Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day.
This time, with a look at the meaning of
steigen
Steigen is one of these verbs that kind of flies below the radar of many students even though it is a super useful word that you can hear or see every day.
And not only steigen itself. There are lots of cool prefix versions, some funky differences between these versions, some annoying things about translating them to English and there are also one or two or three or four or five surprising family members.
So we definitely have enough to talk about, and I’d say let’s get on board of the Steigen-Express…
“Einsteigen bitte”
Doors are closing, and off we go :).
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I was surprised to read something today that lead me to the discovery that you can use “steigen” to climb downwards.
I was digging around a bit with the etymology because I also was thinking about the surname “Schweinsteiger” and it occured to me the english word “sty” meaning “Schweinerei” might be related, which apparently it is. When you hear “Schweinsteiger” do you think of someone “raising” pigs, like erziehen?
No, I always thought of someone climbing on pigs. It’s Bavaria, after all. What do I know what kind of traditions they have.
oh you thought that too? cus I was like maybe it doesn’t sound so funny to someones who first language is german….
Oh no, they even joked on TV about it. I’d say 80% of people thought that.
Fantastic presentation as usual. I learn so much!
Happy to hear that :)
This question might be similar to what was asked by a couple of people, but I would like to make sure I got it. My questioning comes from my search via…sigh…google translate.
“I get off the train” is translated to “Ich steige aus dem Zug”
The same for “I get ON the train”. It translates to “Ich steige in den Zug”. No closing aus or ein.
However…and this is what always blows my mind… change the noun from train to bus….
“I get on the bus” becomes “I steige in den Bus ein” however, getting off the TRAIN drops the ‘aus’ at the end. Arghhh!
I am going to practice with ein and aus at the end, but maybe you can make sense out of why google is doing this.
Hallo Emanuel –
Ich lese gerade diese Geschichte und der Autor scheint zwischen der Verwendung von „steigen“ mit und ohne Präfix zu wechseln. Zwei Beispiele aus der Geschichte:
Die beiden Männer steigen in den Lastwagen
Ich steige hinten in den Lastwagen ein
Gibt es dafür einen stilistischen Grund oder ändert sich die Bedeutung? Gibt es einen grammatikalischen Grund für die Verwendung des einen oder des anderen?
Danke
Hello, I’m just curious about
Are two “aus” necessary? Could you say “Der Regisseur ist dem Projekt ausgestiegen.”? Thank you
No, you have to have the second “aus” there.
The verb is “aussteigen” and the preposition it wants happens to be also “aus”. Sometimes, prefix and preposition happen to be the same, but at the core it’s just a normal combination of a verb that wants to have one specific preposition (like “to wait for”, for example)
Hope that helps!
Hi –
Are wechseln and umsteigen similar in the context of changing transportation methods? I saw in another post that wechseln was not similar to umziehen.
Thanks
“umsteigen” is way more common. I would never use “wechseln” in that context, but I wouldn’t notice it as weird if someone does it.
Hey Emanuel,
In diesen Sätzen, welches Verb würde am besten passen (welches Verb würde idiomatischer klingen):
– Ich soll mal auf das Dach steigen/klettern um es sauber zu machen.
– Wann bist du Kilimandscharo gestiegen/geklettert?
Bei dem zweiten Satz sollte man “bist” oder “hast” benutzen? Wenn man die Regel folgt, sollte “bist” sein, aber in diesem Satz gibt es ein direkt Objekt (Kilimandscharo) sollte dann nicht “haben” sein? (ich habe den Kilimandscharo gestiegen/geklettert?).
Vielen dank,
Im ersten Satz würde ich “gehen” benutzen” aber “klettern” und “steigen” sind auch ok.
“klettern” hat ein bisschen eine Vibe von “actual climbing”. Also “klettern” passt eigentlich nicht gut zu einer simplen Leiter. Aber in der Praxis is das okay.
Beim zweiten Satz fehlt “auf”. Und hier passt “gestiegen” besser, da man beim Kilimandscharo viel läuft und wenig bis gar nicht klettert.
Eine Alternative ohne “auf” ist “besteigen”.
Und was das Hilfsverb angeht:
– Wann bist du auf den K. gestiegen?
– Wann hast du den K. bestiegen?
Gloria Tirado
Super! Meine deutsche worter sind allen weg. Ich danke sie.
Hello, I understand that absteigen is to get off the bike or motorcycle, but what is it to get on it? Is it also einsteigen?
Good question… that’s “aufsteigen”. For “einsteigen” you need a door.
I guess there’s no clear difference then between “zunehmen” and “steigen”: Die Spannung steigt – Die Spannung nimmt zu?
Well, “zunehmen” can also be “increase in size, weight” while “steigen” is focused totally on the aspect of height. A number that goes up.
For instance, people can “zunehmen”, that means they gain weight. That would make no sense with “steigen”.
But in the example with Spannung they both work. “steigen” sounds quicker and “morer” though.
– Die Spannung nimmt zu.
This is very moderately increasing tension. At least that’s how it feels to me.
Another great post! :)
I have doubt about the word “erhöhen”. Should it be used like “steigen” (without mentioning who increases sth) or like “steigern” (mentioning who increases sth)?
“Erhöhen” works like “steigern” so you always have to “erhöhen” something. It’s common to use it with a self referrence though:
-Die Temperatur erhöht sich.
Thanks a lot! :)
Why is it that “aus” appears twice in “Thomas steigt aus dem Porsche aus.”?
Thanks for the post by the way..
Good question! That’s German doubling up on the direction. The verb is “aussteigen” the thing you are doing that to is connected using the preposition “aus”. Having a prefix verb and a preposition is super common and somtimes the prefix and the prep are the same.
– Ich komme mit dir mit. (mit jemandem mitkommen)
– Ich steige in das Auto ein.
(not exactly the same but the same idea)
Hope that helps.
Yes, it helps. It justs feels very weird (for now) to see the same word twice. Thanks!
The first “aus” related to “dem Porsche” while the second one is just the verb’s prefix as “aussteigen” is separable.
Exactly!!
“sich reinsteigern” sounds/feels like “to get oneself all worked up”
Yeah, I think the result is pretty much the same. The one difference that is really crucial is that with “reinsteigern” you MUST say “into what”… you cannot just “reinsteigern” the way you can get worked up. (or at least I think you can use “to get worked up” without saying “over X”)
Yes, in English the “over/about X” can be omitted.
Eine kurze Frage.
Ich glaube, mindestens drei Verben werden üblicherweise verwendet, die ähnliche Bedeutungen haben. Steigen, erhöhen und steigern.
Du hast klar erklärt wie die Verben steigen und steigern unterschiedlich sind. Wann würde man erhöhen anstelle von steigern verwenden? Oder habe ich was ganz misverstanden?
Vielen Dank für einen anderen interessanten Beitrag. Es gibt so viele Information, dass ich alles auf einmal nicht aufnehmen kann! Das ist aber gut und ich bin dankbar, dass ich irgendetwas mit ausführlichen Daten zu lesen habe, wenn ich bereit werde, weitere Dinge zu lernen. Wenn ich Probleme mit anderen Programmen haben, kann ich normalerweise diese Webseite nutzen, um alles aufzuklaren. Sehr gut gemacht!
Ich freue mich auch auf dein Buch. Sag uns bitte Bescheid, wann und wie wir es kaufen kann.
Eric
Hi! Thanks for the post!
I knew another verb to describe the notion of increase: “mehren”. For example: “Rufe nach Rücktritt von VW-Chef Winterkorn mehren sich”. What would you say is the difference? And what is your book about? Ich bin gespannt, dass du ein Buch schreibst!
“mehren” is pretty rare, especially in spoken German. I think a good match is “increase in numbers”.
You would never use it for stuff like temperature or prices.
– Die Preise mehren sich.
That sounds like there are more and more prices popping up.
The book is about prefixes… some of them anyway.
“Multiply,” maybe?
Sounds good. By the way… there’s a somewhat famous part of the Bible:
– Seid fruchtbar und mehret Euch…
What’s that in English?
And for what it’s worth… here’s a nice variation:
https://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/140066
Yeah, that’s generally translated “be fruitful and multiply” (the New International Version has “increase in number,” though).
Germans just love puns, huh?
Wow, “increase in numbers” sounds so technical. Straight from the “Christianity”-user manual :D
Ha, yeah… a lot of the issue is that the shadow of the King James translation really hangs heavily over any newer translation effort (like Luther here). Many of the popular translations these days are actually self-consciously in the KJV tradition (like the ESV that I usually use), so they tend to hold on to a lot of those familiar formulations unless they’ve gotten really archaic. The NIV, though, was a deliberate effort back in the ’70s to make a fresh start direct from the original texts, without reliance on older translations (hence “New” International Version), and while I don’t know that they would admit it, I think they somewhat self-consciously avoided a lot of those formulations in many places.
It’s actually been really interesting to try to figure out what German Bible translation to use for myself. It doesn’t seem like there really is one that’s all that great – Luther ’84 is OK but still tends to read pretty archaic; Schlachter and Elberfelder are very accurate but are basically ugly or at least non-idiomatic German; Einheitsübersetzung is solid but can be kind of technical for general use. The more modern and idiomatic versions (Neue Genfer, Gute Nachricht, Neues Leben, Hoffnung für Alle) run increasingly toward paraphrase rather than translation.
It’s just kind of weird, because in English there are really a lot of translations that are both idiomatic and accurate (to varying degrees, sure, but all usable).
“Boah the connection sucks balls. I had to switch/change trains 4 times to get here.”
You can also say “I had to transfer 4 times to get here.”
“Boah, die Verbindung ist voll scheiße. Ich musste 4 mal umsteigen um hierherzu kommen.”
hierher zu should be two words, right? I’m having a crisis of faith here.
“Those opposed to legalization call Marijuana a starter drug.”
AKA a “gateway drug”.
Thanks again for a great article!
Should be “um hier herzukommen”, because the verb in question is “herkommen”?
Could be either one of the following:
– um hierherzukommen
– um hierher zu kommen
– um hier herzukommen
1 and 3 make the most sense to me, but there are different opinions among native speakers when it comes to verbs with somewhat lengthy prefixes.
Ops… there might be different views among native speakers how to spell that but the way I had it was NOT one of them, so you can relax :)
– hier herzukommen
– hierher zu kommen
– hierherzukommen
They are all correct and you can find arguments for either one. I would lean toward the third but the first works for me, too. I would not use the second spelling but others might have a different opinion. There are no fixed rules there.
But
– hierherzu kommen
is just plain wrong :). Sorry.
treiben?
What’s the question?
Suchen Sie nach “treiben” auf dieser Seite.
Oooohhhhhh. Ops. I was editing the post on “treiben” right before deciding to post this one. Thanks for the heads up!!
Ich versuche, auf Deutsch zu schreiben.
Ich danke Ihnen für die Anki Flashcards und den Artikel. Die Anki Flashcards sind sehr hilfreich. Deine Posts hat mir sehr viel gehelfen, aber in diesem Artikel gibt es nicht so viel Witze. :( Ich glaube, dass ich mehr bei lustigen Artikelen lerne.
Niemals habe ich das Wort “jetty” gehört. Ich sage “dock” oder “pier.”
Ich hoffe, dass meine erste Kommentar nicht so schlecht ist. :D
As a professional mariner, I would say there is a big difference between a jetty and a dock/pier. Ships moor at docks and piers. A jetty is often piled up rocks and stuff used for a lot of other purposes, like breaking up wave patterns that lead to beach erosion.
Oh, then jetty is not the correct term. A “Steg” is only for boats and it’s usually small and made from wood. Thanks for clearing that up.
Would a line of thick wooden posts used for that purpose (breaking up currents/wave patterns at a beach) be a jetty as well? We were just up on the Ostsee/Baltic coast a couple of weeks ago, and the beach nearest us had a whole series of them – and I had no idea what they’d even be called in English.
In German they’re called “Wellenbrecher”
and they really take away from the whole beach experience… at least, in my opinion. An occasional Wellenbrecher is all right but at some parts of the “Ostsee” they’re spread out over kilometers and it’s not a nice sight.
I thought they were pretty. :) We were in Zempin (on Usedom), where there are only about 6-8 of them over a stretch of maybe a kilometer.
They are called “Breakwaters”
They come in different sizes and methods. From cheap piles driven into the shallows, like the image above – all the way to large man-made barrier islands.
The term that comes to mind is “breakwater”, but funnily enough, I saw this just the other day: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-34254958 . So maybe they were “groynes”?
I’m gonna go with “groynes.” Glorious word.
And an even more glorious etymology…
https://etymonline.com/index.php?term=groyne&allowed_in_frame=0
“Hey mom, what are all those pig snouts in the sea for?”
It’s like “groins” but more olde-timey and British.
Yeah, but just like “groins” they keep something at bay (or should I say “belly”. And by the way… “groins” are “die Leisten” in German and a “Leiste” is a long wooden stick. That can’t be a coincidence. My guess is free masons… I really have to find my tin hat again.
Hah.. ja, nicht so viele Witz diesmal. Die besten Witze sind die, die spontan kommen, und manchmal kommt einfach lange nix. Wie bei der U-Bahn… haha. Aber im Ernst, es kommen auch wieder Posts mit mehr Witzen, keine Sorge.
Dein Deutsch ist übrigens ziemlich gut. Nicht perfet, aber auf jeden Fall gut genug um nur noch Deutsch zu schreiben. Weiter so!!
Thanks for the flashcards, they are really useful!