Hello everyone,
and welcome to a new episode of the series Prefix Verbs Explained, the series that starts to get on everybody’s nerves.
Come on, I know.
This series is a bit like mom spoon-feeding you spinach; a LOT of spinach. “One prefix verb for mommy, one prefix verb for daddy, one for grandma… (1 hour later) … one for daddy’s coworker’s friend, one for the guy at the bakery, come on SWALLOW!”
Seriously though, we don’t need to talk about all the prefix verbs that exist in detail. And we’ve actually already covered many of the really important ones. But there are still some left that need special attention, so let’s buckle up and do this, despite the slowly rising reluctance.
Hey, speaking of rising reluctance … what a coincidence … that would be a perfect context for the verb we’ll look at today.
aufkommen
And the big question is of course. Does aufkommen mean to come up ?”
They ARE literal translations, when you just take the parts. But it’s a German prefix verb we’re talking about.
Place your bets now :).
So are they? Well, more no than yes.
The English to come up – and I’m not a native speaker so please correct me if I’m wrong – has two main fields of use. One is for thoughts and ideas appearing on the scene and the other is for near future events. And idea comes up in a meeting and a TV show is coming up next.
And if we want to find a common core for those, we could call it “appearing on the scene, appearing in reality”.
The German aufkommen has the same core idea, but it has a different speed and vibe: it’s more of a gradual, slow emerging. Think of clouds building up at the horizon. Sentiments, fads, trends, storms… those are common things that aufkommen.
Let’s look at some examples.
- Ein Sturm kommt auf, Mr. Wayne.
- There’s a storm coming Mr. Wayne.
- Wegen dem schlechten Wetter ist keine richtige Urlaubsstimmung aufgekommen.
- Because of the bad weather, there wasn’t really a “vacation feel” building up/evolving.
- Im Team kommen langsam Zweifel an der Machbarkeit des Projekts auf.
- Doubts are slowly emerging within the team about the feasibility of the project.
- In letzter Zeit ist die Mode aufgekommen, Rennräder mit superkurzem Lenker zu haben.
- Recently the trend came up/emerged to have a racing bike with super short handle bar.
- Thomas versucht, die aufkommende Müdigkeit durch Kaffee zu vertreiben.
- Thomas tries to chase away the “upcoming”/emerging tiredness with coffee.
- Ein wichtiger Faktor für das Ende des Feudalismus in Europa war das Aufkommen des Bürgertums.
- An important factor for the end of feudalism in Europe was the rise/evolution/advent of the … uhm… bou… bourgeoisie.
Bourgeoisie… what the hell, French. That’s enough vowels for an entire German sentence XD.
Anyway, I hope the examples gave you an impression of the vibe and speed of aufkommen. You can also find it used in context of questions coming up in a meeting, but at least to me, that already sounds a bit odd and I would NOT use aufkommen in context of getting an idea. That’s just too sudden. Oh, and aufkommen absolutely DOESN’T work in the sense of events coming up. The most common way to express that would be something with nächste (next) but depending in context, there are other options.
- Coming up next: the news.
- Als nächstes/Im Anschluß: die Nachrichten.
- We’ll talk about that in the upcoming meeting.
- Darüber werden wir beim nächsten/anstehenden/kommenden Meeting sprechen.
Cool.
Now, this idea of emerging/evolving is not the only meaning of aufkommen. There are two others.
One is a somewhat formal, niche-y version for financially compensating for something; usually in contexts of some damage or credit. You come up with the money, if you will.
- Meine Versicherung wird für den Schaden aufkommen.
- My insurance will pay for the damage.
- Der Arbeitgeber kommt für die Fahrkosten auf.
- The employer pays for the travel expenses.
That’s nothing you’ll need in daily life though.
The third meaning on the other hand is really cool. Because when you drop that aufkommen at the right time, it’ll make you sound like a native speaker when it lands.
Oh, did someone say “lands”. What a coincidence. Because that’s kind of the meaning of aufkommen…. oh boy, these transitions are so awful, today. I’m sorry :). Seriously though.. aufkommen is a colloquial term for what happens at the end of a fall. Sounds weird at first, because auf is about upward, but hitting the ground does imply that you’re on top of something, so it does make sense.
One very common context is for people hurting themselves while jumping because the landed the wrong way, but it also works for stuff falling down.
- Maria ist beim Sport falsch aufgekommen und hat sich am Fuß verletzt.
- Maria landed the wrong way while doing sports and hurt her foot.
- “Mir ist grad mein Toast aus der Hand gerutscht.”
“Und ist es mit der Marmeladenseite nach unten aufgekommen?”
“Es ist noch gar nicht aufgekommen.” - “My toast just slipped out of my hand.”
“And? Did it land/hit ground with the jam side downward.”
“It hasn’t landed at all yet.”
This toast is actually never gonna aufkommen. Do you know why? Because it’s with surreals.
Hahahahahahahaha…. get it, get it? No?
Come on… surreals!
Like …cereals…
Uh… yeah… your face tells me that you want to move on, so uh… let’s do that.
There’s a noun das Aufkommen and it’s used in a few compounds in sense of grand total or turn out.. like… Besucheraufkommen would be the visitors turnout and Steueraufkommen is the total of taxes collected. But I can already feel boredom aufkommen, so let’s waste no time with this and instead move right on to the r-version.
(d)raufkommen
Ahh, the good, old r-version… a bedrock of stability :). We know what we’re in for, and it doesn’t let us down this time either. As usual, it is an extremely literal, “locational” take on the combination of prefix and verb. Raufkommen means come upward and come on top of.
- Ich brauch noch ein paar Minuten. Willst du kurz raufkommen?
- I still need a few minutes. Do you wanna come up real quick?
- Maria ist traurig, weil man bei ihr im Haus nicht mehr auf das Dach raufkommt.
- Maria is sad, because you can’t access/go up on the roof of her building anymore.
- Auf eine vegane Pizza kommt natürlich keine Salami (d)rauf.
- Of course, salami doesn’t go on a vegan pizza.
- Der Flug selber ist billig, aber auf den Preis kommen noch zahlreiche Gebühren drauf.
- The flight itself is cheap but there are several fees coming on top of the price.
What’s the difference between raufkommen and draufkommen? Well, rauf puts a strong stress on the directed motion whereas drauf is focused in the result – the being on top of. You can make this distinction if you want to. And if you’re like “Nah, that’s a bit too much” well, then just stick with rauf – that always works.
And I think that’s it for today. Another prefix verb tackled. Yeay.
As usual, if you have any question about any of this or if you want to try out some examples that I’ll correct, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
** aufkommen – fact sheet **
meanings:
slowly emerge, evolve (for trends, weather, sentiments)
für etwas aufkommen – compensate financially for something (pretty formal)
aufkommen – land, hit the ground (NOT for completely controlled landing)
past tense:
form of sein + aufgekommen
kam auf
related words:
das Aufkommen – the emergence, the advent, also: the grand total of something
raufkommen – come upstairs, come/go on top of something
THANKS A MILLION! I FINALLY got it
Einhorn 1 : Ausstrahlung meiner Mutter kommt auf,denn Ich will für das Glas nicht aufkommen und Ich müsste auf das Dach raufkommen.
The Aura of my mother built up rapidly,beacuse I did not want to compensate for the glass and I had to go up the roof.
“Aufkommen” sounds like a decent TV title
Anyways, what verb for actual emerging,like in “The mountain suddenly emerged from the sea”. Also what If it’s an emotion but its quickly and sudden, “That event triggered it : Emerging emotions”
“aufkommen” is not “to build up”. It’s not about an increase, but about an initial apperance. Also, “aufkommen” is rarely rapid. So it’s not a good fit for the context you used it in.
As for emerging… that strongly depends on context. For the mountain you could say “erscheinen” or “sich erheben” but also “steigen”.
For an emotion “entstehen, erscheinen and wachsen” are idiomatic choice. But there might be more. As I said, it depends on context.
So translating it (While removing the word “rapid” ) to “the aura of my mother (slowly) emerged” would be more correct.
The words above seem interesting. German never fails to give 10 words ;)
Jokes aside, would “a problem emerges” work with “entstehen”
Just forget your example with the aura. It will not work with “aufkommen”, no matter how you phrase it.
Same for a problem. Those usually “auftreten”.
You will never need this “aufkommen” in your active vocabulary, trust me. It’s enough if you understand it.
Kann man ‘aufkommen’ benutzen im Sinn von “to land (a plane)”? Ich weiß, es gibt schon das Wort ‘landen’ dafür, also würde es komisch/einfach falsch klingen, wenn ich etwas wie ‘mein Flugzeug wird um 3 Uhr aufkommen’?
Du kannst das sagen, aber das klingt als ob das Flugzeug abstürzt :)
We use “come up” in reference to money as well in English (at least in the U.S.). It is informal though and not formal. We say things like “I need to come up with the money”, “you better come up with the money soon!”, or “he came up with the money”.
I agree with berlingrabers that we use “cover” in the more formal sense. “My insurance will cover that”, “my employer will cover that”, or “that cost is covered”.
That verb phrase “to come up with sth.” is used in England too. Not just for money though. A solution, a plan or just an idea are all things that a person can “come up with”. If we’re talking about money though and the amount you’ve come up with isn’t enough, then you’ve “come up short”.
Just to make sure… in German, you CAN’T use “aufkommen” in combination with the word “Geld”.
That is implied. The main idea is really “to compensate”.
If ,,aufkommen” implies emerging slowly, what is the correct verb for things (e.g., problems) that come up suddenly?
The verb that came to my mind first was “auftreten”. It’s idiomatic in context of problems but probably won’t work in all cases.
Do you have some more contexts, maybe? My mind is a bit blocked :)
Leider klappt der link zum pdf nicht.
Sorry, sollte jetzt funktionieren.
President Trump said “covfefe”on twitter vor zwei tagen and noone knew what it meant. I still do..-..not.
He and a small group of people knew exactly what he meant, is what Sean Spicer said :)
Hello Emanuel A small favour to ask of you and of German in general. You see this sentence here:
“Maria ist traurig, weil man bei ihr im Haus nicht mehr auf das Dach raufkommt.”
If it had said “… raufkommen kann” I would have understood it immediately. This dropping of “redundant” (i.e. indispensible) verbs is surely one of the most confusing things German does and I would politely ask that it cease forthwith.
I forwarded your request to German and it just laughed in my face and said: “Ab jetzt lass ich noch mehr weg.”
Seriously though… “raufkommen kann” is absolutely not idiomatic and adding “kann” would not come to my mind in a million years so I can’t really stop doing these things in the example. I honestly don’t realize it. It doesn’t feel like skipping something.
It’s really interesting that it makes such a big difference for you, though, and you’re most likely not alone.
Well, thanks for trying Emanuel. Can I just check something that may have got missed? To me the Maria’s roof sentence reads in my English head as “Maria is sad, because nobody comes up to her roof any more”, whereas you’ve snuck a “can” in there that just isn’t apparent to me in the German. Can it be read both ways (don’t come up / can’t come up) or is there something in the context that strongly implies the “can’t” version over the other?
Ah, now I see where the confusion comes from. The example is clear to a native speaker because “man” can’t be understood as “nobody” here. There might be instances where “man” in combination with a “nicht” would be translated as “nobody” combined with an affirmative verb, but not here.
– Maria ist traurig, dass keiner mehr auf ihr Dach kommt.
This would actually be ambiguous and could mean either. Most people would understand it as “nobody visits her roof”, though, because for the other option “man” would be the better choice.
Hope that helps :)
Nice post. Here is another common use for “draufkommen”:
Was ist die richtige Antwort? Ich komme nicht drauf.
What’s the right answer? It slips my mind.
And one that is actually drauf + ankommen.
A oder B? Das kann man so nicht sagen. Es kommt drauf an.
A or B? That’s not easily answered. It depends.
This one is a bit tricky because one could argue that it is not a prefix verb. The basic phrase is this:
– auf etwas kommen
– Ich komme auf deinen Namen.
So we have “kommen” combined with a preposition, just like for instance “warten auf”. Then, you can of course use a da-word in place of the preposition-thing combo
– Ich komm’ nicht d(a)rauf.
But to say then that the verb is “draufkommen” would mean that “draufwarten” is also a verb.
I know that Duden lists “draufkommen” but it is a slippery slope.
Um Lisas Frage noch etwa zu erweitern (wo die Antwort nämlich darauf natürlich ‘ja’ lautet)… Mir schiene es, wenn gerade du den Dativ anstelle des Genetivs benutzt, dass es heutzutage dem jungen deutschen Mensch nicht nur altmodisch, sondern pedantisch, ja vielleicht geradezu FALSCH vorkommt, den Genetiv zu verwenden. Was meinst du Emanuel?
I’m gonna answer in English since Lisa asked in English and it’s probably interesting also for beginners…
This is an interesting topic, indeed. In my opinion, the idea that “wegen” is a Genitive preposition is a myth perpetrated by the prescriptive grammar branch.
It has little to do with contemporary German though. For one thing, many people including me, tend to use Dative instead of Genitive in colloquial speech
– Ich hab mich wegen dem Regen so geärgert.
“wegen des Regens” has a rather high brow ring to it and I doubt many people would say it (except for the very language aware ones)
But the real argument against “wegen” being a genitive preposition is what people do in combination with pronouns.
– wegen mir/dir/ihm
NOONE would seriously argue that I should say
– wegen meiner/deiner/seiner
let alone
– wegen ihrer instead of wegen ihr
– wegen unser instead of wegen uns
Using Genitive with pronouns like that is HIGHLY unidiomatic and has been for more than a century.
So calling “wegen” a genitive prep neglect reality.
What, you don’t use “meinetwegen” in daily speech?! :)
You really do see a lot of “dative creep” with those few theoretically genitive prepositions. I’ve heard “während dem ______” often enough, and you tend to see “außer-/innerhalb von…” or “aufgrund von…” more than just those prepositions plus genitive.
I think for English speakers, there’s a certain comfort level with using genitive with those prepositions, just because that mostly corresponds nicely to “because of” etc.
For all the nerds: here’s an etymological discussion about why “wegen” is a actually Dative preposition…
http://www.belleslettres.eu/content/genitiv/wegen-genitiv-dativ.php
It’s in German and VERY dense, so be warned :)
Isn’t “wegen” a genitive preposition? Shouldn’t it be “Wegen des schlechten Wetters…” ?
I answered one comment below :) (thought they were threaded but they weren’t so this one is just so you get a notification)
Thanks again, I came up with lots of examples once I thought about it.
The “niche-y” version related to money is also rather common in English – you need to come up with the money, or else! It usually implies that there is a certain amount of effort involved in finding the money, not just to pay it.
And the “landing” version, das hat mich nicht gut in den Ohren aufgekommen ;)
Two little things:
In German you wouldn’t use “aufkommen” in direct combo with “money”
– Ich muss mit dem Geld aufkommen… that wouldn’t be idiomatic.
And then, you wrote “das hat mich nicht gut in den Ohren…”
That should be
– das ist mir …
“aufkommen” goes with “sein” fpr the spoken past :)
In English, there are a couple of additional uses that come to mind.
When you toss a coin, you might say “it came up heads”. This is similar to your toast example.
Or you could say that an animal “came up lame” – example, “In the horse race, the favorite came up lame.” In this case, it is consistent with your appearance use, but not of a thought or idea.
One might say of a seldom used objection that “it doesn’t come up very often”. Or of a familiar situation – “It comes up all the time”. So “comes up” as a synonym for “happens”.
I think the coin example is probably closest, although the emphasis there (like with the horse) is really on the result, which doesn’t fit “aufkommen.” The “happen” version corresponds more to “vorkommen.”
I think some meanings of “come on” are closer to “aufkommen”:
– I feel a headache coming on.
Nice examples!! I like the one with the coin. In my mind, this felt like “coming up” as in “turning up” but the whole landing notion of the German “aufkommen” actually makes total sense there, too.
Just to make sure, for people skimming the comments… none of the examples would be translated using “aufkommen” :)
For an idea that came on the scene, I would be inclined to say either a new idea arose or it emerged.
Interesting – I don’t know that there’s a consistent metaphor for the “emerging” sense in English. I’d really probably translate every single one of those examples with a different expression.
For the monetary compensation “aufkommen,” I’d use “cover.”
This was a great one for me – I really wasn’t familiar with any of the non “r”-forms.
Wow, really? That’s surprising to me. I’d have bet money that you were familiar with at least stuff like “Stimmung kommt auf” :).
Isn’t that always how it is? You always have those weird gaps in what you know how to say or consciously understand. I suppose it’s possible I’ve seen it or heard it somewhere, but no, it was all pretty much new to me. I guarantee I’ll now be seeing and hearing it everywhere for the next week or two, though!