"greifen" is one of the German words for "grabbing" besides "fassen". And especially the relatives of "greifen" are really useful - like der Griff, begreifen or ahngreifen.
Words we'll learn:
greifen, der Griff, der Greif, Griffin, angreifen, der Angriff, begreifen, der Begriff, durchgreifen, ergreifen, übergriffig, eingreifen, zugreifen,...
And welcome to your German Word of the Day. And this time, we’ll take a look at the meaning of the verb
greifen
Which of course also means that we’ll take a look at the entire family with the various prefix versions like angreifen or begreifen or zugreifen. And also the corresponing nouns with der Griff and other related words.
So in essence, it’ll be a bit of a vocabulary dump and probably too much to remember in one go. I’ll throw in a few images probably, to loosen things up a bit, but whenever you feel like “I think, I’m full.” just stop reading :). There’s no real narrative or arc here, so you can read it piecemeal and jump around as well.
Anyway, enough with the intro. Let’s jump right in.
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German Grammar • Vocabulary • Etymology
The Meaning and Family of “greifen” - Key Questions
It basically means to grab or reach for something. It also shows up figuratively to mean to grasp an idea. In everyday physical grabbing Germans often use "fassen" more, but "greifen" appears a lot with prefixes.
It means the handle or the way you grip something, like a door handle or a guitar fingering. ·Der Griff am Kühlschrank ist abgebrochen. ·The handle of the fridge broke off.
"Begreifen" is to really grasp something, often after some effort or deeper thinking while "verstehen" is the general go-to for understanding. "Der Begriff" means a term or concept, the word that captures an idea. ·Quantenphysik ist schwer zu begreifen. ·Quantum mechanics is hard to grasp.
·Der Begriff "Gerechtigkeit" ist einfach zu verstehen, aber schwer zu definieren. ·The term "justice" is easy to understand but hard to define.
"Angreifen" means to attack and "der Angriff" is the attack. They apply to physical attacks but also to things like criticism, an argument, or a medicine attacking bacteria.
"Eingreifen" means to intervene, to step in, and "der Eingriff" is an intervention or surgical procedure. It can be literal like surgery or metaphorical like intervening in a situation. ·Die Demonstration war friedlich und die Polizei musste nicht eingreifen. ·The protest was peaceful and the police didn't have to intervene.
"Zugreifen" can mean to grab something firmly, to take advantage of an offer, or to access something electronically. "Der Zugriff" is the access or ability to get to something. ·Ich kann über mein neues Handy nicht auf mein Konto zugreifen. ·I can't access my bank account from my new phone.
Yey!! I finally have the opportunity to ask someone this question: Would you say Türgriff or Türklinke? is it the same? or is some of those more coloquial? Thank you in advance!! Loved the article!!
I’d say that “Klinke” is more specific. It is the handle that you push down with your hand. A “Türgriff” and be of any shape and can just be a bar mounted to the door for you to pull it.
Interestingly, you get a LOT of images of “Türklinke” when you do a Google image search for “Türgriff”, so I guess people also a Klinge a Griff, but I would never do that, and it might just be marketing SEO.
Spotted this just now: „Im Momentum, in denen es kein Haushaltsgesetz gibt, greift die vorläufige Haushaltsführung“
I was a bit confused at first glance but this is the „to take effect „ sense right? Would you say you could effectively swap „greift“ here for „gilt“ and the sense be the same?
Nice example! I always think of this “greifen” as a gear wheel “gripping”, but the idea is of course “apply”. “gelten” is not necessarily a good swap-in, because “vorläufige Haushaltsführung” is a process, not a law. So the process kicks in whenever there is no “Haushalt”. By the way… was “Momentum” a typo? Because that really doesn’t make sense.
Thanks. Was reading the newspaper in the library so don’t have the text to hand any more but i must have meant to type “In Momenten”..
Gougam
This was an incredibly comprehensive and engaging look at the various meanings and contexts of “greifen” and its related verbs in German! I particularly appreciated the examples you provided, as they really helped clarify the nuances of each term. It’s fascinating how one root can branch out into so many different meanings depending on the context.
xv
I spotted a use of greifen this morning like this:
Firma X greift nach Berliner Firma Y.
Its about Firma X becoming a shareholder in firma Y.
I think it’s about a takeover, but could be about becoming a shareholder as well. But yeah, sounds a bit “comprehensive”. DEpending on the exact context, I would say “is looking to takeover” or something like that. Would “reaching for” be idiomatic at all?
Its about becoming a shareholder or wanting to become a shareholder. Its defnitely not about a takeover.
Reaching is not at all idiomatic and would actually make no sense to me if i heard it. Maybe i could hazard a guess if a non-english speaker used it but i wouldn’t be sure
But it has to be about getting a substantial share, right? Like, not just a random small investment. Otherwise, “greifen” would sound a bit too drastic for the occasion. “looking to take a stake in” is maybe a good translation, but also feels less “aggressive” than “greifen”.
Ooh, fun translation exercise. How about “Company A is making a grab for company B”? It’s a bit colloquial in English, but widely used, and would suggest a pretty bold/brash/brazen attempt by one company to take control of the other (perhaps through the means of stocks, or by outright purchase). Hmm, I guess that’s a bit too large scale if it’s just about taking a less signifcant share of the other company, but it’s got a nice tang to it!
“Makes a grab” sounds kinda rash and like an attempted takeover rather than “taking a stake “ which feels more sober. I’m not sure how idiomatic”making a grab” feels to me either but perhaps I’ve just not come across it.”cash grab” I’ve definitely heard in a business context, which also sounds negative.
Aah, fair enough: then I suspect that usage is either quite regionally dependent, or perhaps an echo from another era ;-) It definitely is much more *brazen*, and maybe *surprising/unexpected* than rash in my mind. Yeah, “cash grab” is another kettle of fish altogether, and is pretty much wholly negative.
pmccann
Hey, fun for all the family, in a freakin’ family-sized package! Before beginning with comments on the current article, let me just note that an article on fassen and its, aah, Feste/Fass/Fast-Freunde would be great: I’m sure there’s lots of fun to be found therein.
[General nonsense]
(1) I think one nice possibility to keep in mind with “begreifen” in particular is “get a handle on”. So, for example, “Quantum Mechanics is (ziemlich!) hard to get a handle on”. I guess it differs from “grasp” in that the latter is a sort of “grab the whole thing”, while “get a handle on” is slightly more focused about finding a way in, a point of (mental) attachment that allows the understanding to occur.
(2) One place I’ve heard a relative of our word of the day quite frequently (with regard to the situation East-South-East of Germany) is in “Angriffskrieg”, which seems to translate as “war of aggression”. Hey, who knows, it might also be useful in respect of the recent explosion of *die Ampel*. Was für eine Shitshow! (Hey, if German can have “Shitstorm”, then “Shitshow” can’t be far behind, oder?).
(3) Interesting that you chose to ignore the “, oder was”, in the translation of “Bist du schwer von Begriff, oder was”. I’d habitually add a “, or what?”, or even a “, or something?” at the end of such statements in English –so, “Are you thick, or what?” where the piece after the comma acts as a (very slight) softener to the rather brusque first clause!
(4) It was definitely a relief to know that “im Begriff zu gehen” should just be learnt as a “lump”, rather than a straightforward consequence of the core meaning of “Begriff”: this expression appeared from nowhere in an App-that-shall-remain-nameless, and was quite the headscratcher at the time.
(5) Random speculation time: there’s m-a-y-b-e something going on with “die Grippe” (which comes from French, and also gives “grip/grippe” for “flu” in Englisch). So what’s the tie-in with angreifen? Well, it seems there’s an element of “seizure” in the French word. As promised, not much to see here, but maybe someone can get a grip on this paragraph?
Finally, a handful of itty-bitty corrections:
[In the “beige box” at the top of the page…]
“greifen” is one of German words for “grabbing”. => “greifen” is one of *the* German words for “grabbing”.
[In the main body of the article]
handle of the sword. => *hilt* of the sword (or, more specifically, the *grip* of the sword, but not “handle”: ugh, that’s definitely a bit nerdy for me, but hey, why not…?)
“getting” an intelectual concept. => “getting” an intel*l*ectual concept.
one can simply be unintelligeble => one can simply be unintellig*i*ble (This was the site of a Zweifache Korrektur in Elsa’s post, but only the first part has been implemented)
do a firm grasp. => This doesn’t work (ie, you don’t “do” a grasp), but both “grasp firmly” and “*get* a firm grasp” get close. To be honest, both feel like they want a generic “thing” to grasp onto. So both “get a firm grasp on anything/things” or “grasp things firmly” work, but they’re a long way short of elegant!
Well, first of, verstehen => Well, first of*f*, verstehen (One of your very favourite omissions, methinks)
Arrabica => Arabica (a couple of times) Coffee nerds’ll be all, like, you know, kinda, sorta, maybe apoplectic at the pirate-spelling)
2) Angriffskrieg – this is a weird phrase and I didn’t think I have heard it before Russias attack. I now googled and found hits for the phrasing “Angriffskrief im Irak” from 20+ years ago. It’s still a weird phrase to me, because what else could it be. If no one attacks, there is no war.
As for the Ampel… I hate the FDP, Lindner is cringe AF and I liked the speech Scholz gave when he kicked him out. I would even consider voting the FDP if they weren’t just a bunch of rich bros who want privileges.
I’d say we have “Shitshow”, although it’s not as widely accepted as “shitstorm”. The real shitshow here was the dance around the date for elections. CDU threw a tantrum about Scholz’s idea of March, then the person overseeing the organizing said January is VERY unrealistic, then the CDU started discrediting her, then someone from CDU suggested 19th of January, and then they found out it’s unrealistically early and wanted end of February. I hate CDU even more than FDP.
3) I felt like adding “or what” kind of takes away the punch. “or something” does work for me though. “oder was” in german does not tone it down. Ending on “bescheuert” just feels truncated.
5) Oh, I wanted to mention that but forgot. Yes, “die Grippe” comes from the French branch of the family and it’s indeed based on the idea that the disease “grips” you.
re: arrabica … it’s “rrobusta”, so I prefer to be consistent with my spelling values and say “arrabica” instead of catering to the coffee establishment.
================== (2) Angriffskrieg – this is a weird phrase and I didn’t think I have heard it before Russias attack. I now googled and found hits for the phrasing “Angriffskrief im Irak” from 20+ years ago. ==================
If I’m reading correctly, the expression looks be present in both *des Statuts des Nürnberger* and the German constitution (Grundgesetz), the latter essentially saying that “if you attack Germany unprovoked, well get yourselves ready to be at war with us”. But yeah, it does seem to have a semi-formal definition, where it’s making it clear that one side was “simply attacked”, rather than retaliated against for provocative actions: in the news it’s pretty much used to mark the asymmetry of the conflict. “Der Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine” versus “Der Krieg zwischen Russland und der Ukraine”.
================== As for the Ampel… I hate the FDP, Lindner is cringe AF and I liked the speech Scholz gave when he kicked him out. I would even consider voting the FDP if they weren’t just a bunch of rich bros who want privileges. ==================
Yep, the impression I have of the FDP is that they’ve drifted more and more from “liberal” toward “libertarian”, but in all the most loathsome senses of that word, to the extent that they are probably toasting Musk’s “musk” as I type: they’ve been predictably *anti* pretty much anything proposed by the Ampel that has even looked like costing money (let alone the fundamental problem of finding a more sensible solution regarding *debt*), to the extent that calling the loose assembly of the three parties a “coalition” has long seemed like quite the reach. So I guess at least that’s better reflected in the current minority government, but oh boy, what a mess. Oh, and, yeah, Lindner does seem like a total turd. One that took way too many flushes to be rid of… fear not, I’ll not be mentioning those skidmarks. No sir, not now, not ever…
Fair to say that the coming elections are going to be a lot more interesting than usual, and the bloated omnipresence of the AfD, the ugliest stepchild of German politics, may end up requiring some extraordinarily constricted-yet-convoluted mash-ups. So. Wenig. Spielraum.
We don’t have real libertarians over here. The ones that we do have, have long moved outside the country. You can meet them in Thailand or Bali and other places where they’ll talk to you about Bitcoin and taxes. As for AfD… even if all the obvious problems were gone and they could rid themselves of their nazi wing (which they want to but they can’t because Höcke is too popular in some areas), there’s still the issue that Weidel, is actually living in… Switzerland. WTF!! And I am sure she has a LOT of rich friends who give her ideas. I also find it interesting that the far right wing element in her party seems to have no issue with her being a lesbian, who lives together with an immigrant in a registered partnership raising two kids. Which is a good sign, I guess. Back 30 years ago, this would not have been accepted by that kind of people, so there is progress, even if it doesn’t look like it.
Anyways, here’s a little clip of young Christian Lindner when he was still in school.
We don’t mind *those* sort of foreigners, or those nice, respectable sort of gay folk! They’re not the problem, it’s those, those, those *others*. But, cheap cynicism aside, yeah, the lesbian thing being a non-issue is definitely a good sign: not sure what the rank and file members would think, but the *progress* is that it’s not really negotiable any longer.
As for the Lindner video, the less said the better! Even after filtering out the considerable horror of 90s fashion, the “jung, reich und erfolgreich” Lindner already reeks of the older, Berufspolitiker version, or vice versa. And that’s not a nice thing to say about either of them ;-)
Irena
An excellent article. Noticed a typo in the Quiz, in answer 3 – durchgeifen.
Bissell
Yep, ‘fingering’ is the term. “How would you finger that passage?” I will be honest, in practically 50 years I never thought of a sexual connotation …until now. Maybe I just dismissed it. Maybe I was missing out on the best that life has to offer. Googling “Finger Bang” now…
InaFurie
Ha ha yes “fingering”, always fun in guitar classes as a teenager! It is however the correct term. It is also the correct term for the more adult implication … Wasn’t there a Southpark Episode “Finger Bang”
Gosta
Instead of “fingerings” I’d say “finger positions”.
Michael
One can learn a chord, which would refer to the three notes that comprise its sound. It is also possible to refer to the fingering of the chord, which would mean which fingers are being used to play the specific chord.
At least with guitar, you can also talk about “chord shapes.” But it’s usually just “chords” colloquially, and “fingerings” is totally correct for “where to put your fingers.”
Do you know what’s used in German on piano for “which fingers to use for which notes”?
Fanny Hensel in Maine
Musician here– yes, “fingerings” is actually the correct term. Which leads me to an old jokey story I heard years ago when I was at Juilliard about these two very old, dignified Russian pianists, Rosina and Josef Lhevinne (a husband and wife team), who, when asked in an interview if they ever got nervous before an important concert, the wife said “Oh, yes! We lie awake in bed all night, fingering our passages!”
“greifen” is one of German word for “grabbing”(“greifen” is one of the German words for “grabbing”) “getting” and intelectual concept (“getting” an intelectual concept) simply be intelligeble but (simply be unintelligible but) wrestlers grabbing each others belt (wrestlers grabbing each other‘s belts) several more common options wordings for that (you have to choose option or wordings – both work) Quiz question 1 – Don’t listen to the waring (warning) Quiz question 2 – bulk of everdy grabbing and touching (everyday) Quiz question 5 – deeper and sound a bit emotionally involved (sounds) Quiz question 6 – durchgeifen (durchgreifen)
This is the kind of article I find EXTREMELY useful for prefix verbs (my Achilles heel when it comes to German), thanks, I think I finally understand the nuanced meanings of all forms of greifen :)
PS – Regarding the guitar class, I think you mean learning chords ;)
Emanuel here!! Please don’t say that, Jonathan. Elsa has been helping me for a long time cleaning up the articles for everyone’s benefit! No one is perfect and I wouldn’t expect a comment about typos to be typo-free. I do appreciate you defending me, but the comment was probably a misunderstanding and wasn’t fair. (I’m logged out, so commenting with my alias) Liebe Grüße an euch beide!
Oh, I bet it is! Persian belongs to the Indo-European family so it would make sense.
xv
crazy, i was thinking today “when is Emanuel gonna do an article on greifen”. I almost wrote this in a comment. Refreshed the main page and lo and behold…
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
Yey!! I finally have the opportunity to ask someone this question:
Would you say Türgriff or Türklinke? is it the same? or is some of those more coloquial?
Thank you in advance!! Loved the article!!
I’d say that “Klinke” is more specific. It is the handle that you push down with your hand.
A “Türgriff” and be of any shape and can just be a bar mounted to the door for you to pull it.
Interestingly, you get a LOT of images of “Türklinke” when you do a Google image search for “Türgriff”, so I guess people also a Klinge a Griff, but I would never do that, and it might just be marketing SEO.
I dind´t know that difference, thank you!!
Spotted this just now: „Im Momentum, in denen es kein Haushaltsgesetz gibt, greift die vorläufige Haushaltsführung“
I was a bit confused at first glance but this is the „to take effect „ sense right? Would you say you could effectively swap „greift“ here for „gilt“ and the sense be the same?
Nice example!
I always think of this “greifen” as a gear wheel “gripping”, but the idea is of course “apply”.
“gelten” is not necessarily a good swap-in, because “vorläufige Haushaltsführung” is a process, not a law. So the process kicks in whenever there is no “Haushalt”.
By the way… was “Momentum” a typo? Because that really doesn’t make sense.
Thanks. Was reading the newspaper in the library so don’t have the text to hand any more but i must have meant to type “In Momenten”..
This was an incredibly comprehensive and engaging look at the various meanings and contexts of “greifen” and its related verbs in German! I particularly appreciated the examples you provided, as they really helped clarify the nuances of each term. It’s fascinating how one root can branch out into so many different meanings depending on the context.
I spotted a use of greifen this morning like this:
Firma X greift nach Berliner Firma Y.
Its about Firma X becoming a shareholder in firma Y.
how would you translate this?
I think it’s about a takeover, but could be about becoming a shareholder as well. But yeah, sounds a bit “comprehensive”.
DEpending on the exact context, I would say “is looking to takeover” or something like that. Would “reaching for” be idiomatic at all?
Its about becoming a shareholder or wanting to become a shareholder. Its defnitely not about a takeover.
Reaching is not at all idiomatic and would actually make no sense to me if i heard it. Maybe i could hazard a guess if a non-english speaker used it but i wouldn’t be sure
But it has to be about getting a substantial share, right? Like, not just a random small investment. Otherwise, “greifen” would sound a bit too drastic for the occasion.
“looking to take a stake in” is maybe a good translation, but also feels less “aggressive” than “greifen”.
yeah its about taking a large share. Could zugreifen also work in this context??
No, “zugreifen” is about having access to resources to use them for something.
Ooh, fun translation exercise. How about “Company A is making a grab for company B”? It’s a bit colloquial in English, but widely used, and would suggest a pretty bold/brash/brazen attempt by one company to take control of the other (perhaps through the means of stocks, or by outright purchase). Hmm, I guess that’s a bit too large scale if it’s just about taking a less signifcant share of the other company, but it’s got a nice tang to it!
“Makes a grab” sounds kinda rash and like an attempted takeover rather than “taking a stake “ which feels more sober. I’m not sure how idiomatic”making a grab” feels to me either but perhaps I’ve just not come across it.”cash grab” I’ve definitely heard in a business context, which also sounds negative.
Aah, fair enough: then I suspect that usage is either quite regionally dependent, or perhaps an echo from another era ;-) It definitely is much more *brazen*, and maybe *surprising/unexpected* than rash in my mind. Yeah, “cash grab” is another kettle of fish altogether, and is pretty much wholly negative.
Hey, fun for all the family, in a freakin’ family-sized package! Before beginning with comments on the current article, let me just note that an article on fassen and its, aah, Feste/Fass/Fast-Freunde would be great: I’m sure there’s lots of fun to be found therein.
[General nonsense]
(1) I think one nice possibility to keep in mind with “begreifen” in particular is “get a handle on”. So, for example, “Quantum Mechanics is (ziemlich!) hard to get a handle on”. I guess it differs from “grasp” in that the latter is a sort of “grab the whole thing”, while “get a handle on” is slightly more focused about finding a way in, a point of (mental) attachment that allows the understanding to occur.
(2) One place I’ve heard a relative of our word of the day quite frequently (with regard to the situation East-South-East of Germany) is in “Angriffskrieg”, which seems to translate as “war of aggression”. Hey, who knows, it might also be useful in respect of the recent explosion of *die Ampel*. Was für eine Shitshow! (Hey, if German can have “Shitstorm”, then “Shitshow” can’t be far behind, oder?).
(3) Interesting that you chose to ignore the “, oder was”, in the translation of “Bist du schwer von Begriff, oder was”. I’d habitually add a “, or what?”, or even a “, or something?” at the end of such statements in English –so, “Are you thick, or what?” where the piece after the comma acts as a (very slight) softener to the rather brusque first clause!
(4) It was definitely a relief to know that “im Begriff zu gehen” should just be learnt as a “lump”, rather than a straightforward consequence of the core meaning of “Begriff”: this expression appeared from nowhere in an App-that-shall-remain-nameless, and was quite the headscratcher at the time.
(5) Random speculation time: there’s m-a-y-b-e something going on with “die Grippe” (which comes from French, and also gives “grip/grippe” for “flu” in Englisch). So what’s the tie-in with angreifen? Well, it seems there’s an element of “seizure” in the French word. As promised, not much to see here, but maybe someone can get a grip on this paragraph?
Finally, a handful of itty-bitty corrections:
[In the “beige box” at the top of the page…]
“greifen” is one of German words for “grabbing”. => “greifen” is one of *the* German words for “grabbing”.
[In the main body of the article]
handle of the sword. => *hilt* of the sword (or, more specifically, the *grip* of the sword, but not “handle”: ugh, that’s definitely a bit nerdy for me, but hey, why not…?)
“getting” an intelectual concept. => “getting” an intel*l*ectual concept.
one can simply be unintelligeble => one can simply be unintellig*i*ble (This was the site of a Zweifache Korrektur in Elsa’s post, but only the first part has been implemented)
do a firm grasp. => This doesn’t work (ie, you don’t “do” a grasp), but both “grasp firmly” and “*get* a firm grasp” get close. To be honest, both feel like they want a generic “thing” to grasp onto. So both “get a firm grasp on anything/things” or “grasp things firmly” work, but they’re a long way short of elegant!
Well, first of, verstehen => Well, first of*f*, verstehen (One of your very favourite omissions, methinks)
Arrabica => Arabica (a couple of times) Coffee nerds’ll be all, like, you know, kinda, sorta, maybe apoplectic at the pirate-spelling)
2) Angriffskrieg – this is a weird phrase and I didn’t think I have heard it before Russias attack. I now googled and found hits for the phrasing “Angriffskrief im Irak” from 20+ years ago.
It’s still a weird phrase to me, because what else could it be. If no one attacks, there is no war.
As for the Ampel… I hate the FDP, Lindner is cringe AF and I liked the speech Scholz gave when he kicked him out. I would even consider voting the FDP if they weren’t just a bunch of rich bros who want privileges.
I’d say we have “Shitshow”, although it’s not as widely accepted as “shitstorm”.
The real shitshow here was the dance around the date for elections. CDU threw a tantrum about Scholz’s idea of March, then the person overseeing the organizing said January is VERY unrealistic, then the CDU started discrediting her, then someone from CDU suggested 19th of January, and then they found out it’s unrealistically early and wanted end of February.
I hate CDU even more than FDP.
3) I felt like adding “or what” kind of takes away the punch. “or something” does work for me though. “oder was” in german does not tone it down. Ending on “bescheuert” just feels truncated.
5) Oh, I wanted to mention that but forgot. Yes, “die Grippe” comes from the French branch of the family and it’s indeed based on the idea that the disease “grips” you.
re: arrabica … it’s “rrobusta”, so I prefer to be consistent with my spelling values and say “arrabica” instead of catering to the coffee establishment.
==================
(2) Angriffskrieg – this is a weird phrase and I didn’t think I have heard it before Russias attack. I now googled and found hits for the phrasing “Angriffskrief im Irak” from 20+ years ago.
==================
If I’m reading correctly, the expression looks be present in both *des Statuts des Nürnberger* and the German constitution (Grundgesetz), the latter essentially saying that “if you attack Germany unprovoked, well get yourselves ready to be at war with us”. But yeah, it does seem to have a semi-formal definition, where it’s making it clear that one side was “simply attacked”, rather than retaliated against for provocative actions: in the news it’s pretty much used to mark the asymmetry of the conflict. “Der Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine” versus “Der Krieg zwischen Russland und der Ukraine”.
==================
As for the Ampel… I hate the FDP, Lindner is cringe AF and I liked the speech Scholz gave when he kicked him out. I would even consider voting the FDP if they weren’t just a bunch of rich bros who want privileges.
==================
Yep, the impression I have of the FDP is that they’ve drifted more and more from “liberal” toward “libertarian”, but in all the most loathsome senses of that word, to the extent that they are probably toasting Musk’s “musk” as I type: they’ve been predictably *anti* pretty much anything proposed by the Ampel that has even looked like costing money (let alone the fundamental problem of finding a more sensible solution regarding *debt*), to the extent that calling the loose assembly of the three parties a “coalition” has long seemed like quite the reach. So I guess at least that’s better reflected in the current minority government, but oh boy, what a mess. Oh, and, yeah, Lindner does seem like a total turd. One that took way too many flushes to be rid of… fear not, I’ll not be mentioning those skidmarks. No sir, not now, not ever…
Fair to say that the coming elections are going to be a lot more interesting than usual, and the bloated omnipresence of the AfD, the ugliest stepchild of German politics, may end up requiring some extraordinarily constricted-yet-convoluted mash-ups. So. Wenig. Spielraum.
Aaaaah, Die guten Zeiten bringen mich um.
We don’t have real libertarians over here. The ones that we do have, have long moved outside the country. You can meet them in Thailand or Bali and other places where they’ll talk to you about Bitcoin and taxes.
As for AfD… even if all the obvious problems were gone and they could rid themselves of their nazi wing (which they want to but they can’t because Höcke is too popular in some areas), there’s still the issue that Weidel, is actually living in… Switzerland. WTF!! And I am sure she has a LOT of rich friends who give her ideas.
I also find it interesting that the far right wing element in her party seems to have no issue with her being a lesbian, who lives together with an immigrant in a registered partnership raising two kids.
Which is a good sign, I guess. Back 30 years ago, this would not have been accepted by that kind of people, so there is progress, even if it doesn’t look like it.
Anyways, here’s a little clip of young Christian Lindner when he was still in school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0rL6Ju9H2Q
We don’t mind *those* sort of foreigners, or those nice, respectable sort of gay folk! They’re not the problem, it’s those, those, those *others*. But, cheap cynicism aside, yeah, the lesbian thing being a non-issue is definitely a good sign: not sure what the rank and file members would think, but the *progress* is that it’s not really negotiable any longer.
As for the Lindner video, the less said the better! Even after filtering out the considerable horror of 90s fashion, the “jung, reich und erfolgreich” Lindner already reeks of the older, Berufspolitiker version, or vice versa. And that’s not a nice thing to say about either of them ;-)
An excellent article. Noticed a typo in the Quiz, in answer 3 – durchgeifen.
Yep, ‘fingering’ is the term. “How would you finger that passage?”
I will be honest, in practically 50 years I never thought of a sexual connotation …until now. Maybe I just dismissed it. Maybe I was missing out on the best that life has to offer. Googling “Finger Bang” now…
Ha ha yes “fingering”, always fun in guitar classes as a teenager! It is however the correct term. It is also the correct term for the more adult implication … Wasn’t there a Southpark Episode “Finger Bang”
Instead of “fingerings” I’d say “finger positions”.
One can learn a chord, which would refer to the three notes that comprise its sound. It is also possible to refer to the fingering of the chord, which would mean which fingers are being used to play the specific chord.
Yeah, with the example, I meant the finger placement on the guitar. The chord as a musical entity is “der Akkord” in German or “der Dreiklang”
At least with guitar, you can also talk about “chord shapes.” But it’s usually just “chords” colloquially, and “fingerings” is totally correct for “where to put your fingers.”
Do you know what’s used in German on piano for “which fingers to use for which notes”?
Musician here– yes, “fingerings” is actually the correct term. Which leads me to an old jokey story I heard years ago when I was at Juilliard about these two very old, dignified Russian pianists, Rosina and Josef Lhevinne (a husband and wife team), who, when asked in an interview if they ever got nervous before an important concert, the wife said “Oh, yes! We lie awake in bed all night, fingering our passages!”
LOL, comedy gold!!
Hallo,
Let’s grab some typos first:
“greifen” is one of German word for “grabbing”(“greifen” is one of the German words for “grabbing”)
“getting” and intelectual concept (“getting” an intelectual concept)
simply be intelligeble but (simply be unintelligible but)
wrestlers grabbing each others belt (wrestlers grabbing each other‘s belts)
several more common options wordings for that (you have to choose option or wordings – both work)
Quiz question 1 – Don’t listen to the waring (warning)
Quiz question 2 – bulk of everdy grabbing and touching (everyday)
Quiz question 5 – deeper and sound a bit emotionally involved (sounds)
Quiz question 6 – durchgeifen (durchgreifen)
This is the kind of article I find EXTREMELY useful for prefix verbs (my Achilles heel when it comes to German), thanks, I think I finally understand the nuanced meanings of all forms of greifen :)
PS – Regarding the guitar class, I think you mean learning chords ;)
Bis bald!
Achilles’ heel… So next time, just don’t.
Emanuel here!! Please don’t say that, Jonathan. Elsa has been helping me for a long time cleaning up the articles for everyone’s benefit!
No one is perfect and I wouldn’t expect a comment about typos to be typo-free. I do appreciate you defending me, but the comment was probably a misunderstanding and wasn’t fair.
(I’m logged out, so commenting with my alias)
Liebe Grüße an euch beide!
The “tone” here is what’s keeping me coming back here to learn about German, languages, and people. Thank you! With warm regards
You need a “share” button. This is super interesting way of learning German words.
I had one back a few years ago, but it was barely used and it slowed down the site a lot. Maybe I should give it another try.
In Persian “to take, seize” is giriftan. Might be related, might not
Oh, I bet it is! Persian belongs to the Indo-European family so it would make sense.
crazy, i was thinking today “when is Emanuel gonna do an article on greifen”. I almost wrote this in a comment. Refreshed the main page and lo and behold…
lol