Hello everyone,
and welcome to another episode of our mini series about German Prefix Verbs. Today we’ll look at the meaning of
einkommen
and this verb is super special because… it has zero meanings. Tadah. Okay, I can’t rule out that it’s part of some regional dialect or that it has some other niche uses but in daily life it means nothing. Case closed. See you next week.
Nah… of course there’s a reason why we’re talking about this. For one thing there’s the noun das Einkommen which does mean income… but the main reason why einkommen is worth a look is the fact that it’s a really really great example for the whole “prefix verb vs its r-version”-stuff. And if you’re now like “Wait, the what?” then this is for you :). Knowing what an r-version is, and having a feel for what it does what the prefix verbs usually DON’T do is really really helpful… or at least I think it is. So let’s take a look at this.
One of the notions of prefixes, of the separable ones anyway, is location. The reason for that is that they are also prepositions and those help us express where stuff is in relation to other stuff. Auf means on top of , unter means under, vor means in front of and so on. Ein is actually an exception because it’s the prefix-version for in. But the two were one word once. People just decided to pronounce and spell them differently because… why not.
Anyway, the notion of location is at the core of these words, no matter in which functions they’re used. Here’s an example in English
- The cat is in the kitchen.
- Come in.
The first in is a preposition, the second is not but they both basically express inside-ness… just in different grammatical functions.
The thing with the German prefixes is this: they do add their locational notion to a verb… but the resulting meaning is usually NOT the simple, straight forward one that would make sense to everyone. And einkommen is the perfect example.
It’s a combination of to come and the prefix version of in, but it does NOT mean to come in.
- Come in!
This is NOT gonna be
- Komm ein!
It would actually be hard for a native speaker of German to even understand what you’re trying to say. I’m sure it sounds crazy to you but “Komm ein!” just feels nothing like “Come in!”. That’s how it is. So how would we say to come in? With the r-version… which is not an official term by the way, I just think it fits. So… the r-version of einkommen is reinkommen. And that is to come in.
- Komm rein!
Again, I know it sounds crazy but this little tiny “r”, this subtle scratching sound at the beginning of the word, really makes all the difference. German native speakers are incredibly sensitive to this sound, not least because German is so fussy about location.
Anyway, so while einkommen means nothing at all, reinkommen is actually quite useful because it’s used in a wide range of abstract contexts.
- Wir wollten gestern ins Berghain, aber wir sind nicht reingekommen.
- We wanted to go to Berghain (some club) yesterday but we didn’t get in.
- Ich komm‘ in mein eigenes W-LAN nich’ rein.
- I can’t get into/connect with my own WLAN/WIFI.
- In der ersten Halbzeit sind wir nicht gut reingekommen.
- In the first half we didn’t really get into the game.
(in German the word game is usually skipped – reinkommen is enough)
- Ich habe versucht, das Buch zu lesen, aber ich bin nicht richtig reingekommen.
- I tried to read the book but I didn’t really get into it.
- Weil 3 große Aufträge reingekommen sind, kauft der Chef für das Team einen Kasten Bier.
- Because 3 big orders/jobs came in, the boss buys the team a case of beer.
In some more formal contexts hereinkommen is the better choice. Reinkommen is just the shortened version of it. But it’s much more idiomatic in daily life and in first three examples above it would sound quite odd to my ears. I guess we should mention that “Herein!” alone can also mean “Come in!” This is for formal contexts where someone knocked on your office door or something. You wouldn’t say it at home if your partner knocks on the door of the office room. Unless you’re a really formal couple :)
All right.
So, quick recap: when you combine a prefix with a verb you can get all kinds of meanings, some just slightly abstract, others downright insane. But the basic, locational meaning that makes sense to everyone…. is most likely NOT among them. Like… imagine making a pasta sauce from tomatoes and red wine and the result goes well with pasta and tastes interesting… but not like a tomato red wine sauce. That’s kind of how German prefix verbs work. Call it confusing or complicated.. but that stuff is what you signed up for when you chose German.
All right. Now, we’ve already mentioned that there is a noun das Einkommen which does mean the income so let’s look at some examples for that too and then wrap up.
- Thomas ist mit seinem Einkommen zufrieden.
- Thomas is satisfied with his income.
- Für eine Ratenzahlung benötigen Sie lediglich einen gültigen Personalausweis sowie einen Einkommensnachweis.
- To apply for installment payment you only need a valid ID and a proof of income.
- Das durchschnittliche Haushaltsnettoeinkommen in Berlin beträgt 1800 Euro.
- The average net income per household in Berlin is 1800 Euro.
- Thomas freut sich über seine Einkommenssteuerrückerstattung
- Thomas rejoices over his income tax refund.
Phew… one word is longer than the other :). But that’s what you signed up for when you cho…
“Stop saying that. I signed up because it’s supposed to be poetic and deep.”
Oh… uhm… hmm… well, then you might like this poem:
“Waldgedanken”
Vom Himmel brennt die Sonne Feuer
und ich, ich bin im Schatten des Waldes
Ich jogge und dabei denke ich bald is’
es wieder Zeit für die Einkommenssteuer
oh, das wird teuer.
I think it was Goethe. But I’m not sure.
Anyways, that’s it for today. This was our super short look at the non-verb einkommen which was really more of a look at prefix verbs and their r-version in general. And I really hopes it helps clear up these things, give you a “feel” for it. Because I think that’s really helpful. So if I haven’t been clear somewhere or if you have any doubt about anything, just leave me a comment and we’ll tackle it together.
For now, I hope you liked it and see you next time.
** einkommen – fact sheet **
meaning:
none.. because it doesn’t exist
related words:
das Einkommen – the income
die Einkünfte (plural of Einkunft) – another, more officiallererer term for “income”
r-version:
(he)reinkommen- to come in, to get in somewhere, to enter
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Greetings Emanuel….
What purpose does “mit” serve here? Is it necessary?
Willst du mit rein kommen und meine Briefmarkensammlung sehen?
Danke
It “stresses” the idea of giving the person company. So Person A is going inside anyway, and invites the other person to join.
If person A was already inside, it would be just “reinkommen”. So the mit expresses that the do the act of entering together.
Does that help?
Is this r-version meaning pretty much standard? For example, the word einschließen. How would you say something like, “Do I have to lock/shut you in there?” I have a few ways, maybe you can explain the differences.
Muss ich dich einschließen?
Muss ich dich reinschließen?
Muss ich dich drinnen einschließen?
Are any/all of these correct, and which sounds the most natural to you?
The first one is the standard for “to lock in”. The last one also works but it sounds a bit redundant. The version with “reinschließen” doesn’t work because “rein” implies a directed movement from outside to inside and that doesn’t go well with “schließen” which isn’t about movement at all. I was thinking about a context for “reinschließen” but I couldn’t really find anything. The tecnical meaning would be “getting from outside to inside by locking”… no idea if that evokes a context in English.
Hope that helps
That is clear in this instance, but I’m still having trouble with other examples. How about taking a pill?
Ich nehme die Pille rein.
Ich nehme die Pille ein.
There’s definitely a directed movement there, but I’m pretty sure rein is incorrect here.
I’m also confused about the ein-prefix in general in many cases, as the “in/into” guideline is not always clear. First one that comes to mind is sammeln vs. einsammeln. I can’t see how you would gather “into” something. Unless we’re talking about a mouse gathering cheese and collecting it inside its mouse hole.
Die Maus sammelt den Käse.
Die Maus sammelt den Käse ein.
Is there a difference?
Good questions… for taking a pill, you’d say “einnehmen”. “reinnehmen” would be a correct sentence as well but it would mean that the pill is outside somewhere and you take it in into a room. So there’s not really a context for it, I guess. But you’re right, that the “ein” does have a notion of directed movement. The point is not that it can’t have that. The point is that “r”-versions pretty much always (well, almost always) have it so they won’t go well with a stationary context. That’s not to say that the base prefix can’t also express a directed moevment.
Try not to get too hung up on definitions. The more you try to fixate these things, the less you’ll get a hold of it. Try to think of trends instead of rules.
As for “einsammeln”.. “sammeln” by itself is just generic collecting and you can technically have your collections spread out over the whole world. The “ein” adds a notion of inward in so far as that you bring things that were “out” in the world toward one point. You kind of put them in a virtual pocket, if you will.
– Ich sammele Puzzleteile.
This means that you’re collecting puzzle pieces like someone collects stamps.
– Ich sammele Puzzleteile ein.
This means that puzzle pieces are spread out somewhere, in your room or something, and you pick em all up to store them away.
hope that helps.
Du hast zwei ‘s’ in Einkommenssteuerrückerstattung .
Ja, das müssen 2 sein… Einkommens-steuer.. die Steuer deS EinkommenS :)
GoogleTranslate sagt dass nur ein ‘s’ notwendig ist.
Oooooops… ich hab’ jetzt mal geguckt, und du hast RECHT. Das hat nur ein “s”. Ich bin wirklich erschüttert :D, denn ich spreche auch “EinkommenS-steuer”… ohne “s” klingt total scheiße für meine Ohren. Aber gut, offiziell gibt es da offenbar keine zwei Meinungen. Wieder was gelernt. Danke dir :)
Update… der Duden (die de facto bench spelling bench mark) sagt, dass beides geht. Phew.
Also, das ist wirklich nur ein komischer Steuerbehördensprech.
Die überwiegende Tendenz im Deutschen ist es, bei solchen Zusammensetzungen nach dem Infinitiv immer das Fugen-s einzufügen. Es gibt nur ein paar Ausnahmen – das Steuerrecht und einzelne Wörter wie Erdbeben- (vorsorge, dienst), Andenken- (laden, buch) u.Ä. Ich vermute mal, diese können als Pluralformen aufgefasst werden (die Vorsorge für die Erdbeben, der Laden der Andenken, die Steuern auf die Einkommen).
Hallo! Danke für deine Beiträge! Ich wollte wissen, hast du dir dies schon angeschaut?
https://ankisrs.net/
https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/german
Ich finde, Anki ist super! Was hälst du von Flashcards?
Ich persönlich finde das gut. Ich habe für Französich und Italienisch so ganz viele Vokabeln gelernt. Aber “old school”, also nicht mit Anki.
Ich hab’ übrigens tatsächlich vor, Anki Flashcards für jeden Post machen. Sobald mich genug Leute bei Patreon unterstützen geht’s los :)
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=700993&ty=h
Einkommenssteuerrückerstattung – hat Thomas Geld zuruck bekommt (auf Englisch – a tax refund) oder ist dies das Formular dass man ausfullen muss um die Regierung zu sagen wieviel Steur mann zahlen muss? (auf Englisch – doing your tax return – etwas was niemand gern habt!)
Danke fur das wunderbare Blog und entschuldigung dass mein Deutsch so schlect ist – ich habe auf der Uni vor 30 Jahren gelernt und versuche jetzt es zu verbessern.
Ohhh, mein Fehler…. die Einkommenssteuerrückerstattung ist das Geld, das du wiederkriegst. Das andere heißt “Einkommenssteuererklärung” (lit.: income tax declaration). Ich hatte es falsch übersetzt, weil ich dachte “return” wäre schon der “refund” :). Über die Einkommenssteuererklärung freut sich natürlich niemand. Ausser der Steuerberater.
Ach so… dein Deutsch ist völlig ok, nicht perfekt, aber super verständlich, und die Satzstruktur ist gut (und das ist wichtig). Kein Grund, dich zu entschuldigen :).
“Herein!” meaning “Come in!”? I’d love to know why you don’t use it. Old fashioned? Regional? Or just not your top pick?
In the example “In der ersten Halbzeit sind wir nicht gut reingekommen.” I assume that “the game” is football, but I’m not sure whether it’s about a team not playing well, spectators not being interested, or either. The English version could be either, depending on context. In the English “first half” and context would be enough for “the game” to be just “it”.
I simply forgot about it :). “Herein” is not regional or anything and it’s used for telling people to come in after they’ve knocked on the door. So if you’re a manager or something it’s definitely useful… but I wouldn’t use it with friends and even at work where I do have a door for people to knock on, me personally I just say “ja” or “jup”. So I guess we could call it formal.
As for the other examples, it’s about the team not playing well. They don’t get into the rhythm or the flow of the game. Hope that helps :)
Ja, das hilft. Danke.
Now I know what Brazilians might have said (if they spoke German) about their World Cup 2014 semi-final. Nach mal in der zweiten Halbzeit.
Ja, das war ein extremes Beispiel von “nicht ins Spiel (rein)kommen”… (wenn da “ins Spiel” steht, dann kann man “rein” weglassen, aber umgangssprachlich macht man es manchmal trotzdem… vor allem, wenn man grade 90 gespielt hat :)
You can still have a fit of pique… I think? (Which – I think – more or less means spit the dummy)
Just accidentally found your blog while looking up for some word meanings, and now just couldn’t stop reading all your older posts. Thanks so much for all your articles! They made so much of my German problems clear. Definitely gonna follow your blog from now on!
Willkommen an Bord :)
You’ve mentioned the ‘r-version’ in a few of your posts, but have you ever written one exclusively about that? I’m not sure I fully grasp it based on the sporadic mentions.
Thanks for the articles!
No, I don’t have a post that’s only about the r-version. I gave some background on it in the first ever episode of this series
https://yourdailygerman.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/aufmachen-meaning/
but I think I’ll do some sort of post or something so people can look it up quickly. The thing is that it’s not a linguistic concept or anything and there are also not fixed rules. It’s just a trend that for the basic everyday verbs the combination of the local meaning of the prefix and the verb is not gonna be .,. well… what you’d expect from such a combination. “Auflegen” is not “to lay something on top of something”, “einfallen” is not “to fall into something”, “aussehen” is not “looking outside” and so on. Hope that helps a bit.
These r-version posts are really helpful. Does it always work to replace “rein” with “herein”? “Komm bitte herein”? And this question may not make sense but should r-versions only be thought of as with ‘her’ and not ‘hin’? Obviously there’s no ‘r’ in hin but thusfar I’ve been thinking of her/hin as two sides of the same coin. So if I were standing inside my house and said to someone outside at the door “Kommen Sie bitte rein”, they’re coming in, moving towards me. But what if I’m standing outside with them and I want to say “Come inside with me”, would it still be rein or could I say “Komm hinein”? (Or maybe you can’t even use kommen and have to use gehen?) I think I’ve heard “Wirf das Gemüse in der Kochtopf rein”, so is that herein, or hinein as I would assume?
In case of “reinkommen” you can use “herein” instead quite often. It just depends on context a bit how formal it sounds.
– Komm bitte herein.
Sounds a bit stilted/formal/serious.
– Ich komme nicht in meinen Account herein.
This sounds a bit odd to my ears, like… overly formal. I would never say that and if it comes with an accent I’d think “Aha… text book German”… not that there’s something wrong with that :)
As far as “her” and “hin” go… your image with two sides of the same coin is pretty good. But there is a LOT of regional variation when it comes to the use of those. I (Berlin) tend to use “her” for movements directed to “me” (herkommen is common, hinkommen not so much for location), “hin” for movements that are away in a way (hingehen is common, hergehen not so much) and “r” as just a generic movement marker. But in the west, people say “hergehen” and they mean “go along”… confusing to me. IN the South I think they have a strong crush on “hin” and I think they might use it where I would definitely use “her” but I don’t have an example right now. IN real Bavarian dialect they also use an “n”-version where I would use an “r”-version…. but they’re not strict about the directions then either “neingehen, neinkommen”
As for the example with the pot
If I had to spell it out I would go for “hineinwerfen” since the veggies are going away from the thrower. “Hereinwerfen” sounds weird, like from the perspective of inside the pot. But still I would say “reinwerfen” in daily life.
A Bavarian might say “neinwerfen”…. so yeah.. this was pretty long and jumbled but I hope you got an idea. Your understanding is pretty spot on but Germans are not all that consistent about it so don’t freak out if you see an odd use :)
Thanks, that’s really helpful. “Hergehen” which you say they use in the West is exactly what I was wondering about. I haven’t heard of the “n-versions” but that’s also helpful too, will have to keep an eye/ear out for it.
Here’s an example for the “nein”-thing :)
https://www.bayrisches-woerterbuch.de/suchergebnisse/
Doesn’t ‘r’ come from word ‘her’ ? reinkommen = hereinkommen.
Here, it does and “hereinkommen” is valid too, though formal/novelish. But for other verbs spelling out the “her” would sound really weird in normal speech. And sometimes it also comes from “dar” rather than “her”. It’s fine to know where it comes from but that really doesn’t mean that the spelled out version is idiomatic. Sometimes the “her” and the “r” version even have slightly different meanings. That’s why I think r-version deserves to be regarded as a thing… for spoken language, anyway.
“didn’t really get into it” is exactly what you’d say in English. Also “couldn’t get into it” or “it didn’t grab me”.
In English, interest isn’t spawned, but it can be piqued: “The book piqued my interest.” I think the word pique isn’t really used anywhere else anymore, just in that context.
Danke dir :)
So, as you once mentioned, r-versions are kind of direct meanings for locations. Still, there must an exception, otherwise it’s not German
So true :). Of course that’s not set in stone… as soon as you stray away from the common verbs the simple prefix-verb-combo works fine in the literal sense. Just today I thought about “ausspucken” which is “to spit out”.. and it’s not “rausspucken”, even though that’s kind of what I keep preaching. So..these are not fixed rules at all… but for the basic verbs it’s pretty consistent and I want you guys to get a feel for it. That’s why I keep talking about it :)
why did you not mention herein, for heaven’s sake!?
To be completely honest… I simply forgot because I never use it. But you’re completely 100000% right. I’ll add it tomorrow. Thanks for the push :)