDG · accusative Victim · genitive Theme
* Pat hat den Kollegen die Uhr gestohlen. constructed · the Victim of stehlen is not a second accusative
Working · no English steal page is opened
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Thief
[VP √STEAL
[Theme a book ]
[PP from [ me ]]]] ← source in from
· not a bare indirect object
· He stole me a book is the för reading
· in the Low German note
English Wiktionary’s steal lines put the source in from. The Low German note on the stehlen page says He stole me a book is the benefactive that Low German writes with för, not the person stolen from. A constructed steal him a watch is that benefactive. German mir in Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen is the Victim, and the English gloss of that line is from me.
| Layer | steal (EN) · no page | rob (EN) · no page | stehlen / rauben | berauben |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Thief | Thief | Thief | Thief |
| Victim | from-phrase, where printed | object (three banks, the soldiers) | dative · optional in Duden’s brackets on stehlen | accusative in the genitive frame · a person-only passive is also printed |
| Theme | object | of-phrase, where printed | accusative | genitive · marked gehoben |
| passive of a theft clause | unasserted here | unasserted here | unprinted in the editorial lines · not constructed | the Victim is the subject · the genitive stays |
On beibringen the added argument is a dative Learner and the accusative is the Content. On stehlen and on rauben the dative is the Victim and the accusative is the Theme. On berauben that Victim is accusative and the Theme is genitive. The analogy is the added possessor-source. It is not a claim that a Learner and a Victim are one role.
Working paper · October 2026 · German micro-entry · Beyond Index 2
Theft in German is not one case frame. Thief (Voice, subject), Victim (low Appl, a possessor-source inside the verb’s domain, working and revisable), Theme (complement of the root). The Theme is accusative and the Victim is dative on stehlen and on rauben. rauben adds force in the definition. On berauben the Victim is accusative and the Theme is genitive, and that frame is marked gehoben. English steal takes the source in from. A bare him after steal is a benefactive.
Not a flat grid of three sisters, and not one case frame copied from the English gloss. Voice adds the Thief. Low Appl adds the Victim, as a possessor-source inside the verb’s domain. The root takes the Theme. The case of those two dependents is the lemma’s. The drawing is working and revisable.
What German changes, against English steal X from Y, is that split. The Victim of stehlen and of rauben is dative, and the Theme is accusative. The Victim of berauben is accusative, and the Theme is genitive. English steal does not print the source as a bare indirect object. English rob prints the person as the object and, where the entry prints it, the thing in of.
Dictionary frames: Duden online stehlen, rauben, berauben, klauen, and entwenden; DWDS, the WDG text of the five, the modern articles, the multiword list on rauben, the OpenThesaurus row, and the Remarque corpus line; German Wiktionary stehlen and berauben; English Wiktionary stehlen, steal, and rob. Constructed clauses put a printed case on a named thief. The accusative Victim of stehlen is the working limit of the printed dative. Index 2 does not list these lemmas. German Transfer in Index 2 is tauschen; geben.
Records the dative Victim and the accusative Theme of stehlen and of rauben, the accusative Victim and the genitive Theme of berauben, and the printed frames of klauen and of entwenden. Records stahl and gestohlen as the strong principal parts. Does not open an English page.