Hello everyone,
and welcome to another episode of Prefix Verbs Explained.
The sun does it, your shoe does it, dough does it and the villain’s evil plan to conquer the world does it… well, okay…actually the plan usually DOESN’T do it.
Anyway, I bet you’re a little confused right now, but don’t worry. It’ll dawn on you.
Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for a look at the meaning of
aufgehen
Gehen means to go and auf has two notions it can add to a verb: on-top-ness (or the moving sister upward-ness) and open-ness.
In case of aufgehen, it adds both. And does some crazy stuff with it. But we’ll start with the two more “normal” meanings.
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The Main Meanings of “aufgehen”
The most straight forward aufgehen is the one with the open-auf, which means “to go open” or simply to open.
- Mein Reißverschluss geht immer auf.
- My zipper always goes down (opens).
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Tür geht von alleine auf.
- The door opens by itself/automatically.
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- Das Marmeladenglas geht nicht auf. Es klemmt.
- The jam jar won’t (come) open. It’s jammed.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Get it? The jam jar is jammed? I mean… of course it is, it’s a jam jar.
Hilarious.
Anyway, it’s important to note that aufgehen is only a part of to open. It describes that something opens by itself (or gets opened). And it can also express that something is generally “open-able”. The one thing aufgehen can NOT be used for is opening something. You cannot “aufgehen a door”. Aufgehen is what the DOOR does, be it because of the wind, or you or some solar powered mechanism.
Hey, speaking of solar powered mechanisms – for them to work we need the sun hanging in the sky. Which brings us right to the next meaning of aufgehen: to rise.
Oh boy… these transitions.
Anyway, so to rise, “to go up” – that makes sense. The thing with the rise-aufgehen is that only a very few things can do it:
the sun and the moon…
- Sun rises/goes up at 7.
- Die Sonne geht um 7 auf.
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- Der Mond ist aufgegangen, die goldnen Sternlein prangen…. (famous German lullaby)
- The moon has risen, the tiny golden stars, resplendent.
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theater actors …
- Du gehst auf, wenn Hamlet “Vater” sagt.
- You go up/out/on stage when Hamlet says “Father”.
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and dough.
- Mein Teig geht nicht auf.
- My dough won’t rise.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
For all other rising things, like rising prices or rising people, aufgehen doesn’t work because it’s simply not idiomatic.
- The temperature is rising.
- Die Temperatur
geht auf.… NOPE!
This is wrong and people would be REALLY confused and not know what you mean. Sun, moon, actors and dough. Nothing else. So unless you’re an actor or really into baking, you’ll only need this aufgehen in context of the sun. Well, and there’s a very common idiom about suddenly understanding something, which is based on the light of the sun.
- jemandem geht ein Licht auf
- someone suddenly gets/understands something
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- Als ich diesen Artikel gelesen habe, ist mir ein Licht aufgegangen.
- When I read this article, I started to understand something/I began to see.
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All right.
So stuff opening up and (certain stuff) rising.
Those are the two bread and butter meanings of aufgehen. But there are a few others that are also good to know.
Side Meanings of “aufgehen”
In combination with plans or tactics, aufgehen can express the idea of working out.
- Marias Plan ist aufgegangen.
- Maria’s plan worked/came to fruition.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Does that tie in then with one of the basic ideas of auf ? Well, it does when thinking of the plan as a beautiful flower blossom that is opening up.
This idea of “working out” is also part of the next use of aufgehen.
But this time, it’s about one specific plan… the plan to “evenly divide something into parts and distribute them”.
Uh… what?!?!
It’s really hard to explain so here’s an example. Imagine you have 3 thirsty people and 10 Feierabendbeers to give to them… that would be a situation where you could say this
- Das geht nicht ganz auf.
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You cannot divide your stock of beer evenly. I have no clue how to translate that but I hope you got the idea. It’s not super common anyway.
Last but not least there is the phrasing in etwas aufgehen which expresses the idea of being absorbed by something or dissolve in something. Not in a factual sense of like sugar in water or something. The main use is for people getting really into their work or their hobby.
- Maria geht ganz in ihrer Arbeit auf.
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Dictionaries suggest to lose oneself in something but the German phrasing sounds much more positive… the work fulfills her completely.
There’s also in Flammen aufgehen (to go up in flames) and I guess a couple more, but I think we got the most important ones covered.
And in daily life you only really need the one about opening and the one about the sun. And if you’re a super hero villain, probably the third, too. The one about the plan.
- Mein Plan für die Weltherrschaft geht so sicher auf wie die Sonne und mein Schuh…. muahahahahaahahahaha
- My plan for world domination will work out as certainly as the sun rises and my shoe opens itself.
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Cool.
So this were all the meanings of aufgehen.
Two quick examples for the noun der Aufgang …
- Ich mag den Sonnenaufgang.
- I like sunrise.
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- Die Toiletten sind neben Aufgang C1.
- The restrooms are next to staircase C1.
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… and we can move on. Or should I say move upstairs? Hint hint….
The Meanings of “raufgehen” and “draufgehen”
As usual, the r-version is super mega uber literal. Raufgehen means to go up(ward) and it works for a person walking upstairs as well as for prices or other numbers.
- Geh schon mal rauf. Ich komm gleich.
- You can go ahead and go upstairs. I’ll be right there.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der Ölpreis geht rauf und runter.
- The oil price is going up and down.
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Actually, I’d prefer hochgehen for going upstairs, but I guess it’s largely based on personal preference.
Now, what’s up with draufgehen… why was that part of the headline?
Well, sometimes the r-version and its brother the dr-version actually have such different meanings that they’re not interchangeable. This is not always the case but if it is, the difference is roughly the same. The r-version stresses the directional aspect, the dr-version is more focused on the final destination. So in our case that means raufgehen is like “going upward” and “draufgehen” is “go on top of something”.
- “Mist, das Selfie wurde nicht gespeichert. ”
“Ohhhh….Warum?”
“Ich glaub, dass auf die SD-Karte nix mehr draufgeht.” - “Damn, the selfie wasn’t saved.”
“Ohhhh… why?”
“I think, I can’t put more on my SD card.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Think of the SD card as a stack or pile. You can’t put anything on top of it anymore. But okay, that example really isn’t the best and raufgehen would work, too. Draufgehen just fits a bit better.
“Wait, so if they are mostly interchangeable, then why do you even talk about this?”
Well, the thing is… draufgehen is used in a couple quite common figurative expressions.
- Der Schauspieler wäre bei dem Stunt fast draufgegangen.
- The actor almost died performing that stunt.
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- Fast die Hälfte des monatlichen Studentenbudgets geht für die Miete drauf.
- Almost half of the student’s monthly budget is spent on rent.
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Draufgehen can either mean to die or more generally to be used up for something. I can’t really tell you how this connects to what we had. Maybe some sort of being put on a “used up”-pile.
Anyway, what matters is that raufgehen absolutely does NOT work here.
- Der Schauspieler ist für den Stunt fast raufgegangen.
This would sound like the actor almost went upstairs for the stunt. So here, raufgehen and draufgehen are completely different words. And by the way… that’s also the case for daraufgehen.
- Der Schauspieler ist fast daraufgegangen.
That doesn’t even make sense.
So, all this is nothing that you need to remember actively or that’ll help you pass your exam. But I wanted to mention it to show you that dr-version is NOT ALWAYS just a colloquial dar-version (as standard textbook lore claims) and that there can be a subtle yet significant difference between the r-version and the dr-version.
If you feel like “I didn’t get that last part” then that’s fine. Think of it as planting a seed. We’ll come across this here and there during the prefix verb series, so it’ll slowly grow on you and eventually be like a second skin.
Anyway… that’s it for today folks. This was our look at the meaning of aufgehen and the three main takeaways are that it can mean “to open (by itself)” and to rise for the sun and that it has a bunch of other uses that you might encounter here and there.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions about aufgehen or if you want to try out some examples, just leave me a comment; and leave me a like if you enjoyed this post. I hope you did, schöne Woche euch und bis nächstes mal.
Oh, and here’s a song with aufgehen in it, if you want and you’re interested in German drill rap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFTzBc6CA7Q
Such a banger!
And by the way, what’s with the editing in the video? James Cameron really cooked there.
** aufgehen – fact sheet **
meanings:
to rise (for the sun, the moon and dough)
to work out – for plans
to find (complete) fulfillment – for jobs, activties, hobbies (“Ich gehe in etwas auf”)
to come open (for doors, shoes, zippers etc)
spoken past:
form of sein + aufgegangen
written past:
ging- auf /aufging-
related words:
der Aufgang – the stairway (in stadiums for example, also: the rising of the sun)
raufgehen – go up(ward), go upstairs
draufgehen – to die, to be spent on something (in a negative sense)
opposites:
zugehen (for “to open”)
untergehen (for the sun only)
zusammenfallen (for dough)
nicht aufgehen (for plans and items to distribute)
I am reading a book and i saw there a phrase which made me to re-read this article and I wanted to doublecheck. So the phase is “aber hier erst…ging mir auch die Formel auf, nach der…” so i assume that’s the same meaning as the idiom with the light, i.e. the translation would be that “here at this place I suddenly understood the formula”, is that right?
Oh nice one!
I actually forgot that this meaning existed.
So yeah, facts or logical connections can “aufgehen jemandem” in the sense that you have a small epiphany.
You can think of it in terms of a “light rising”, but what makes even more sense imo is to think of it as a “flower of insight” opening for someone.
Thanks for bringing this up, I have added it to my dictionary now.
Which is more idiomatic for “going upstairs”?
Ich geh’ rauf.
Ich geh’ nach oben.
I would say
but the other two are fine as well.
I feel like with “rauf” it sounds a bit like from Southern Germany or Austria, but I am not sure about the regional usages.
”Das geht nicht ganz auf” = “That doesn’t quite work out.” same translation as a plan working out :D
Wait, am I missing something? Did I say something wrong or are you just happy for your insight :D?
just happy to find the connection haha
Ahh, nice :D!
There is a joke in English: “I stayed up all night wondering where the sun had gone, then it dawned on me”. This brings together the meanings of “die Sonne geht auf” and “ist mir ein Licht aufgegangen”. Does the whole joke translate, and what would it be?
Ha, not really, unfortunately.
“it dawned on me” could be “mir ist ein Licht aufgegangen” but I think half the people might miss the pun.
Or you could technically also use the phrase “es ist mir aufgegangen”, but as it is “die Sonne”, there is no direct connection.
It’s just too perfect in English and it’ll be forced and contrived if you do it in German.
I recently saw a movie with this quote (A boy who plays the violin at a party, hears from a friend): “An deiner Stelle würde ich das Quartett aufgehen und eigene Musik machen. Klassik funktioniert nur in Deutschland”
Subtitle: “If I were you, I’d give up on the quartet and focus on my own music. Classical music only works in Germany”
spoken language: “I think you should give up this string quartet thing and focuson your music. Classical music is only lucrative in Germany.”
What is “aufgehen” expressing in this context?
I don’t think it’s a translation error because it’s an official Netflix subtitle.
Let me know, Master
I’m pretty sure the person is saying “aufgeben”, not “aufgehen”. Your feeling that “aufgehen” makes no sense is correct.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to learn German here, this is the best website I found on the internet, it’s explained so well and it’s also funny so I’ll learn with a smile on my face. :) Thank you once again!
I learned a new word in English today. “resplendent”. I have never heard of that word today. You are teaching me German AND English lol
Full credit to the dictionary :D
It’s spelling bee material :)
danke for giving me free lessons :)
You’re welcome!
English translation for 3 people and 10 beers-Das geht nicht ganz auf. “It doesn’t come out even.”
Danke :)
For an actor’s “aufgehen,” only “go on(-stage)” or “enter” would be idiomatic, as far as I know.
There are probably a bunch of expressions for “jmdm. geht ein Licht auf” – “something clicked” would work, or I’d even say “a light bulb went/turned on” or “had a light-bulb moment.”
learned some great points from this post.
Great to hear that, glad you enjoyed it :)!
Hi,
What do you think about: “Das geht nicht (ganz) auf.” = “That doesn’t (quite) add up.” (in the more literal sense)
Anyway, I want to add: “der Draufgänger”. Which is a translation of “bad boy” as in “Bad Boys 2”. It also comes with an adjective: “draufgängerisch”, which would be “ballsy”. Or in less slangy English: “daredevil”/”fearnaught” respectively “laddish”.
Although “Draufgänger” is not my favorite word for this. I like “Haudegen” (lit.: “hit-rapier”) more or “Teufelskerl” (lit.: “devil’s-guy”) or “Tausendsassa” (lit.: “thousand-hooray”; this one might be more positive than the rest).
“Doesn’t add up” kind of makes sense in a way, but as you say, it’s a pretty literal way to take what usually means, idiomatically, “that doesn’t make sense” or “doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.” I don’t know if there’s a matching idiom, although it seems like there ought to be one…
“Draufgänger”!!! How could I forget it :)… vielen Dank!
Tausendsassa ist aber zumindest meinem Sprachgefühl nach nicht wirklich das gleiche. Ein Tausendsassa ist jemand der alles/vieles kann und macht. Ein Draufgänger hat einfach keine Angst – oder ignoriert sie. Oder sucht sie :).
Two questions:
1. “Marias Plan ist aufgegangen.” Is this somewhat more formal than “Marias Plan hat geklappt”?
2. You translated “Der Schauspieler wäre bei dem Stunt fast draufgegangen” as “the actor almost died” and not “the actor *would have* almost died”. I feel like I’ve heard similar stuff before, in which German uses subjunctive and English doesn’t. Am I imagining this?
Good questions!
1) Technically, it’s the same, it’s just that “klappen” isn’t very idiomatic with nouns, so combining it with “Plan” is not the most “fluid”. But I’m sure native speakers have said it.
Ops, forgot about 2)
2) Regardless of what the form is called (subjunctive), the German version tells us that it is a fact that the actor almost died. You could use “ist” but that would sound more present and the “wäre” stresses the notion of alternate reality.
“would have almost died”… I’m not a native speaker of English but this strikes me as a bit “doubled”. Would have does carry some degree of “almost” in it, I feel like. If you ask for a reason for what happened you’d end up (in my logic, anyway) with
– Why hasn’t the actor almost died?
And that’s weird, to me.
Are you a native speaker? Would you use “would have almost died” rather than “almost died”?
As for your observation… no, you’re not imagining things at all. The forms often don’t line up :)
I definitely wouldn’t use “would have almost died” there. Like you say, it definitely sounds like a conditional construction – the actor didn’t almost die, but if something had been different, he woulda. :) I think that makes the Konjunktiv/subjunctive sound that way to native-Anglophone ears; it sounds like it SHOULD imply something like “Wenn… passiert wäre, wäre der Schauspieler bei dem Stunt fast draufgegangen.”
I totally agree with berlingrabers. I was just translating literally, I can’t think of a situation in which “would have almost …” would be idiomatic.