Sitzenbleiben

grade retention, having to repeat a school year

noun ZIT-sen-blay-ben Rare

Usage Note

Sitzenbleiben is the colloquial term for being held back a year in school. The official term is Nichtversetzung, but Sitzenbleiben is universally understood and used in everyday speech and media.

Examples

"Er wollte unbedingt das Sitzenbleiben vermeiden und lernte besonders fleißig."

Natural Translation

He absolutely wanted to avoid repeating the year and studied especially hard.

Literal Translation

He wanted absolutely the grade-retention avoid and learned especially diligently.

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