Hello everyone,
And welcome back to your German Word of the Day. Today, we’ll do another episode of
How to Sound more Authentic in German
And it’s going to be a bit of a special episode today, because the words I have for you are not simply colloquial – they’re Super Prime Colloquial Platinum+Pro Max.
Heck yeah, gimme some of that.
Okay, I guess the more honest term is swear word. Or swear verb, because all three are verbs with proper meanings and function.
Of course these verbs are not going to help you with the TestDaf and if you’re not interested in profanity then you might be like “Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”
And that’s fine, but beside the… uhm… Super Prime Colloquial Platinum+ Pro Max verbs themselves, we’ll also get some insights into a certain verb prefix that goes by the name of AlphaChadStar69.
I … I mean… on Twitch it used to use this name. Not sure if it still does.
I’m not on Twitch anymore,
for I am become Adult, Payer of Tax.
Anyway, if you’re ready, let’s jump right in.
So the three verbs I want to talk about today are:
- verarschen
- verkacken
- verpissen
And there are two things to notice here. The first one is of course that they all use the prefix ver-.
And the second thing is that they’re all related to, pardon my French, “Le Départ du Dîner”.
Like… the daily letting go. The end of digestion. The tales from the loo.
Which is the most common way to swear for the German language.
The proper term for that is scatological, by the way, and yes, there is research around that. Languages have different focus in their swearing.
German swearing is dominated by excrement, Scheiße being the prime example.
English does use that inventory as well, but it has an equally if not bigger focus on sex. And Italian for example draws heavily on religion, which it then skillfully interweaves with sex, digestion, the animal kingdom and family, creating hundreds of small Sistine Chapels of Profanity every single day.
Anyway, German is definitely dominated by excretion and all three verbs of today have to do with that. But they mean very different things.
Let’s start with verarschen.
“verarschen”
der Arsch is the profane German option for the butt. The more dinner table certified options are der Hintern und der Po and I’d say Arsch sounds even a little more crude than ass. Like, I can totally imagine ass being used in a Youtube workout video, but hearing Arsch there … I don’t know. It’s not that I’d feel offended but I would notice.
I think the main use for Arsch in daily life is in a number of idioms and as an insult, pretty much like ass and asshole. German has Arsch and Arschloch, and I feel like the former is generally softer and less negative. If you say that a person is an asshole, that pretty much always means that the person is treating other people badly.
But Arsch can also mean that a person is just the one getting a lot of shyte.
At work for instance when you’re again the one getting assigned the worst, most boring task.
- Ich bin wieder der Arsch.
- I’m the idiot again.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And this sort of use is also the key to verarschen.
The YourDailyGerman veterans among you will probably recall that ver- can express 4 different ideas: mistake, change, away and transfer.
The one we’re looking at here is change, because verarschen basically means making someone the idiot. Or at least trying.
Possible translations are to kid, to bullshit, to fool, to cheat and more. It really depends on the context.
- “10 Euro für ein Bier?”
“Ja, wegen den Zöllen, weißt du.”
“Bro, willst du mich verarschen? Das Bier wird hier gebraut, was für Zoll.” - “10 Euro for a beer?”
“Yeah, the tariffs, you know.”
“Bro, do you think I’m a fool/are you kidding me? The beer is brewed here, what tariff?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Viele Leute fühlen sich von der Politik verarscht.
- Many people feel cheated by politics.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Konferenz war eine große Verarsche. Nur Werbung, für die man auch noch bezahlen musste.
- The conference was a huge joke. Only ads for which you also had to pay.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Ich hab Deutsch in 2 Wochen gelernt.”
“Alles klar, verarschen kann ich mich alleine.” - “I learned German in two weeks.”
“All right, I can fool myself.“ - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
That last one is a REALLY common expression and you’ll definitely hear it in daily life.
I mean, they all are, to be honest.
Let’s do another round.
- “Aber das Einhorn meinte, das Horn ist echt.”
“Dann hat es dich verarscht. Es ist einfach die angemalte Pappe einer Klopapierrolle. Sehr ähnlich, aber doch verschieden.” - “But the unicorn said the horn is real.”
“Then it fooled you. It’s just the painted cardboard of a toilet paper roll. Very similar, yet different. - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Lass dich von Thomas nicht verarschen. Der hatte gestern noch keine Spülmittelallergie.
- Don’t let Thomas make a fool out of you. He didn’t have a dish soap allergy yesterday.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Ich bin schwanger.”
“Echt jetzt? Verarschst du mich?”
“Nee, wirklich.”
“Wooooow, mega!! Ich freu mich so für dich!” - “I’m pregnant.”
“For real? Are you trying to kid me?
“No, seriously.”
“Woooow, amazing!! I’m so happy for you!” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
As you can see in the last example, it’s not always used in a negative context. Among two friends, this is a totally normal way of speaking and doesn’t really “reek of the streets”. If anything, it just shows that they’re both really chill and relaxed and really like each other. Like… the vibe of the English translation matches very well.
Of course, it’s not something you should start using at the immigration office (even if you would like to), or at work, unless you’re really really clear as to what the vibe is there. But with your German friends, it’s definitely fine to start using.
No pressure of course. No German will ever be like “Hmmm, this person NEVER uses verarschen. That is so inauthentic.”
So just use it if you feel like it.
Cool.
Now let’s move on from the butt to what comes out of it.
Oh boy… probably the least appealing transition of all time.
The Menaing of “verkacken”
kacken is a semi profane verb for taking a dump and to give you a rough impression as to how crude it sounds…. 3 months relationship. That’s maybe the rough mark. Like, you wouldn’t use say that you have to go “kacken” on the first few dates, but once you’re an actual couple and you start feeling comfy, then it’s more or less okay. Not for all couples of course, but I think it’s a good rough indication.
And now what does verkacken mean?
Well, with verarschen we just saw ver- used in its sense of changing A into B.
If we use that thinking for verkacken, we’d get an idea of turning into poo.
And that’s really not too far from the actual meaning, which is to fail, to screw up.
You’re trying to do something, and you mess it up. That’s verkacken.
- “Wie lief dein Date?”
“Ich glaub ich hab verkackt. Ich hab irgendwann angefangen, über Bitcoin zu reden…”
“Broooo, warum?!” - “How did your date go?”
“I think I screwed up. I started talking about Bitcoin at some point…”
“Brooo, why?!” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Morgen ist Fahrprüfung. Ich darf diesmal echt nicht wieder verkacken.
- I’ll have driving exam tomorrow. I really must not screw this up again.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie kann man denn dreimal in Folge so krass verkacken?
- How can you fail so epically three times in a row?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Now, generally I would say that verkacken is mainly used for small to medium size everyday projects that you have and it refers to a singular instance. So you wouldn’t use it after you failed an application to a school that took several rounds and multiple tests. Or when you try to “DIY” your van into a mobile home, which also takes many steps usually. It’s not that it would be wrong and you’d definitely be understood, but it just doesn’t sound quite right.
For those, either versagen or nicht schaffen are better.
But for a mundane “trial” situation where you screw up, verkacken is a nice one to throw in.
By the way, I actually have a complete article about kacken, so if you want to dive in deeper… hold on, let me rephrase that.
I have a complete article about kacken, so if you want to learn more, you’ll find the link below.
But now let’s get to the last one.
The Meaning of “sich verpissen”
I’m sure most of you thought “Oh, that’s like piss off in English.”
Well, yes and no. It does match up with piss off in the sense of leaving, going away.
- Verpiss dich!!
- Piss off!!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But it absolutely does NOT mean to piss off in the sense of annoy.
- “The weather is pissing me off.”
There are many ways to say this, and the most common one that’s still a bit crude is probably auf den Sack gehen.
- Das Wetter geht mir auf den Sack.
- “The weather is going me onto the sack.”
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But verpissen here would make NO sense, because the core of verpissen really is this idea of leaving. Like… going away to take a piss is most likely the origin of the meaning.
Another important different to to piss off is that sich verpissen is not only used in a confrontational way when you tell someone to go away.
In colloquial German, people use it in a sense of normal leaving.
And the third difference is that it’s sich verpissen is reflexive, with an Accusative. Maybe think of it as “taking oneself away”.
Anyway, examples.
- Ich glaub ich verpiss mich. Ich muss morgen früh raus.
- I think, I’m going to bounce/head home. I got to get up early tomorrow.
(Makes sense at a party or event)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Weißt du, was mir mega auf den Sack geht? Dass sich der Manager immer als erstes verpisst, während wir hier Überstunden machen.
- Do you know what really pisses me off? That the manager always leaves first, while we’re working overtime here.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Wie war die Vernissage?”
“Ach, wir haben uns nach der Eröffnungsrede gleich verpisst. Keine Ahnung.” - “How was the gallery opening?”
“Oh, we left right after the opening speech. No idea.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
It is fairly crude though. Like… verkacken is pretty neutral but this one does sound rough and I think abhauen or reinhauen are the better options.
Or losgehen and losmachen, if you want to go for vanilla German. Or sich aufmachen.
OMG, so many options. Perfect moment to wrap this up, now that you all have FOMO :).
Yes. There will always be words that you don’t know. Let it wash through you. Feel it.
And then let it pass like a cloud on a beautifully balmy summer evening.
That’s it for today, this was our look at three Super Prime Colloquial Platinum+Pro Max verbs that you may or may not want to start using.
If you want to check how much you remember, just take the little quiz I have prepared for you.
And of course if you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment.
I hope you learned something and enjoyed your time.
Have a great week and bis zum nächsten Mal!
Further Reading:
very very good illustration by the way
Thanks! Dall-E and Photoshop allow me to do stuff I couldn’t do 3 years ago.
Okay I’m not sure how much of this I can use in class, but I want to thank Emanuel and sponsors for granting me a second year of free access! This website is an unending gold mine.
I think “verkacken” could work, but the rest, maybe not :)
“And Italian for example draws heavily on religion, which it then skillfully interweaves with sex, digestion, the animal kingdom and family, creating hundreds of small Sistine Chapel of profanity every single day.”
As an Italian, I’m moved by how poetically you described it :D
Very deep respect for the “Italian Condition”, ever torn between the heights of refinement and the gutter :D.
Il Quatrocento vs. La Cosa Nostra, for example….both within the same orbit!
Very interesting – thank you!
Not all too dissimilar from American, “Du, mach mir doch keinen Bockmist!” = Hey, just don’t screw/f#$^k up on me! We Germans don’t have this Puritan past as you have in the States. We have plenty of hang ups, cursing in public though isn’t one of them:-)
Na, willst du mich echt bescheissen, oder?! Also verpiss dich nur, sonst werd’ ich deinen Arsch vollhau’n!! Euresgleichen kotzt mich an…..
The “euresgleichen” lifts this on Goethe-Level :)
Ha-ha, ja, manchmal auch bei einem Wutausbruch kann Code-Switching eben vorkommen, nicht wahr? Aber recht selten.
Apropos Goethe glaube ich an einer Stelle im >Goetz von Berlichingen< steht “Du kannst mich mal am Arsch lecken!”
lol
Ja, das ist berühmt. Deshalb meinte ich das ja für dich. Rumfluchen kombiniert mit “euresgleichen”. Hätte von Goethe kommen können.
Stimmt schon. Eine gute Riposte!
Very funny, but also terrible.
A few months ago I was riding on my motorbike at night, returning from a league squash game. Some people had bought me some beers which I enjoyed. On my way home I was riding through some rough neighborhoods. I needed to pee badly, but I didn’t feel safe stopping in that ‘hood. When push came to shovel, I peed in my pants. But I became terrified as to the prospect of traffic police pulling me over for a routine check. Or what if the bike got a puncture and I had to call on roadside assistance?
How would one express this mishap?
You mean the peeing?
That’s “sich einpullern” or if you want to sound rough “sich einpissen”. Or if you want to sound vanilla “sich in die Hose machen”. The self reference is in Dative for all three and it’s optional.
– Ich habe (mir) eingepullert.
– Ich habe (mir) eingepisst.
– Ich hab mir in die Hose gemacht/gepullert/gepisst.
Crazy story, by the way!!
I’ve forever repented from my savage behavior. I suppose worse things have happened at sea.
Besides these above words, which are on the rough side of things, part of my enjoyment of German is the frank-ness of it. Well how it could it not be frank — there were the Franks for a start. I listened to a German song and liked the quality of the production and the funny sounds coming out of their mouths. Then I started reading about it and didn’t stop.
My mother enjoyed the metaphor of “Katzenwäsche”. When I mentioned to her the name “Emanuel” her first remark was “this name doesn’t sound very German to me”.
Without knowing German, yet my mother seems to resonate very strongly with the German music. Also her maiden name is “Ehlers”. So genetically speaking, there is some of sie German present.
Curious about German so-called “swear words”, which are indeed considered strong language here, however, are used in situations in which among, say, well-brought up, much older Americans or English would NEVER be used!
In Hamburg some years back, I was attending a lecture given by an acquaintance and the weather was storming something fierce. Two well-dressed ladies, I’d guess were in their seventies, said to the other, “Brigitte, so was von einem Scheisswetter, nicht’?” Absolutely nobody in the hall just before the lecture began even so much as batted an eyelash.
Although only a brief period in the US, I somehow couldn’t imagine two American women of similar pedigree saying to one another, “Geez, what a shitty day!” lol
Is “Sauwetter” basically the same thing as “Scheißwetter” in terms of the level of bad weather it describes? I’ve heard them both used to describe, say, when you’re standing outside at a festival and it starts pouring rain. So my guess would be they mean the same thing, but the tone is different.
Is one any more common than the other?
I prefer Sauwetter myself. They mean essentially the same, and then there’s “Hundewetter”, nearly synonymous. Yes, at least in my generation (50+), both are common
For me, “Sauwetter” sounds super Bavarian/Austrian. Not because they have more of it, but in Berlin, I think “Dreckswetter” or “Scheißwetter” are more common.
I think Emanuel is right. I can recall once visiting Stuttgart, the Swabian capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg, we say, and hearing, “Awah! Saukalt isch es!” Didn’t quite register at first:-)
At least in North-Rhine Westphalia, probably “Arschkalt”, for example, would be the most familiar.
Interesting, thanks. Would it be the same for “Sauerei” and “sauteuer”?
I never use Sauerei, but I do say “sauteuer” a lot. So “Sau-” does get its share :)
What would you use instead, when you’re talking about a figurative mess? For example:
I think I’d use “Frechheit” or “Schweinerei” but both sound too weak for how I would talk. I think I’d express myself through adjectives, like “Das ist abgefuckt.”
Yup, I use “arschkalt” too. Or “scheiße kalt” but that’s “native speaker privilege”. Coming from a learner who has an accent, it’ll sound wrong :)
Yes, a hundred percent right! When foreigners learning German try to “sound German” in that way, it probably will backfire:-)
Sticking to the theme, you can also translate verarschen with shitting. As in: “You’re pregnant? You’re shitting me! Congratulations!” Maybe a bit more vulgar than verarschen though
I do feel like it’s more vulgar, yes :).
But actually, it depends on the phrasing:
– Willst du mich verarschen?
This sounds a bit aggressive or rude.
– Verarschst du mich?
This sounds profane, but is usually used with genuine, curious disbelief.
Again, about on equal footing with “bescheissen” in everyday parlance:-)
To me, “bescheißen” is strictly about “cheating”. Like, overcharging or selling false goods.
I would not use “bescheißen” in the context of kidding a friend. Would you?
Sort of like “beschummeln”, you mean? Yeah, I definitely can see that. As far as “bescheissen”, it depends on the friend, I suppose:-) Good point though!
Question 3, 2nd choice, last word “tme”. Is that a typo?
Oh, no, that should be “themselves”. I rephrased the reply midway and forgot to change the end. Thanks.
super article. This sort of stuff is exactly why i love YDG! You list losmachen twice btw.
I’m a bit surprised, I would have bet that you knew all these already.
Of course i knew the 3 verbs, but i still enjoyed the article.
But there were particular phrasings i wasn’t familiar with – e.g. i didn’t know “Verarcsche” was a noun.
Hard to not know “sich verpissen” and live in Berlin as given its such a constant in graffiti.
In the second question on the explanation you said that ‘Verarschen’ uses the Dative case. Unless you were trying to verarschen us
Whoops, no idea how that happened. I think I just like typing “Dative” better. Rolls off the fingers easier, but it’s of course Accusative.
Thanks for catching it early.
Hallo,
Some typos:
“I am become adult” (I have become an adult)
“used in Youtube workout video” (used in an Youtube workout video)
“I have an complete article” (I have a complete article)
In question 2:
“verarschen” always takes a direct object, in Dative case” (is it not accusative?)
I knew them all, I like learning the swearwords when I learn a language :)))
Bis bald!
Thanks wie immer :).
About the first one: that’s meant as a reference to Oppenheimer’s “I am become death.” I wasn’t sure whether I should do it, because it does look like a mistake when coming from a non-native, but I just liked it too much.
Wow, this is a good example of what I think is your innate talent for understanding the feel of language. I – a native English speaker- had a vague feeling that you were referring to something but I couldn’t quite connect it.
So, down the path I went to look into this, which adds to the fun. The quote apparently is –
“Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
You missed an opportunity to perhaps connect the dots for a few more of us English speakers with –
“Now, I am become Adult, the destroyer of words.”.
Note – destroyer of words, as apposed to worlds – at least I think it’s funny. :)
I am somewhere in the B1 world and noticed a few months ago “verarschen” on a German detective series that I was watching. Great to have the background on this and the other two words.
Another aside – a colleague at work was the son of one of Werner von Braun’s rocket scientists. He commented that he learned through the group’s occasional after work functions that German was a language that excelled at complaining.
It has been said that German excells at philosophizing. Never heard much about complaining, save perhaps for Austrian Kaffehaus German LOL
For a long time, this quote was actually really confusing to me because I thought it was a genuine mistake of Oppenheimer and that he just didn’t know English very well, and instead used German grammar, because I thought he was one of those Germans they flew in.
But then I found out he’s American, and I looked it up and apparently it’s a very old English grammar “option”. Which is indeed 100% the way German phrases it.
Yeah, you can find that in Shakespeare, the Bible, or some classic literature from the 1700-1800’s. It was similar to German (is born, is fallen, is risen), but there were some differences (hath died, hath journeyed).
It sounds kind of poetic. Back when it was still a thing, it could also be used to emphasize “this is the state the thing is in now.”
It goes really far back, pretty much when English only had two tenses, past and present. Where did all the modern ones come from?? And yet you can still say things like this:
Yes, exactly! For example “Christ IS risen” etc.
German is like a time capsule of English in that regard :)
Time warp English for sure. Komm’ hierher! < Come hither!, Geh' dorthin! < Go thither!, Was tust du? < What doest thou? etc……
Hmmm, “I pick it up….” in time limited sentences such as yours vs. “I [+verb] EVERY Tuesday..”, for example, showing a repeated action, sounds frankly a bit foreign to me, perhaps something a German might say allowing for first language interference, doesn’t it?
I mean it’s perfectly understandable, if grammatically incorrect.”I’ll pick it up on Tuesday.” works better to my ears.
When it’s a one-time thing, it’s VERY easy to get wrong and would sound very German. In this example, some “safer” options would be:
When it works, it’s 100% grammatically correct. It feels more immediate, like I can picture myself in that situation right now as I’m saying it. But it’s hard to explain when it works and when it doesn’t. A couple examples:
I gotonight. (I’m going tonight.)I seea show in New York tomorrow. (I’m seeing a show, or I’m going to see a show.)I’d go with the “I‘m taking…” in your first example sentence, albeit I’m not a native English speaker:-)
As a native English speaker I agree with all of this, but I want to know why. It can’t be the verb itself because here “I go” sounds natural to me: “Do you give your presentation to the class today?” “No, I go tomorrow.” Could it have to do with how formal or casual the activity is, or maybe how formally it had to be scheduled or committed to?
It doesn’t have to do with how formal it is. I did some reading and I think there are 3 main situations where it can be used.
Talking about something that’s scheduled or planned
When you’re very determined about something
Narrating what you’re doing or going to do (storytelling)
Other thoughts
It can work with a lot of verbs, but the fancier the verb, the harder it is to make it work (think words like “journey,” “slumber,” or “excoriate”). With some words like that, it will sound wrong or borderline wrong.
It’s usually used when you’re talking or writing casually. The more formal the situation, the harder it is to use.
It starts to feel weird when you’re talking about something that doesn’t really have a set start time or end time. For me at least, I wouldn’t say
Because it can take some time, and who knows if I’ll actually get it done tomorrow.
Edit: I should have said it doesn’t really have to do with how formal the activity is. (I can’t find a way to edit, even in Chrome.)
You can say
And those are both pretty formal things.
As for why this is a thing, it could be left over from older forms of English. There was a time when the progressive form (I’m singing) was rare. You would mostly just say “I sing” and that could mean “I’m singing,” “I will sing” or “I sing as a habit/job.”
The -ing verbs only really got to be a widespread thing in the last few hundred years or so. In Shakespeare’s time, you could say
And up until the 1800’s or so, some native speakers also said things like