Hello everyone, and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time with a look at a word that’s really helpful when you have problems: alcohol. Nah, I’m kidding of course. I’m talking about something that ACTUALLY solves problems. Literally. Because today, we’ll talk about The Meaning of “lösen” ▶ Lösen is the German word for to solve and not only are there some really useful related words and prefix versions for us to learn – it also has a really interesting family tree. So let’s jump right in :) *** The Family of “lösen” and “los” The origin of the family is the mind-blowingly ancient Indo-European root *leu, which expressed a core idea of cutting off , setting free. And at least a core sense of separation or detachment is still visible in many of the offsprings today, like loose and the German translation lose… Der Griff am Kühlschrank ist lose/locker. The doorhandle of the fridge is loose. (locker, which doesn’t belong to the family, is the more common translation) ▶ Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop … or the very common German los, which we’ve talked about in a separate…
Try YourDailyGerman free for 3 days
Get full, unlimited access to every lesson, practice tool and feature for 72 hours and feel the raw power of YourDailyGerman as your new German learning home.
Your trial simply ends after 3 days. No card needed. I don’t want you to pay ust because you forgot to cancel
See all plans →
Already a member?
Log in
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
Also, I have a really hard time deciding how to pronounce German R’s. For instance, you pronounced the second R in verloren and Verlierer in 2 different ways even though they have the exact same origin. Is there a rule for it, maybe?
An “r” in the middle or end of a word (not the border of a compound) is usually pronounced similar to “a”.
– Mutter – “Mutta”
– verlieren – “fealian”
But when there are two “r” in a row, I have to pronounce one of them (the first one), otherwise the word is not understandable.
– verlierer – fealieRa
Hope that helps.
It does. I used to think since it is in the middle it has to be pronounced, so that confused me A LOT. Thank you
Is “Erlösung” the right word for a food delivery?
Well, a food delivery can be an Erlösung if you’re really hungry, but the word “Erlösung” itself means “relief, deliverance”.
I don’t understand this answer. In the example about the elves delivering us from the unicorns’ district, I understand there was an actual delivery from one place to the other with no mention of a relief, so why doesn’t this apply here?
I think you might be confused as to what “deliver” means in the example. It’s NOT about bringing from A to B, it’s about relieving. It’s like a rare second meaning of “to deliver”, but you can find it for instance in Christian prayer (“Lord, deliver us from evil.”).
Does that help?
Yes it does. I’m not that familiar with Christian prayers so I couldn’t relate the meaning at first, but now I get it.
Thank you
So the right translation for to trigger is trigger (or triggern maybe). Etwas triggert mich?
What about „löst bei mir etwas aus“that chat gtp suggest? Danke!
Yeah, definitely “triggern”.
– Der Kommentar von Thomas triggert mich/hat mich getriggert.
“löst etwas bei mir aus” … that is WAY too generic and can mean a lot of things. Like… maybe a movie scene makes you teary eyed. That would not be “triggering” in the sense that is has currently, but “löst etwas bei mir aus” would be a total match.
Does that help?
Ah, sure, now I got it! Danke
Hi Emanuel. I noticed use “giving away” to translate auflösen. I just wanted to double check this as “giving away” is extremely specific and in this context has to do with making a piece of information that is supposed to be kept secret widely known. In the context of a test you might say “the teacher accidentally gave away the answers to next weeks test by leaving the answer sheet lying on her desk for all the students to see”. Did you mean “to give” rather than “give away”?
Oh, good point!
“auflösen” does indeed NOT imply giving away by accident. It’s on purpose. I changed the translations, danke!!
Hallo Emanuel –
Sind auflösen und verschwinden Synonyme? In deinem Beispiel:
Gestern war mein Kasten Bier genau hier… und jetzt hat er sich in Luft aufgelöst
könnten Sie auflösen durch verschwinden ersetzen.
Gestern war mein Kasten Bier genau hier… und jetzt hat er sich in Luft verschwunden.
Danke
Gute Frage!
Nein, “auflösen” uns “verschwinden” sind nicht Synonyme. “auflösen” heißt “dissolve” und “verschwinden” heißt “to disappear”.
In dem Beispiel gibt es die Phrase “sich in Luft auflösen”. Wörtlich heißt das “to dissolve into air” und tatsächlich ist es wie “to vanish”.
Und DAS ist Synonym mit “verschwinden”.
Ich hoffe, das hilft :)
says who that struggled 3 years learning about it
Hey!! Thanks for this, best German site. MY yoga teacher always says lösen to release the arms from a Pose, dies that work
too?
Yeah, it sounds a little more pristine. “Spannung lösen” is pretty idiomatic, but in the more technical speak, “entspannen” or “locker lassen” are more common for muscles.
ich bin eine abbonieren von dich seit ungefahr drei monaten und ich habe viel spaß lesing deine Artikels. danke schön Emmanuel
Freut mich, danke für das Feedback!
Es sind in Deutschland überall Parkscheinautomaten, worauf steht, “hier Parkschein lösen”. Ich habe mich immer gefragt, wieso “lösen” im Sinne von “dafür bezahlen” benutzt wird. Wie stellt sich ein Deutscher das vor? Geht es darum, dass seine Schulden in die Luft verschwinden? Oder darum, dass das “Problem” zwischen ihm und der Stadtverwaltung gelöst wird. Oder eher darum, dass der Schein sich im physischen Sinn vom Automat löst? #confused
Für mich ist das so, dass ich das Ticket brauche, aber es ist im Automaten “gefangen”. Wenn ich es “löse”, kriege ich es und kann es benutzen.
Also deine dritte Theorie :)
Herman Melville’s 1851 American novel “Moby Dick, or The Whale”, is a narrative about Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest for revenge against the whale that bit off his leg at the knee on an earlier voyage. In addition to the basic plot, the novel richly explores other areas of human nature and thought.
In chapter 89 “fastness” is compared to “looseness” (Fastness is now an archaic term in English surviving in sayings like “Hold fast!” (hold with unbreakable strength) or a more nautical “Make fast!” (to bind something so it will not come apart in a storm.)
Melville discusses whaling law and the concept of the “fast fish” versus the “loose fish”. The discussion broadens from whaling to human relationships, including humorously a divorce case in court. Melville concludes: “And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish too?”
I found the following at http://www.litcharts.com:
Summary
[The narrator,] Ishmael explores whale fishing and its relation to the law. In particular, Ishmael describes the doctrine of the “fast fish” versus the “loose fish.” …..
Analysis
Ishmael turns to another lens of human intellect to define and discuss whales: the law.
Ishmael believes that the legal distinction he describes to be of chief importance in life as well as in the law.
Man’s strivings, to Ishmael consist always of attempting to grasp things that elude man.
These “things” might include money, prestige, or power—they might also include the white whale itself, which eludes constantly Ahab’s grasp.
Man’s attempt to “make fast” that which is “loose” is a feature of the human condition, as is man’s failure ever to finally, totally “secure” that which it desires.
Here, then, Ishmael views the laws of fast and loose fish to be a reflection of this philosophical distinction between security and chaos.
In addition, Ishmael takes these laws of whaling—which might seem ridiculous or inconsequential to non-whalers—and shows how they are identical to very real circumstances.
I haven’t read Moby Dick and I have to admit that metaphors like this usually woosh right over my head. So a lot of literature is lost on me, unfortunately.
By the way, there’s also “fast asleep” that carries the older meaning :).
Moby Dick is a truly great book. The vocabulary can be challenging even for someone whose first language is english – I had to look up a words a lot (19th century north american englsh and specific words to do with the sea / sailing) . But it’s ultimately very rewarding imo. Actually what makes Moby Dick great is how digressive it is. The plot itself is a very small part of it – mostly it feels like its an excuse for Melville to go off on poetic tangents. It doesn’t suit an impatient reader. I actually think one of the things i love about Moby Dick is also one of the great about this blog – its not overly focused on getting the central topic over and done with as fast as possible and instead has an attentiveness to what we can encounter along the way e.g. we start off talking about lösen but take in Shoebills along the way….
Emanuel, since you’re interested in etymologies, here’s one for you: I recently came across the word die Ernüchterung/ernüchtert (adj) sober, disillusioned. Wiki relates it to English nocturne/nocturnal, related to night. I wasn’t sure I understood how “night” and “sober” are related, since one usually drinks at night and sobers up in the morning! But then I thought of nocturnes, prayers sung at daybreak, which is a sobering up time. Any thoughts?
Yup, you’re spot on!
“nüchtern” is also used in a medical sense of “with an empty stomach” in German, so basically the condition in which you wake up after the night :)
Danke!
I have a question and an observation about the following sentence:
“Manche Menschen sehen die Pflicht eine Maske zu tragen als einen Verlust ihrer Grundrechte.”
“die Pflicht [additional info]” – Accusative for “sehen”.
“eine Maske zu tragen” – Accusative for “tragen”. Two verbs, two direct objects :).
As for “als einen Verlust”… that has to be Accusative ,too. It has the role of “object” for “sehen”.
My correction was based on what I thought I heard in your recording.:)
Also thanks for the “accusatives” clarification!
Can’t argue with that. It does sound like “ein”, except it’s maybe a wee bit longer. But yeah… get used to that in spoken German :)
Can you maybe hear a difference between the last N in “Menschen” (or “sehen”) and “einen” in that example? To me, “Menschen” has a “normal” N, relatively short and soft. “Einen” is also an N, just a tad longer and it sounds like there’s a little more pressure behind it. Or more emphasis on it.
Here’s another example where you can hear “einen” and “ein” pretty much right next to each other. Taken from the last comment in this thread. It’s not a huge difference. Being able to hear them side by side helped me a lot.
(Small technical note: when I click on the link button and paste the link, I can’t see the URL. It does show up in light green after I add the link. Dark mode on desktop.)
Heeey guys,
Fresh member here, with the help from some of you who gave a little extra as a scholarship. Thank you!!!
Happy to be here :)
Viel Spaß :)!
I was just wondering if it shouldn’t say “the reign of the unicorns”. I could be wrong, but it seems like “der Einhorner” is plural?
You’re completely correct, I fixed it. Danke :)!
Excellent posting! As usual, I seem to know even less German than I thought I did. Which is a good reason to study.
Hello
I’m granted one year sponsorship.
Thanks to people who are helping the German learning community and to Emanuel.
Viel Glück euch allen
MohammadHossein
When I first learned the word “Lösung” I found it very interesting to think about the implicatons in English. Particularly how, when a substance disSOLVES in a SOLVEnt, the result is “a SOLUTION”. Cool to see the article!
English is FULL of connections like this that are hidden in plain sight :)
I didn’t know about “sich ablösen” and taking turns. What’s the difference between that and “sich abwechseln”?
The main time I remember reading “Erlösung” was indeed epic and related to a person finding it in death (obviously from a Krimi).
Good question. “sich abwechseln” is definitely more common, so just stick with that :)
Thank you so much for this! I am a very fresh member so I’m excited :)
I see a couple of other possible problems with the English translation:
“…meine Ablösung is noch nicht da./…my replacement isn’t here yet.”
The word replacement has the sense of (permanently)
removing one thing or person and putting a new one in place. This is not normally used in temporary situations like a work shift change. The word relief would be more appropriate here: “My relief isn’t here yet.”
The other error is a simple change: “But it’s seen from an epic, existential angle and so the translations are to deliver or to relief.”
Relief is a noun; the verb should be to relieve.
I disagree re: “replacement”. I think it can mean temporary or permanent depending on the context.
(I don’t know where you’re from. I’m English, so maybe there are regional differences if you’re from somewhere else?)
Lew’s right, actually. “replacement” isn’t the right word, I think. It’s not about permanent vs. temporary, but about the fact that the core of ablösen is about relieving you from duty (by taking it over). It ONLY works in that context, and not for any other act of “replacing”.