The meaning (and use) of “lassen”

Hello everyone,

and welcome to our German Word of the Day, this time with a look at:

The Meaning of “lassen”

Sometimes it’s to let, sometimes it’s to leave, and sometimes it’s used for some kind of passive voice or like a modal verb.
Definitely one of the more confusing verbs for learners.

And let’s not forget about its various prefix versions, like verlassen (to leave) or auslassen (to skip) and more.

In this lesson, we’ll learn all about all of that. What meanings there are, how they make sense and of course how to use the lassen-family like an absolute boss.

This is quite a huge topic though, so we’ll split the lesson into two parts and leave all the prefix versions for part two.

Today, in part one, we’ll focus on lassen itself.
So we’ll find the core idea and see how its various uses relate to that.

And that includes this weird thing called Passiv-Ersatzform that you come across in B2 courses.
So… are you ready to dive in?
Then lasst uns anfangen.
Let’s go.

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The core idea of ‘lassen’

The origin of lassen is the disrespectfully ancient Indo-European root *lē(i)-. This root carried an idea of to let go, to slacken but I think an image might capture it best:

letting the air out of a balloon

Pffffffffrrrrrrrrrrt… and you’re left with a flabby piece of rubber.
This root grew into a pretty large word tree with branches in many languages. In English for example, we have the direct brother of lassen, to let.
But also late and last are part of the family, and they’re are based on the idea of weak or slow travelling… low energy travelling if you will.
Other relatives are for examples lax and lazy which mean that we don’t invest much energy into something, and to relax which is all about removing tension from a system. And tension is just a form of energy.
And this notion of little or no energy is actually really helpful for explaining lassen. If we make that into a verb, we could say “investing no energy into something” and that is kind of similar to the simple idea of

“not doing something”

That’s the core of lassen and as you’ll see now in our little tour, all the various uses of the verb are actually just different angles of that idea.
So let’s take a look.

‘lassen’ – A tour of its Meanings

And we’ll start with the core idea itself, because lassen is indeed often used as literally not doing something, as opposed to doing it.

lassen for “not doing”

Think of it as the opposite of machen.

• “Mein Gott, deine Suppe ist ein Salzmonster.”
  “Ja, ich glaube ich lasse das Kochen lieber.”
• “My god, Your soup is a salt monster.”
  “Yeah… I think I’m not gonna leave/stop/”not do” the cooking.”
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• Eigentlich wollte ich heute Abend Fußball spielen gehen, aber ich glaube ich lass das lieber. Mein Knie tut weh.
• Originally I wanted to go play soccer tonight but I think I’m not going to do it. My knee hurts.
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• Lass das!
• Stop that/Don’t do that!
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• Lass es.
• Don’t do it. Don’t bother.
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If you’re wondering about the difference between the last two… the es sounds less direct and focused (and harsh). You’d use the first if you kid was messing with your phone for example and the second if you’re friend, who recently broke up, ponders calling the ex again and you think it’s a waste of time (and energy).

Cool. So one aspect of lassen is the idea of not doing something. That’s pretty general, actually, and all the others are kind of a sub-group of that.
Like the next one: the idea of not changing something.

‘lassen’ for ‘not changing’

Or in other words: leaving things as they are.
This is can be used in the sense of not changing a state…

• Ich lasse das Bild, wie es ist.
• I leave the picture as it is.
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• Lass mich in Ruhe!
• Leave me alone!
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• Because the weather is so good, I’m leaving the window open while I’m out of the house.
• Weil das Wetter so gut ist, lasse ich das Fenster auf, während ich weg bin.

but also in a sense of not taking away…

• “Ich hab’ Eintopf gemacht. Willst du was?”
  “Ne, ich muss los, aber lass mir was übrig.”
• “I’ve made a stew. You want some?
  “No, I gotta go, but leave some for me, please.”
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• Maria mag Thomas, weil er ihr ihre Freiheiten lässt.
• Maria likes Thomas because he gives her her space.
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… and it also works in combination with activities.

• Ich lasse meine Haare wachsen.
• I grow out my hair.

• Ich lasse meine Sachen überall in der Wohnung rumliegen.
• I leave my things lying all over the apartment.
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And here, it actually seamlessly blends with the next aspect of lassen – the idea of not preventing something.

‘lassen’ for ‘allowing’

Non-doing can of course also mean not doing something against something. And if you don’t prevent something, you basically allow it. Or in other words, you let it happen.
This is basically how to let got its meaning, but unlike lassen, it lost all the other aspects and fully focused on this idea of permission or leaving be.

• Lass mich rein.
• Let me in.
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• Mich hat heute im Supermarkt jemand vorgelassen…. voll nett.
• Someone let me go ahead in the supermarket line today… so nice.
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• Ich lasse mich nicht verarschen.
• I won’t let people bullshit me.
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• Lass mich gehen.
• Let me go.

As you can see in the last examples, we do not need a zu in German to connect a second verb to lassen. That’s a bit special because lassen is not a modal verb, but it’s the same grammar as in English, so it should feel natural actually.

What’s less natural are some of the more figurative uses of this lassen …

• Ich lasse das Glas fallen.
• I drop the glass.
  I let the glass fall (lit.)
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• Die Kritiken lassen auf einen guten Film hoffen.
• The reviews suggest it’s going to be a good movie.
  The reviews allow hope for a good movie (lit.)
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• Ich lasse mir die herablassende Art von meinem Chef nicht länger gefallen.
• I won’t let the condescending attitude of my boss “please” me any longer.(lit).
• I won’t take/accept the condescending attitude of my boss any longer.
  (this must seem really odd but it’s very common. Maybe just take it as a fixed idiom)
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• “Ich komme 5 Minuten zu spät.”
  “Lass dir Zeit, ich bin eh noch nicht fertig..
• “I’ll be 5 minutes late.”
  “Allow yourself some time… (lit.)”
  “Take your time, I’m not ready yet anyway. ”
  
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As you can see, to let is not a translation in these, but I think the core idea of permission is still pretty present.
And the two verbs line up again in the following, very common kind of statements:

• “Lass uns ein Bier trinken.”
• “Let‘s have a beer.”
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This is about inviting and initiating, so it’s actually a call to PUT IN energy. And that doesn’t really seem to fit in with the base idea of not putting in energy. But if we think of it as a kind of “Allow the momentum.” then it fits perfectly.
The phrase isn’t as common in German as it is in English, but still, it’s pretty common and works with all kinds of verbs.
Including lassen itself :).

• Lass es uns lassen.
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Yes, we really do say that :). And it brings us full circle to the beginning of our tour because it basically means

• Let’s not do it.

All right.
So this was our little tour along the different ideas that we can express with lassen. And I hope you could see that they actually aren’t that different but just different aspects of a base idea of not putting in energy.

Here’s a quick recap of the ideas we had so far:

• not doing something
• not changing (leaving, letting be)
• not preventing (letting)
• inviting (let’s go)

Note that There’s one idea that is completely missing: the idea of LEAVING in the sense of NOT STAYING.
That’s because it’s NOT a meaning of lassen. Instead, we need a prefix version for it.
But we’ll talk about those in part two.
For now, we’ll need to talk about one more aspect of lassen itself. One that doesn’t really seem to fit in with the rest.

‘lassen’ – Having Something Done

Take the following little dialogue.
Location: random kitchen in a shared flat.
Time: dinner party, the next morning:

“Thomas…. feel free to help with the dishes.”
“I appreciate the freedom to help, dude!” (heads for the PlayStation)
“Hey uhm… that’s actually not how I meant it.”

I think you all understood the problem in this little conversation. The first statement wasn’t about freedom of choice. This was a demand in disguise.
Many phrasings that talk about permission or opportunity (like may or could) can be used that way. And so it’s no surprise that lassen can do it, too.

• Emanuel lässt seine Praktikanten hohe Schuhe tragen.

This sentence can actually mean two things. One is that I allows them to wear heels. The other is that I have them wear them.

• Emanuel lets/has his interns wear heels.

In this case, it’s the first one. I would never make them wear heels. I mean, except this one time when they put too much sugar in my coffee… anyway, here’s a couple

• Der König lässt seine Diener kommen.
• The king calls for his servants./has his servants show up.
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• Maria lässt Thomas warten.
• Maria makes Thomas wait.
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And while these are about actually “making” something happen, this lassen is also used in a more toned down sense of getting a service.

• Am Freitag lasse mir die Haare schneiden.
• I’ll get a haircut on Friday.
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• Ich lasse mein Fahrrad reparieren
• I’m having my bike repaired [by someone]
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And this type of phrasing actually doesn’t sound bossy at all and it’s much less “demanding” than “have someone do something“.
And it’s really really really common, so let’s look at a few more examples.

• Ich lasse mir morgen die Fälle erklären.
• I’ll have someone explain the cases to me.
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• Ich lasse mir die Rechnung bringen.
• I’m having the waiter bring the bill.(lit)
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• Ich lasse mich morgen massieren.
• I’ll have someone massage me tomorrow…. sounds odd and demanding
• I’ll get a massage tomorrow… this is how the German sentence feels.
  
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• Ich lasse mich scheiden.
• I’m getting a divorce.
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• Kann ich mir Mandelmilch verschreiben lassen?
• Can I have almond milk prescribed to me? (lit.)
• Can I get a prescription for almond milk?
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All right.
Now, we already have quite a bit of input but there’s one more thing I want to talk about, just because it ties in so well with all we’ve learned.
I am talking about what in textbooks and course is often referred to as

“Passiversatzform für Passiv mit Modalverb ‘können'”

which roughly translates to “Term that no German has ever heard of”.
Seriously, people usually do not know that term. It sure sounds very complicated and B2-ish, but it’s actually not difficult at all. Because it’s just a natural byproduct of using lassen with a self reference.

The Meanings of ‘sich (nicht) lassen’

Take this example:

• Das Einhorn lässt sich streicheln.

This means that the unicorn allows us to pet it. Or literally, it allows itself petting.
Okay, this example is nonsense of course, because unicorns HATE human hands on their fur.
But anyway, if we now change the example and use a mere object like a door and the verb to open, we get this:

• Die Tür lässt sich öffnen.
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And this basically means that the door can be opened. And THAT’S why the German phrasing sich lassen is called Passiversatzform…. because it can replace a proper passive form with werden.

• Something can be done.
• Etwas kann gemacht werden.
• Etwas lässt sich machen.
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The name Passiversatzform might sound a bit intimidating, but it’s nothing special. There’s always more than one way to express an idea and many languages have ways to express the notion of a passive without the grammatical passive.
Actually, I think it’s not very helpful to focus on that too much, though.
Take a look at these examples:

• Das Licht lässt sich nicht dimmen.
• You can’t dim the light./The light ain’t dimmable.
  (these -able forms would be called Passiversatzform in German, too)
  
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• Die Fliege lässt sich nicht fangen.
• The fly can’t be caught.
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• Die Katze lässt sich nicht streicheln.
• The cat won’t let people pet it.
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• Thomas lässt sich nicht aus der Ruhe bringen.
• Thomas can’t be fazed easily/isn’t easy to faze.
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I mean… where does “can be done” (a grammatical passive) end and lets you do (not a passive) start? All these sentence are the exact same phrasing but would they all be called Passelaffufforms? No.
This sich lassen phrasing is really just the plain straight-forward allow-meaning of lassen combined with a self reference. And in certain contexts, this can express the same thing that a passive would express.
Here are a few more really common uses…

• Das lässt sich nicht mit Sicherheit sagen.
• That can’t be said for sure.
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• Das lässt sich nicht ändern.
• That’s just how it is.
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• Über Geschmack lässt sich (nicht) streiten.
• There is no accounting for taste.
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• Das Ergebnis kann sich sehen lassen.
• Lit.: The result it can allow for itself to be seen (because it is good enough).
• The result is impressive.
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Now, there are lots of common phrasings with lassen but if you have a question about one of them, we can always clear it up in the comments. For today, we’ve done enough, I think. And next time, in the second part, we’ll face the swarm. Dun dunn dunnn.
I can already see it in the distance. A dark menacing cloud. Prefixes. Many, many prefixes. But…. the cloud’s not here yet so… uhm… I guess we’ll have to wait for part two :).
Anyway, I hope you got a good impression of what lassen is used for, and more importantly, how it all connects. If you want to check how much you remember, just take the little quiz I will have prepared at some point… after the summer of 2020 is over probably :D.
If you have any questions about lassen so far or if you want to try out some examples just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.

Find part two here:

• The meanings of “lassen” – Part 2