Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will take a look at the meaning of
annehmen
Hmmm… a verb that consists of the two parts to take and on. Will logic prevail and the translation be something reasonable like to take on? Or are we in for some wayward meaning like … pfff.. to blow-dry or something. Let’s look at an example and find out.
- Ew… the milk has taken on the taste of the fridge.
- Ihhh… die Milch hat den Kühlschrankgeschmack angenommen.
- Sein Gesicht nimmt einen verschmitzten Ausdruck an.
- His face takes on a roguish look.
Yeay, go logic, go logic. L to the O to the G o the IC. Annehmen actually does translate to to take on. Not always though, and if we look closer, we’ll find that to take on is not the best translation. Annehmen has much more of a passive vibe. If you take on a problem for example, that means that you tackle it, you work to overcome it. Annehmen is more like…
“Hey, here’s a problem. I think it has your name on it.”
“Ugh, fine … I guess it’s mine then. I’ll have it.“
I think the core of annehmen as a mix of taking and accepting… nehmen (to take) alone is just the mere action of taking something. Akzeptieren on the other hand is about … well… accepting. You can accept something without taking it.
- Ich nehme das Bier.
- I take the beer.
- Ich akzeptiere das Bier.
- I accept the beer…. as in
- I accept the beer for what it is…. I don’t actually take it
Annehmen fuses these two ideas together and the result is what I would sum up as to take something that has been offered to you…. or simply accepting an offer.
- Wow… die Kette ist superschön, aber… ich kann das nicht annehmen. Die ist doch viel zu teuer.
- Wow… the necklace is super pretty, but … I can’t accept it. It’s much too expensive.
- Ich habe die Einladung angenommen.
- I have accepted the invitation.
Gifts, invitations and apologies are the most common things that we annehmen. But the verb isn’t limited to those.
- Welcher Idiot hat das Paket angenommen? Das ist nicht für uns.
- Which idiot has accepted the parcel? It is NOT for us.
- Man muss sein Schicksal annehmen.
- One has to accept one’s fate.
- Die Sitzpolster des Sofas aus Kaltschaum nehmen ihre ursprüngliche Form nach dem Aufstehen schnell wieder an.
- The cold foam/memory foam seats of the sofa resume their original shape quickly after you get up.
(any better way to phrase that? Natives to the rescue)
The opposite of annehmen, by the way, is ablehnen and that verb makes a lot of sense. Just imagine your partner comes to you like…
“Hey honey, check out how smelly my socks are after I used those …”
My girlfriend then alway… uhm… I mean, one would then go like “EWWWW” and lean away .. lean off , ablehnen. Sure, we don’t decline invitations like that ….
“Your party?! Ewwww… go away with that.”
… but the idea is the same.
All right.
So… this was pretty easy so far. A little too easy. German prefix verbs are wicked, we all know that. So… I would … *ahem… assume that there is another meaning.
And of course there is…
- Ich nehme an, dass es noch eine Bedeutung gibt.
- I assume there is another meaning.
To assume. Seems random at first, but it isn’t that crazy when we think about it. Let’s take a generic sentence with annehmen.
- Ich nehme etwas an.
Etwas could be for example a present… then that would be the meaning we already know. But what if the etwas was a theory. For example the theory that Thomas and Maria broke up.
- “Haben Thomas und Maria sich getrennt?”
“Ja, das nehme ich an.” - “Did Thomas and Maria break up?”
“Yes, that’s what I think.”
We annehmen a theory so we sort of accept it as reality.. at least until we get more information. So the to assume-meaning of annehmen really isn’t too far fetched, oh and by the way… to assume actually ALSO comes from to take. In Latin, to take was emere and to assume is ad + sub + emere… … I don’t know how that works in detail.
Anyway, so annehmen can mean to assume or to suppose.
- “Ich nehme mal an, ihr wollt alle gerne eine Kaffeepause, von daher… wir sehen uns in 15 Minuten wieder hier.”
“Juchuu.” - “I suppose you all would love a coffee break, so… back here in 15 minutes.”
“Yeay.”
There are some alternatives like denken (to think ) or glauben (to believe) which express roughly the same. And I think those are used more often than annehmen in daily speech, especially in past tense.
- “Warum hast du mir denn einen Kaffee mitgebracht?”
“Naja, du hast so offensichtlich gegähnt, als ich in die Küche gegangen bin, dass ich angenommen/gedacht habe, du willst einen.” - “Why did you bring me a coffee?”
“Well… you were yawning so conspicuously when I went to the kitchen, that I assumed you wanted one”
The version with annehmen sounds a bit stiff to my ears. But even though it’s not a colloquial superstar annehmen is still a useful and used, particularly when you need to establish a premise or something…
- Nehmen wir mal an, jemand bietet dir einen echt gut bezahlten und interessanten Job an… mit der Bedingung, dass du dein Studium abbrichst… was würdest du machen.
- Let’s assume/Suppose someone offers you a really well payed and interesting job… the condition being that you quit your studies… what would you do.
- Mal angenommen, ich komme wirklich noch auf einen “Kaffee” hoch… hättest du denn noch eine extra Zahnbürste?
- Suppose I actually do come up for a “coffee”… would you have a spare toothbrush?
Those two (especially mal angenommen) are quite common in spoken German to introduce hypothetical things. What? Oh, why the mal is there? Well.. it’s optional but it makes it sound less uncasual… uh… I mean casualerer.
All right.
There is also a noun based on annehmen…. die Annahme , and this works for both the meanings we’ve seen.
- Die Annahme, dass Thomas mal wieder zu spät kommen würde, hat sich als falsch herausgestellt… er kam garnicht.
- The assumption that Thomas would be coming late yet again turned out to be wrong… he didn’t show up at all.
- Das sind alles nur Annahmen – keine Fakten.
- All those are just assumptions – not facts.
- Sechzig Prozent der Aktionäre stimmten gegen eine Annahme des Übernahmeangebots.
- Sixty percent of the stock holders voted against accepting (lit.: the acceptance) the take-over bid.
- Hier keine Annahme von Paketen. Die nächste Paketannahmestation finden sie in der Frankfurter Alle 186.
- Parcels are not accepted here. The nearest parcel counter is located at Frankfurter Allee 186.
There are two other related words we should mention, that exclusively work with the accepting-annehmen. The first one is annehmbar, which means acceptable or in colloquial contexts also okay.
- Letzte Woche war es zu heiß, aber diese Woche war es so um die 28°… das war ganz annehmbar.
- Last week it was too hot, but this week it was around 28°… that was okay/all right/agreeable.
The other word is annehmlich. It is quite close to annehmbar as it also means acceptable, agreeable but I feel like it is a little more positive than annehmbar. Annehmbare tempratures are just okay, annehmliche are nice.
Just like annehmbar, annehmlich isn’t used all that much, but it is the base of one kind of odd German noun.. die Annehmlichkeit. I don’t know… to me it sounds cute and technical at the same time :).
I would translate that as bits of comfort or convenience and you can find it a lot in context of hotels or cars.
- Das Hotel bietet seinen Gästen viele Annehmlichkeiten wie Sauna, Pool, kostenloses Internet und veganes Essen.
- The hotel offers many conveniences /amenities like sauna, pool, free internet or vegan food.
And if something doesn’t go as planned… all we need is to add un and we’ve all we need to apologize.
- Ich entschuldige mich für die Unannehmlichkeiten.
- I apologize for the inconveniences.
And I think that’s it for today. That was our German Word of the Day annehmen. The literal translation is to take on, but the core idea is probably more like to accept something that is offered to you, be it a present or an invitation… or a theory. And that is where annehmen becomes to assume.
If you have any questions or suggestions or if you want to try out some examples, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Hi. I found your blog after someone on duolingo mentioned it in one of the comments. Its been a month and I’ve enjoyed reading the posts so much that I have bookmarked your blog.
I completed an introductory course in German at college this spring and continued studying on my own throughout this summer via duolingo and your blog. I have also made a German pen pal with whom I speak strictly in German (even if I am wrong – he corrects me). This fall I’ll be taking Intermediate German and I am excited for the classes to start.
Anyways, I am glad to found your blog. :)
Yeay. Cool to hear that you’re actually excited for German class :). They say B1 tough. They say it’s the hardest. Let them talk :D
Viel Erfolg!
Keep up the good work, I really enjoy reading it.
Another useful and interesting post – thanks!
For the sofa example, I think the English translation would possibly be better as “… after you get up.”
Couple of items from a native speaker:
The hotel offers many conveniences … “amenities” is an option that applies to luxury items like pool, sauna, etc.
Parcels are not accepted here. Or, we do not accept parcels here.
Good Post! I look forward to them.
~Doc
I’ve never heard “amenities” before. I guess they don’t have that on the camping ground :D
Danke dir!
ich nehme an,dass das eine sehr Interessante Post war. Vielen Dank.
Thanks a lot for these posts. I just found the blog but I think it’s very useful and interesting.The explanations are really complete and clear.
Hi, ich habe seit einem Jahr angefangen, Deutsch zu lernen. Ich lese deine Posts regelmassig. Vielen Dank.
Ich möchte wissen, ob angenehm zu dieser Familie gehört. Vielen Dank im Voraus.
Ja, “angenehm” gehört auch dazu… aber über den Umweg “genehm” (das benutzt man wenig).
Eine kleine Korrektur:
– Ich habe VOR einem Jahr angefangen…
“Seit” ist “since” und “anfangen” hat keine Dauer. Du fängst nicht ein Jahr lang an… zumindest normalerweise nicht :)
Hey Emanuel, what I wanted to say isn’t specific to the article, (although as usual it was great) but I was thinking today a while ago I briefly discussed with you about how English speakers subconsciously choose the present perfect over the preterite. I remember saying that generally, yes, we always choose the present perfect when it’s required and never make an error. However recently, since talking about that, I’ve noticed more and more 1 or 2 recurring situations where it’s not correctly used but it’s not particularly wrong either. Although, this is generally in conversation.
Say, for example, you’re asking someone if they’ve done something yet. You could say one of two things here:
– Have you done it (yet)?
– Did you do it?
They both have a different nuance but they’re both acceptable in the context. However the second one can’t have the adverb ‘yet’ as part of the sentence, as that would require the present perfect construction. The issue here is that ‘yet’ tends to be tacked on to the end of the sentence as an afterthought, and as the speaker didn’t have that in mind when they had begun the sentence sometimes the following will occur in a variety of contexts:
– Did you do it, yet?
To me that sounds somewhat wrong but not painfully wrong. A bit like ‘Mai diesen Jahres’ wrong and not ‘Ich habe gegangen’ wrong.
Other adverbs like ‘already’, I’ve noticed, get caught up in this phenomenon. For example:
– I already rode my bike today.
This sounds even less wrong to me, but I’m certain a trained eye would go all grammar nazi on it.
As a side-effect, a lot of people are not aware of the past participle form of a lot of verbs today.
– I’ve drank 5 litres this weekend!!
– If you shrunk yourself to the size of a mouse….
– Mum, he’s bit me 5 times already!
– Have you chose your character yet?
– David’s forgot everything.
Those are all fairly cringe-worthy to me but I’ve definitely heard them. In fact I heard a fairly literate friend of mine say ‘swimmed’ the other day without realising, although most people quickly noticed. I think the ‘ed’ past is becoming so common that’s is taking over in English, however I feel like in German there are enough Starke Verben that that’s not happening just yet. In fact I’ve heard that people say ‘Ich frug’ for example, although where or why I don’t know.
Anyway, slightly off topic now but that was what was on my mind today.
Yeah, I think these little “idiomatic trumps grammar” bits are everywhere no matter how “established” the rule. I’ve definitely heard ” have drank” and “have bit” already and as I’m not a native speaker I wasn’t even sure whether the forms I knew (the ones I learned in school) were even correct ones.
I think these changes have a lot to do with rhythm.
– I’ve him …
has a completely different rhythm than
– I’ve bitten…
and maybe the former just so “English” that people gravitate toward it. In German, there’s something similar with adjectives. There are a few adjectives that are not supposed to get endings… for example “lila” and “rosa”.
– ein rosa Auto
– die rosa Hose
These are correct. And still I feel much better saying
– ein rosanes Auto
– die rosane Hose
simply because that fits the rhythmical pattern of an adjective while just “rosa” is odd.
And I recently figured that filler words like “mal” are also often mainly used for rhythm. A young child (3 or 4) in the tram said a few days ago about a puddle of beer
– Muss einer ma’ aufwischen.
And I was like… does a kid at this age really have a full sunconcious grasp of the full coloring capacity of “mal” or does it simply copy the rhythm … I don’t know. I guess it’s both.
As for starke/schwache Verben… just yesterday at dinner someone said “hang” as the “real past of “hängen”… when it should be “hängte” (or “hing”, depending on meaning). And it wasn’t a joke… it’s just what came to his mind. I think you’re right. The concept is very stable.
http://www.belleslettres.eu/artikel/buk-backte-stak-steckte-aussterben-starke-verben.php
This is about the question whether strong verbs are destined to disappear. You need pretty good German to understand it, I guess, but the author (who does know his shit) basically says” No, they’re here to stay” and in another video in this series he explains that “starke verben” were there first.
I take it that you’ve never seen this kind of sentence before in English? They seem very similar.
Thanks again for a helpful article – as ever.
Does annehmen also cover angenehme as in that Deutsche Bahn classic “wir wünschen ihnen eine angenehme reise”?
If so, is there much of a difference between angenehme and annehmbar?
Yes, they’re related, though there’s “genehm” in between … a word rarely used.
“Angenehm” is much much better than “annehmbar”. It would be really funny if the announcer in a very very packed train were to say “eine annehmbare Reise”. Unfortunately DB corporate communication guidelines or something probably forbid these kind of jokes.
Würdest du sagen, dass “Annehmen” vielleicht eine gute Alternative zu “I guess” sein könnte?
z.B. “das nehme ich an” statt “I guess so”
Das sage ich oft, aber ich weiß dass Deutsch wirklich kein gutes Wort für “guess” hat… Mindestens in diesem Fall
Hmm… also vom Inhalt her schon, aber was die Praxis angeht eher nicht. “Annehmen” ist viel weniger locker als “I guess”. Man kann es nicht mal eben so als Füller einwerfen … und alleine klingt es viel formaler als “I guess”
– “Er kommt also nicht?!”
“Das nehme ich an.”
Ich würde sagen “Denk’ ich mal” passt ganz gut für “I guess” wenn auch natürlich nicht immer.
– “Meinst du die haben morgen offen?”
“Denk ich mal.”
– “Would you say they’re open tomorrow?”
“I guess.”
bitte bitte. Könntest du mal einen Artikel über ‘lassen’ schreiben? Ich sehe es vielmals aber verstehe manchmal gar nicht, wieso es benutzt worden ist.
Ja auf jeden Fall… ist schon lange lange auf der Liste, ich hatte bisher nur noch nicht den “Impuls”
Wie gewöhnlich eines gutes Artikel. Nur eine frage:
Was ist die unterschied zwischen zusagen & Annehmen? Kann man beides auf jeden fall benutzen?
Danke im Voraus
Anil
Ne, nicht wirklich. “Zusagen” ist wie “to say yes, to confirm” … es geht nur darum was du sagst. Die beiden teilen die Idee von “ja” aber ich glaube man kann sie fast nie austauschen.
– Ich nehme ein Geschenk an. (I accept a present)
– Ich sage ein Geschenk zu ( I confirm that a present will be given/ I promise, allow a present)
Hoffe, das hilft.
Die Annahme, dass Thomas mal wieder zu spät kommen würde, hat sich als falsch herausgestellt… er kam garnicht.
The assumption that Thomas would be coming late yet again turned out to be wrong… I didn’t show up at all.
It should be “he” instead of “I” ;)
Ups… danke, I almost revealed my secret identity :D
hahahahaha :D
Thanks again for another very useful post! Don’t think I knew about the assume meaning, which is a word I wanted to know but all I knew was ausgehen davon, which always seemed a bit awkward. How would you compare usage of ausgehen davon with annehmen in its “assume” meaning?
“Ausgehen davon” or “von etwas ausgehen” is rather clunky and I think people use it more in writing. I think it is a little more “confident” that “annehmen”
– Ich gehe davon aus, dass die Küche, wenn ich wieder komme, sauber ist.
That pretty much means “You had better clean the kitchen”. With “annehmen” it’s much less demanding. When you take the literal meanings “annehmen” is just “accepting something as reality” while “ausgehen von” is venturing out from somewhere… that needs more confidence.
Hope that made sense.
“The cold foam seats of the sofa resume their original shape quickly after you get up.”
While Googling suggests “cold foam” works in English as a technical term, it’s not something you’d likely hear while furniture shopping. More typical would be “memory foam”.
“The next parcel counter is located at Frankfurter Allee 186.”
This would be more natural as “the nearest parcel counter”, or “the closest”, unless you’re saying it’s the next one that will be encountered (e.g. by travelling in one’s current direction).
Ha… that’s actually a nice pun. Like… you stand in front of a closed parcel counter and there’s a sign that reads
– Closed. The closest parcel counter can be found at…
I like “memory foam”. It’s so descriptive. In German there is the technical term “Formgedächstnislegierung” (shape memory alloy) and we do say Gedächtnismetall (not Erinnerungsmetall, by the way) or Metall mit Gedächtnis, but “memory” sounds cooler.
Bezüglich Sitzpolster man könnte sagen: The cold foam couch cushions quickly retake their original shapes after you stand up. :)
and also, “gar nicht” wird gar nicht zusammengeschrieben ;)
Stimmt… ich schieb’s einfach auf die Reform (du weißt bestimmt, welche) :D
Also, wieder ich mit meinen üblichen Sprachvergleichen. Im Russischen gibts das Wort “prinimat'”, das ähnliche Ausdrucksfunktion ausübt. Es deckt zwar nicht die ganze Vielfalt an Bedeutungen [könnte man hier auch “Bedeutungsvielfalt” schreiben?] des deutschen Wortes ab, aber…
Ich nehme deine Einladung an. – Ja *prinimayu* tvoyo priglasheniye.
Die Couch nimmt allmählich deine Körperform an. – Divan postepenno *prinimayet* formu tvoego tela.
Merk auch mal, wie ähnlich das Stammwort aussieht: an-nehm-en, an-nimm-t – pri-nim-at’, pri-nim-ayet
Ich frag mich also, ob hier eine tiefe Beziehung besteht :D
Kann ich mir auch gut vorstellen, dass die zwei verwandt sind. Danke für den Blick ins Russische (und wahrscheinlich ins Slawische insgesamt). Ist echt super, auch in diese Richtung zu vergleichen und ich habe da so gut wie keinen Zugang zu. Ich habe mir aber nuelich mal das Alphabet angeschaut. Meine erste zarte Annäherung and Russisch :).
Bedeutungsvielfalt ist nicht nur ein Wort … es ist DAS Wort dafür.
One thing that’s not clear to me from this post is the extent to which annehmen and akzeptieren are interchangeable. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard people say that they “akzeptiere” an invitation, but what about a gift or a parcel, where accepting has more to do with taking? And what about accepting an apology, or one’s fate? Can either verb be used, or is one more colloquial than the other?
Also, I’m not clear on the difference between annehmen and vermuten?
Thanks!
That’s a good question. I think “annehmen” has a stronger focus on actually taking something. You get handed a parcel, an invitation or fate, and you take it. It also sounds a bit more personal.
“Akzeptieren” is more about saying “I’m okay with that”.
You can use “akzeptieren” also for an invitation or a parcel but that would sound a little odd.
– Ich akzeptiere dein Verhalten.
– I accept your behavior.
– Die Kreditkarte wurde nicht akzeptiert.
– The credit card wasn’t accepted (no idea if this is proper English)
– Ich nehme die Wahl an.
– I accept being elected. (again, no idea how that’s said)
As for “annehmen” and “vermuten”… “die Annahme” (assumption) is a little less vague than “die Vermutung” (suspicion, supposition), so I guess there’s a bit of the same difference in the verbs… but they’re really really close.
Hope that helps a bit.
Thanks!
Das Wort ‘assume’ kann auch als “to take on (a particular character, quality, mode of life, etc.); adopt” (laut dictionary.com) übersetzt werden. D.h., in den ersten Beispielen kann mann auch auf Englisch ‘assume’ verwenden. Ist das zufällig?
Danke im Voraus.
I did a quick check on the background of “assume” and apparently it comes from the Indo-European root *eme which was about taking. Combined with the prefix “sub” it became Latin “sumere” which meant “to take” and that was then combined with the prefix “a(d)”, which expresses some sort of joining. So the building blocks are pretty much the same.
Interesting, how two different roots meaning the same, could change their meaning in two different languages in the same way…
There are actually quite a few examples for this. I can’t think of an example right now though
A small thing from one of your examples I’ve noticed is ‘Von daher’. I’ve seen this a few times at the end of sentances, quite often with a … after. I can’t quite pinpoint the meaning, although I know it as ‘so’, or ‘as such’. Any idea how else this can be expressed in English? Thanks!
Yeah, your impression is pretty spot on. This article will clear it all up :)
https://yourdailygerman.com/2014/03/17/von-da-her-meaning/