Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. And today, we’ll take a look at the meaning of
gegen
Which is short for generation G.
Which is short for generation Genitals, the generation that has genitals.
Or it’s short for generation Gesus, the generation that has Gesus in their heart.
Or it’s short for generation Generation, the generation that has Generations.
Or it’s short for generation Get-on-with-the-article. Which is the generation I am from.
I will get on with the article swiftly. On the double quick. Just had to clear my system.
Gee, this intro is a disaster.
Anyway, let’s jump right in…
Most of you probably know that gegen is the German word for against. It is a preposition and in German you need to know which case goes with a preposition. For gegen it’s the Accusative.
Examples…
- Thomas, der Betrunkene, läuft gegen die Wand.
Die Wand gewinnt gegen Thomas, den Betrunkenen. - Thomas, the Drunk, walks against the wall.
The wall wins against Thomas, the Drunk.
- Wenn die Schwerkraft Deutsch lernen müsste, wäre sie auch gegen Fälle.
- If gravity had to learn German, it would be against cases, too.
(it’s funny in German, I promise)
- Egal, was es ist – Anti-Man ist dagegen.
- No matter what it is – Anti-man is against it.
As you can see, gegen and against are pretty one to one, but unlike against, which only has a weird look-alike again, gegen is at the core of a ton of whole family of words.
There are loads of nouns for instance, that all have a notion of confrontation and that translate with counter or oppo- in English
- Manchmal ist Deutschlernen wie bei Gegenwind einen Berg aus Sand hochlaufen.
- Sometimes, learning German is like walking up a mountain of sand with head wind/counter wind.
(help, what’s the proper word here… the dictionary entries all sound weird)
- Yes-Man ist kein würdiger Gegner für Anti-Man.
- Yes-Man is not a worthy opponent for Anti-Man.
- Maria ist heute früh aufgestanden und hat Sport gemacht. Im Gegensatz zu Thomas, der verschlafen hat.
- Maria got up this morning and did a work out. As opposed to Thomas who/Thomas, on the contrary, overslept.
- Gegensätze ziehen sich an.
- Opposites attract.
- Was ist das Gegenteil von langweilig?
- What is the opposite of boring?
The answer to that answer is “this article”, by the way. Because it’s so unboring. And since we’re by the way anyway… have you ever really realized that opposite is a direct offspring of position? I mean… it’s super obvious and yet I was like “Oh, right… of course” when I consciously noticed it.
Anyways… there are not only nouns with gegen. There are also a few really useful small words. Like dagegen for instance. We already saw it in an example as a normal da-word, but it and its fancier version hingegen can also be used in a sort of independent sense of on the other hand, however.
- Viele sagen, dass es für Anfänger echt hammer krass wichtig ist, die Artikel richtig zu lernen. Ich dagegen/hingegen glaube, es ist Zeitverschwendung.
- People often say that it’s vital for beginners to learn the articles properly. I, on the other hand/however, believe that it’s a waste of time.
Hingegen is probably the better choice because there won’t be any confusion with the “normal” da-word dagegen.
Anyways, another one worth noting is gegenseitig, which expresses the idea of reciprocity. This one is quite handy if you have to clear up a plural sich in German. Like here:
- Die Einhörner cremen sich gegenseitig ein.
- The unicorns are putting lotion on each other.
Without gegenseitig, the sentence could mean that the each unicorn is putting lotion on itself, but they’re a group doing this. Still quite sexy, but not as much. An more elegant way to say this would actually be to say einander (one another) instead of sich gegenseitig, but elegant shmelegant. German learners are honest, down to earth folk. We learn hard and then drink cold beers and eat kebab at the kebab stand right across from the school.
Which brings us right over to our next word… gegenüber. Depending on context, it can mean the other side of the street or just directly facing something. And it can also be used in a metaphorical sense of toward.
- “Einen Döner mit Kräutersoße, einen Ayran und ein Bier, bitte”
“Ähm, der Dönerladen ist gegenüber. Das hier ist ein Starbucks.” - “One kebab with herb sauce, one Ayran and one beer.”
“Erm… the kebab stand is across the street. This is a Starbuck’s”
- Thomas sitzt mir gegenüber.
- Thomas is sitting face to face with me.
- Thomas war mir gegenüber irgendwie kalt.
- Thomas was somehow cold toward me.
And of course we need to mention the word entgegen, which is actually one of the few prepositions that can be put AFTER what they connect. Whohoo, yeah… you’re super excited to finally meet one, I know :).
- Entgegen meiner Vorstellung war die Suppe lecker.
- Contrary to my expectation, the soup was good.
- Ich gehe der Sonne entgegen.
- I walk toward the sun.
On second thought… the second example is actually the prefix verb entgegengehen, not the preposition. Entgegen as a prefix is actually much more common and useful than the preposition. So in the past it would be
- Ich bin der Sonne entgegengegegangen.
***note to interns who edit this: I think, I might have put one too many ge in this ge-form. Please take it out (and this comment, too, obviously). Thank you!! Oh, and don’t forget to leave 20 Euro coffee money for this week in the jar in the kitchen. I ain’t no charity :(!
Anyways… since we’re at verbs… there’s also a couple of verbs with gegen that we need to mention.
Cool verbs with gegen
The first one is entgegnen. It looks SUPER similar to the preposition entgegen, but the meaning is quite different. Because entgegnen is a slightly bookish sounding word for to reply, retort, answer.
- “Was wollen wir essen?”, fragte Maria.
“Das was du kochst.” entgegnete Thomas. Und bereute es sofort.
Kapitel 4 – Nächte auf der Couch - “What should we eat?” Maria asked.
“Whatever you will cook.” Thomas replied. And regretted it instantly.
Chapter 4 – nights on the couch
The other verb I want to mention is begegnen, which is a German for to encounter but it’s also used for to meet at times. Note that the spoken past is formed with sein, not with haben. Because… logic (#irony).
- Wo seid ihr euch zum ersten Mal begegnet?
- Where did you meet for the first time?
- “Ich gehe echt oft im Märchenwald joggen aber ich bin noch nie einem Einhorn begegnet.”
“Sei froh, ich hätte die Begegnung mit diesen Bestien fast nicht überlebt.” - “I go running in the fairytale forest a lot but I have never encountered a unicorn.”
“Be glad! I almost didn’t survive the encounter with those viscous beasts.”
Cool.
So now we’ve seen a good selection of gegen-words and while they’re not all straight up against something, they all do share some notion of countering.
But there are a few words that don’t really fit.
gegen – when con becomes pro
Take die Gegend for instance. Die Gegend is a pretty common word for area in the sense of area of landscape or city scape.
- Der Märchenwald ist eine gefährliche Gegend.
- The fairytale forest is a dangerous area.
- Ich wollte immer in dieser Gegend wohnen.
- I always wanted to live in this area/neighborhood.
Or what about die Gegenwart – most of you have probably seen it and know that it’s the German word for the present (tense) and also for the presence (in the sense of being there).
- Als Zeitreisender in der Gegenwart leben – geht das überhaupt? In diesem Webinar findest du alle Antworten (click here to sign up).
- Living in the present as a time traveler – is that even possible? In this webinar you’ll find all the answers.
- Ich fühle mich in deiner Gegenwart ruhig.
- I feel calm in your presence.
And last but not least, there’s der Gegenstand which is a German word for… object.
It’s used for undefinable tangible objects but also in a figurative sense for topics or matters of debate.
- “Leute, da liegt ein echt merkwürdiger Gegenstand auf dem Küchentisch. Weiß jemand was das ist?”
“Ja.”
“Ah, okay, dann ist ja gut.” - “Guys, there’s a really weird object lying on the kitchen table. Does anyone know what that is?”
“Yes.”
“Oh okay. All good then.”
- Deine Klopapierpräferenz ist eigentlich nicht Gegenstand dieses Meetings, aber ok – wieviele Lagen hättest du gerne?
- You toilet paper preferences are not really subject-matter of this meeting, but okay – how many plies would you like?
Gegend, Gegenwart, Gegenstand … one is about place, one about time and one about things. And what they all have in common is that they’re NOT about countering what is there. They ARE what is there, so to speak. They’re what we’re looking at, in a given moment. So are we looking at a singularity here? The moment where contra and pro are one and the same? Yin and Yang? The source? God?
Nope! It’s not that epic.
It’s actually not epic at all, because the original Germanic word gagan wasn’t about confrontation… it carried a notion of toward.
In fact, this notion is still alive in modern gegen and its cousin gen, which actually means toward.
- Ich komme gegen um 9.
- I’ll come toward/around 9.
- Die Vögel fliegen gen Süden.
- The birds are flying south.
The notion of confrontation is just a special kind of toward. This also explains the connection between again and against.
Against is the “strong” toward, while again is a “mild” toward that has focused on the idea of toward a former position/state. And if you’re a bit skeptical… just think of the word comeback... it can be just coming back to your former position. Or it can be a good argument in a confrontations.
**to the intern editing this: please find a clever way to transition to the end of the article! Thanks. No going home before it is done ;););) (I got you on cam, don’t forget)!! And delete this comment.
And that’s it for today. This was our look at gegen and the many useful words with it. Actually, there are plenty more but I think with the notion of toward and confrontation in mind you’ll be able to get all of them in context.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
** vocab **
gegen – against, around (for time), versus
gegen- (prefix) – oppo-, counter
gegen den Uhrzeigersinn – counter-clock-wise (is that a compound, maybe)
gen – fancy term for toward, usually for cardinal directions
dagegen – against it
wogegen – against which
hingegen, dagegen – on the other hand
der Gegenwind – the wind in face
das Gegenteil – the opposite
der Gegensatz – the contradiction
der Gegner, die Gegnerin, die Gegner – the opponent(s)
die Gegenfrage – the counter question
entgegnen – to reply (bookish)
jmd. begegnen – to meet someone, to encounter
die Begegnung – the encounter
entgegen (dat.)- toward
entgegengesetzt – with the opposite direction
gegenüber – facing, across the street
gegenseitig – reciprocal
sich gegenseitig, einander – each other
die Gegenwart – the present (tense)
gegenwärtig – momentary (formal)
sich etwas vergegenwärtigen – the make oneself aware of something
der Gegenstand(-stände) – the object (for unknown tangible objects), subject matter
die Gegend(en) – the area(s), the neighborhood, the neck of the woods
Awesome article! I laughed out loud at least three times; the intro, the “intern notes” were hilarious! Also, thanks as usual for connecting the dots with the root words and how they were used in the past. I learned a lot about English today, too.
Danke, glad you enjoyed it :)!!
Hi –
What a great overview!! Such great info. Are entgegen and im Gegensatz zu synonyms? For instance could you replace Entgegen with im Gegensatz zu in this sentence Entgegen meiner Vorstellung war die Suppe lecker?
Many thanks!
Yes, that works in this case, but it only works for contexts like this (contrasting opinions or rules of some kind). It does NOT for people.
– Im Gegensatz zu mir duscht Thomas echt oft.
– Entgegen mir/meiner duscht Thomas…
The second one does NOT work at all.
So… it doesn’t work for comparing things, it does work as a direct counter statement. Hope that helps :)
Hi the comments for your interns are still visible on this article. They also look a bit harsh, I hope you don’t mind them so. Great content nevertheless!
Those are a joke ;).
Die Einhörner cremen sich gegenseitig ein.
Findest du das sexy? Vielleicht solltest du mal sehen, wenn Muschis so was machen. Ich liebe Katzen!
Der Artikel ist lustig und informativ, (ent)gegen jeden Zweifel, danke. :-)
Great article as always. I have a question that’s a little off topic but that’s what you get for going off on so many tangents! ;)
You say entgegen in “Ich gehe der Sonne entgegen” is actually a prefix verb. This seems to match something I’ve been pondering lately.
I’ve noticed it’s common in German to use standalone phrases like “unten drunter durch” and “drüber rüber” when the context is clear enough to omit all the details. So much so that “drum herum” has become a block that German learners just absorb.
I was taught that durch and rüber in the above examples are prepositions and unten, drunter and drüber adverbs (of location and movement respectively) but that’s not right is it?
unten is indeed an adverb of location but drunter and drüber are da prepositons and durch and rüber are prefixes of verbs. Would you agree? short for…
unten (Sud in diesem Context) unter die Brücke durchgehen/fahren/schwimmen/oder wie auch immer and
oben (Nord in diesem Context) über die Brücke rübergehen/fahren/usw
Thanks
“going off on tangents”?! Me?!?! That is fake news! I NEVER go on tangents ;)
Anyway, about your question:
it’s a bit hard to answer without concrete examples but some of things you said were not correct. (d)r-versions of prepositions are NEVER prepositions but always adverbs (or prefixes). So “unten” is an adverb but so are “drunter” and “runter”. Only “unter” is a preposition.
“drüber” and “rüber” will not combine in a sentence. Only “über… rüber” and “unter … (d)runter”. You so have a combo of a preposition and an adverb.
And in most of those instances the adverb will actually be a prefix.
– Ich fahre über die Brücke rüber.
As for “unten drunter durch”… that’s an especially twisted one. The prefix is “durch” and “unten drunter” is an adverbial phrase made up of two adverbs – one indication the general location, the other expressing the location of “traversal”.
Generally, this kind of doubling up is colloquial and can easily sound like bad style. So don’t make too much of an effort to study it :)
Hope that helps.
It does, thanks!
Themen –
Zorn ,Zank und Zwist
YouTube Hommage to Sausage — Hot dog!!! – Gott Senf ?
Egal ob in den USA -xenophobisch
oder im UK – unversöhnlich
gibt’s nur nun Gegner -alle.
Allgegenwärtig als
”Anti” stim ‘men’ .
zu beschreiben.
Sonst nichts als Unfug
alle betreiben.
Dagegen – hingegen – schräg gegenüber,
Plan A – Abgelehnt ! Plan B – Brüskiert !
Shutdown – genehmigt ! Stillstand ist klüger !
Es toben blindwütig die großen Debatten
ohne ein Entgegenkommens des Gegenstandes
geschafft zu haben!
—————————————————————–
Haben sie sich mit Mani’s genialen Dinger
wund gespielt
Gehirn & Finger?
Auf alle Fälle ist es Zeit
für etwas namens Heiterkeit –
Ihre Weiterausbildung ist mir GEGENseitig wirklich wichtig und besonders heute wirklich Wurst!
So fangen wir gleich an!
Aus der Abgaßß Klau-kopie-kleb-klick Kultürraub Klang- Kiste
Suchbegriff (kein Link) :
—————————————————————————————————————
Stephan Remmler – Alles hat ein Ende nur die Wurst hat zwei
637,985 views
(1987 4.01 min.)
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AgßEZ
Redaktionsschluß
31.1.2019
Priesterhaus Gaße 6
A-5020 Salzburg
Hi Emanuel,
You said, “Note that the spoken past is formed with sein, not with haben. Because… logic (#irony).”
The way I remember it is that when the object is indirect it is “sein”. When it is direct it is “haben”.
Ich bin noch nie einem Einhorn begegnet.
Ich habe noch nie ein Einhorn gesehen.
Maybe that’s the logic behind sein and haben?
Hallo sddiver,
verbs of motion conjugate with sein- gehen, fahren, fliegen, laufen, kommen usw.
and- TAUCHEN – to dive. Now you have an easy way to remember.
There is something with objects, but that’s a bit misleading. The core difference is that “sein” is used for verbs that talk about you changing your location (or state).
If those get a direct object, they turn to haben.
– Ich bin nach München gefahren.
– Ich habe meinen Bruder nach München gefahren.
Usually, they have NO object. That’s why “begegnen” is so weird… it is neither about changing my location, and it does have direct object. So if German were consistent, it should be “haben”. An exception pretty much, without any logic :)
Hi, Emanuel!
What a great article! Many thanks for the thorough explanations, it’s super helpful and enjoyable! :)
One question regarding your use of ‘Supper’ in the German example: you translated it as ‘soup’, whereas in English supper would be the meal served in the evening. So is there a similar difference between Supper/Suppe in German too?
Oh, that was a typo, actually :). I meant to write “Suppe” which is “soup”. German doesn’t have the word “supper”.
Der Supper: one who soups
Oh stimmt :D.
Do you know that “suppen” is actually a verb? It really is!
*looks up on dict.cc*
O_0
Correctly using “begegnen” in the past (so getting the dative AND “sein” right) in conversation is one of those moments when you feel you’ve really arrived as a German speaker.
How do “Gegend” and “Gebiet” compare? Is “Gebiet” just more formal/technical?
I’m guessing “gen” feels fairly poetic/old-timey? Are there just a few idiomatic phrases where you’d actually use it when speaking, or would it be weird to actually say “gen Osten” or whatever? (“Gen Himmel” is the first phrase that comes to mind for me – Lutherbibel again.)
By the way, there’s at least one more English word in the “against/again” family: “gainsay,” a proper Germanic word for “contradict” (widersprechen). “Gain” (noun or verb), though, comes via French from another root.
“those moments when you feel you’ve really arrived as a German speaker.”… nice :).
Yup, “gen” is definitely poetic. It’s fairly common with cardinal directions, so there, it doesn’t sound too high brow but with any other destination, people would “notice” it.
As for “Gegend” vs “Gebiet”: yes, “Gebiet” does sound more technical and formal. It comes from “bieten” so the core is who reigns the territory. It can be used for random bits of landscape too, though.
Gegend sounds a bit casual.
Like for instance… an area was poisoned by radiation. I would use “Gebiet” even though it doesn’t have clear boundaries and doesn’t belong to anyone.
Hope that made sense.
Egal, was es ist, ist – Anti-Man ein dafür, Dagegen-ist!.
Wenn zwei Anti-männer sich begegnen
kommt was oft,- gegen die”Er”wartung gesetztentgegen!
Alles klar???
“Egal, was es ist, ist – Anti-Man ein dafür, Dagegen-ist!” ….
ich verstehe es nicht :)
(it’s funny in German, I promise) (Ich “schwere” mit aller Kraft !)
Es war nur
eine kleine deutsche Poesie
hammerkrass gerammelt voll
mit frecher
Ami Ironie!
——————————————-
In der Gegenwart ist es gegenwärtig kalt
und von Mutti kommt Probates Mittel alt!
Gegen Fingern steiff gefroren,
kommt immer laut zu hören-
GOT MITTENS?
:+)
Das erste klingt wie ein Haiku (für mich, der keine Ahnung von Haikus hat :)
O weh! Wieder ein Rätsel :+) Du kennst sicher Protagonist =supporter · upholder · adherent · backer · advocate
protagonist of an idea
Vorkämpfer einer Idee
Hier wird gemeint: Anti-Man ist ein “Dagegen-ist’ das Gegenteil von einem Protagonist. Er ist immer nur dagegen und nimmer dafür.
Ein oxymoronischer-Schmäh! Ein Zustand, daß es gar nicht gibt.
Der Begriff “Anti-man” ist vielleicht mir nicht völlig klar?? Ist es ein großes Kino das ich gar nicht kenne??
Comix Superheld?
Was soll eigentlich ein Anti-Man in der Dresdener Fassung sein??
Ich tanze oft mit der Sprache mit Absicht ein bißchen erfinderisch aus der Reihe.
Ahhhh… Dagegenist. Ohne Bindestrich ist es klar :). Sehr gut, genau das ist Anti-Man. Der Gründer des Dagegenismus.
“Sometimes, learning German is like walking up a mountain of sand with head wind/counter wind”. The only thing wrong with that sentence is that it should be “a headwind”. We do not have counter wind. Still reading the article. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
Marian is right, the word would be head wind. That said, if I were to make that comment it would almost certainly be walking up a mountain of sand “against the wind” or “into the wind.” Using head wind is not wrong, it just feels less natural to me and I think such a description of difficulty may have less impact on the listener.
Hi Emanuel, thanks for your superb job at teaching us the german language so masterfully. When do tou think your app will be out there? All the best!
Oofff, that’ll take a while, I’m afraid. I have a lot of things to do at once and I have to do some heavy overhaul to the app structure, I realized. I’m working on it, though, I promise!
I’ve come across entgegennehmen/entgegengenommen a few times recently. Are there any differences between using this and annehmen?
Great question!
“entgegennehmen” only works for tangible objects, while “annehmen” can be used for compliments and apologies.
Also, “entgegennehmen” is less personal sounding than “annehmen”. So it’s really just the moment of taking, without any notion of keeping it.
In formal context of mail, a neighbor would entgegennehmen my parcel from the delivery guy, for example.
Hi Emauel, wie immer ein sehr intessanter und nützlicher Artikel. War ‘viscous beasts’ ein Tippfehler, oder hast Du das absichtlich geschrieben?
Und, muss man immer ‘gegen um’ sagen, oder kann man das ‘um’ weglassen, d.h. ‘Ich komme gegen 9’? Konnte man auch die Reihenfolge wechseln, nämlich, ‘Ich komme um gegen 9?
Vielen Dank
John
Hahaha… ups, that was a typo, yes :). Took me a second to realize it. It’s kind of funny actually.
About your question:
You can skip the “um” but you can’t move it before “gegen”.
Oh, sorry, dass ich auf Deutsch geschrieben habe. Ich vergesse manchmal, in welcher Sprache der Kommentar war und schreibe auf Englisch, und dann bin ich zu faul um es nochmal zu schreiben :)
As Elsa has already said “against the wind” is idiomatic as would be “into a headwind”.
“Into” would also be a better translation of “gegen” when talking about walking into a wall. “Walking against a wall” doesn’t sound right, or at least it sounds like something else, like hugging a wall while moving for the purpose of concealment.
Oh wow, that’s interesting. How about a tree? Would I run against it or into it.
And would I drive into a wall or against a wall?
Like… does the preposition depend on the means of movement?
I’d say for collisions with any degree of impact we always use “into”. “Walked into a tree” is exactly what you would say, as is “drive into a wall”. “Against” would be far less common and more for gradual encounters, like “the boat brushed against the ship’s sides”.
Or, more simply, if it hits something and stops as a result, that’s “into”. If it hits something and keeps doing it, that’s “against”.
Yeah, “against” sounds a little more static. You lean against a tree or wall, or you can push against it. Even with the repeated hitting, “against” would tend to fit a situation where you’re staying close to the wall while hitting (“banging your head against the wall”).
the cop pushed me against the wall vs into the wall.. i hit my head against the ceiling.. i leaned against the side of the car..
also we have the rivalry when team/person a competes against team /person zxz .
& some confrontational idioms: against the grain – against the authorities – against my wishes – against pain german and alcohol work wonders.
Wait, German works as a pain killer??!! I smell new marketing opportunities :D
Hi, Emanuel,
Little typo: “is one of the view prepositions you can put… (one of the few :))
As for your question:
Sometimes, learning German is like walking up a mountain of sand against the wind! (see how the “against” really works here? which makes a lot of sense in this context!)
Now a question of my own:
Could I say ” Im Gegensatz zu meiner Vorstellung, war die Suppe lecker” Or doesn’t it work this way?
Bis bald!
You’re always so quick :). You must be at the beginning of the email list (it takes about 15 hours to send to everyone). Good for me because I get to correct a lot before most people see it :D. Danke!
Dem Zeiger entgegen
Hallo G-i-e,
wäre es leicht für Dich nachzuschauen ab wann genau, die e-Post für “gegen” ausgegangen war?
Wenn d-i-e Reihenfolge nach Melde-datum weitergeht, bin ich sicher ganz am Ende. Ich denke es dauert doch länger als 15 Stunden. ?
Ich kr-i-egte die Mail am /um:
Unsubscribe
Wed, Jan 30, 3:42 PM 15:42 (4 days ago) .
Nach der Zeitverschiebung umgerechnet (+10St.) war es dann am Donnertag Jan, 31 um 01:42. MEZ bei mir eingetroffen.
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About your question: that’s not very idiomatic, but my example with “entgegen” isn’t either.
“entgegen” isn’t all that common as a preposition and often sounds out of place.