“To Bestand”
Hello everyone,
final stretch of this years Advent Calendar and today, behind door 20 is one last preview into the book I will be planning to start resuming working on in 2025.
seriously… good things take time.
But now, let’s take a look at the meaning of :
bestehen
Stehen means to stand but we’d better get comfy cause this will take a while. Placement verbs are always a bit of a pain but this one is as rife with meanings as an apple tree in fall.
The best way to approach it is boring, dusty Latin. In particular the word “sistere”. “Sistere” expressed the idea to (take a) stand and the stem “sist” is part of many English words like insist or exist.
How does that help with bestehen? Well, bestehen, in combination with various prepositions, just happens to be a translation for not all but many of them.
Here they are:
bestehen – exist, or better: be in existence
Works best with abstract things like organizations, regulations or friendships but can also be used for buildings. Not for small items like a car or a camera though. Those are just not massive enough.
bestehen aus – to consist of.
Used mainly for material.
bestehen auf – to insist, to make a stand
Note that you have to insist on something in German, you cannot just insist.
bestehen (+accusative) – to prevail for any kind of test or challenge.
The connection here is “to persist”. This meaning is especially common in context of tests and exams.
A more visual approach would be that old pose of triumph. The knight puts his foot on the slain dragon.
He literally “inflicts standing”. The knight is you, the dragon is the test on adjective endings.
Looking at all these, we can see that in German, it’s the preposition that defines the meaning, in English it’s the prefix. But the core idea is always standing in the sense of being in place.
- Ich habe den Test bestanden.
- I passed the test.
- Ich bestehe auf einem Re-Fill.
- I insist on a refill.
- Okay, wenn du darauf bestehst.
- Fine, if you insist.
- Mein Pullover besteht zu hundert Prozent aus Stein.
- My pullover is made a hundred percent from stone.
(and this example clearly doesn’t “bestehen aus” sense ;)
- Der Ponyverein feiert 100-jähriges Bestehen.
- The pony club celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Related words:
der Bestand – the stock, the inventory, the continued existence; the idea is “What’s there”
beständig – steady, consistent, stable
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Let me know in the comments, if you have any questions.
Have a great day and bis morgen :)
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Quick question: do you know how AWESOME this article is? I think you do but I needed to double check :)
It’s precise, concise and has exactly the right explanation/visualisation (with examples) ratio.
Ok, two things:
Bestehen Auf + Acc
If the ‘Auf’ is Acc, then shouldn’t that example have an ‘Einen’ or ‘Ein’ instead of an ‘Einem’?
“Ich bestehe auf einem Re-Fill”
And next
What about ‘Darin Bestehen’? I see it quite often.
Ha, interesting case!!
I went over a few examples in my head now and realized that sometimes I prefer Accusative and sometimes Dative.
And so I looked out up and apparently there’s no rule. Both are used.
It would be “einen” though, because it’s der Refill.
And bestehen in… With “aus” it’s about a whole formed from parts.
“bestehen in” is more like one whole constituting another whole.
– Der Sinn des Lebens besteht darin, einen zu Sehen.
Good afternoon
Interesting read ( I checked the comments first to see if you had already been there)
I’m having trouble with this one
The Pony Club endure/come through the celebration?
Or is Bestehen being used instead of Jubiläum or Jahrestag
Frohe Weihnachten vor vier Jahren
It’s actually “das Bestehen” in the sense of “existence”, not “enduring” :). The first of the meanings I listed above.
The club is celebrating its 100 years of existence, pretty much.
Hope that helps!
Thanks
Small thing but should it be ‘This example clearly doesn’t ‘bestehen aus’ sense.’? The ‘is’ there makes it super hard to understand what you’re trying to say – I had to reread it a bunch of times haha.
Great article, thanks!
Hello Emanuel-
Just wondering about the construction of how to say “made of” – seems like if you denote the percentage after “aus” you are covered? If not then one uses the “zu” version?
Mein Pullover besteht zu hundert Prozent aus Stein.
Mein Pullover besteht aus hundert Prozent Stein.
Much appreciated!!
Hmmm, I don’t really feel like there’s a difference between the two phrasings. You can use both with any percentage.
Hi,
Love your site, always great information.
Been trying to watch Peppa pig to try get German comprehension up (I’m starting A2 self taught). Come across this sentence where I *think* the verb used is bestehen (I have listened to the bit of audio about 30 times now).
Jeder muss ein Versteck finden, bevor Peppa *bestehen* gezählt hat.
If it is indeed ‘bestehen’ in this sentence… How is it making sense? It seems to mean ‘finished’… I’m trying to understand it as ‘passed the counting part of her turn’ or something like that.
Ha, no “bestehen” make zero sense here actually :).
I’m almost 100% sure that the person says
– … bevor Peppa BIS ZEHN gezählt hat.
It’s a standard trope pretty much. They’re playing hide and seek and the seeker counts with eyes closed. They have to find a hiding spot before seeker counts to ten.
I can see how “bis Zehn” can sound like bestehen though, especially if the audio is not too good :)
thank-you so much
She even counts to 10 too….
“Es bestand auch wenig Aussicht, eine Stelle zu finden.”
Can I ask how this sentence fits in with your description (there was little prospect of findinga position). By the way, I LOVE this blog…
Does this silly sentence use the various meanings of bestanden correctly?
Weil unserer, aus Liebe und Respekt bestandene Freundschaft vielen Prüfungen bestanden hat, bestehe ich darauf, dass er tausend Jahren bestanden wird.
Pretty good and very creative!!
here’s the correction:
Weil unsere aus Liebe und Respekt BESTEHENDE Freundschaft viele Prüfungen bestanden hat, bestehe ich darauf, dass SIE tausend Jahre bestehen wird.
Let me know if you have questions about this :)
You’re a hoot, man. So grateful for what you do. Danke!
Gerne :)!
Does “bestehen auf” always take dative when the thing you insist upon is a noun? I’ve seen example sentences elsewhere on the web sometimes using accusative, other times using dative. So it’s not clear to me if some of the examples are wrong or if there is nuance to when dative or accusative should be used…
I just checked and actually it kind of works with both, but Dative is more common in spoken German. Don’t worry about nuances… that’s really just what’s more idiomatic for a speaker and it varies from individual to individual.
Guten Morgen und danke vielmals fuer die emails. Sie sind sehr lustig und informative. Aber zu meine Frage. . wie sagt man “I insist (in the nicest possible way of course) on paying for the coffee/meal”?
Ich bestehe auf den Kaffee bezahlen?
Ich bestehe auf bezahlen, den Kaffee?
Ich kann nicht entscheiden..der erste Satz scheint mir grammatisch besser aber der zweite gibt mehr Betonung auf ‘bezahlen’..
Beide Sätze sind falsch. Diese Formulierung funktioniert in DEutsch fast NIE.
Du musst sagen:
– Ich bestehe darauf, den Kaffee zu bezahlen.
vielen Dank ich werde das alles merken!
great little piece, could even call it beautiful
Oh wow, vielen Dank :)
How about My pullover consists of a hundred percent…true to the sistere root.
Ah, better :)!
I apologise for Brexit. I am ashamed to be British.
Then emigrate elsewhere, traitor
Come on, just because one disagrees with something their country does, that doesn’t make them traitors.
@ roger: me too!
@roger: me three!
Okay guys and ladies… this is really not the place for politics, usually, but since it’s the calendar I’ll do what I want and confront statements :).
To whom do you apologise? And why are you feeling ashamed?
(Disclaimer: I don’t want to debate the politics, I just felt a little put of by the wording because the way you phrased it is two things:
a) an expression of dislike/emotions
b) AND a trigger for the other side
You could have just said “I really hate it that Britain leaves.”
Not trying to word-police either, I’m just really curious how discussions online go out of hand really quickly. It didn’t do that here because the critical mass is missing (and Russian trolls, of course. Gotta have Russian trolls).
Nice, I liked this one.
Schönheit vergeht, Hektar besteht.
Are you promoting marriage into a wealthy family :D?
Thanks! This one gives me a better Gefühl for the “Ich habe bestanden” in regards to exams. Obviously, everyone that passes says this with a whoop whoop but now I know it’s more about prevailing than simply getting a passing grade. It really is all about feeling, isn’t it?
Yeah, if you feel like you passed, then you did pass :). Law of Attraction. Be the smith of your reality.
Ich möchte ein nützliches Wort dieser Familie suggerieren, nämlich, Gegenstand (m) . Zum Beispiel Gegenstand einer Klage vor eines Gericht.
“suggerieren” is nicht wie “suggest”. Nimm mal immer “vorschlagen”.
Über Gegenstand hab’ ich schon in dem Artikel über “gegen” geredet :)
https://yourdailygerman.com/gegen-meaning-gegenteil-gegenwart/
The wisdom of Turtles is here
Ich bestehe darauf, dass Einhörner bestehen, Und sie nicht auf kinder Träume bestehen. Sie haben gegangen Herausforderungen bestanden
Notes
Is not “sein aus” or just aus more idiomatic than bestehen auf.
The first sentence is good :). The second one (Sie haben gegangen…) is an incomprehensible disaster. Turtles, I resummon you to do it again!
“sein aus” for material can sound a bit clumsy sometimes, but in everyday contexts it’s fine. Like… I would say the pullover IST not BESTEHT if I am talking about the fabric.
Would using “gegen” instead of the horrible gegangen work. I pulled, bestehen gegen out of nowhere
Really interesting, and the examples make the functions memorable.
Freut mich :)!!