Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time, with a look at the meaning of
bieten
And that verb really has a lot to … ahem offer. Because not only does it literally mean to offer, you also get a whole bundle of really cool fascinating related words and prefix versions. And I can promise you that much: even if you are absolutely crushing it at German and you think you’ve seen it all, there will be a couple of surprises for you there.
And to top it all of, you’ll also learn about the origin of the family, which features a very very very very enlightened member.
So are you ready to jump in?
Great then let’s go.
The Meaning (and origin) of “bieten”
Some of you might have had a hunch already – bieten is the German brother of to bid. And the connection to the actual meaning isn’t that hard to see. Like… if you make a bid at an auction, you do basically offer a sum of money.
But that hasn’t always been the core idea and it’s not helpful with many of the related words.
The origin is the filthily ancient Indo-European root *bheudh-. It expressed a broad idea of awareness and it has offsprings in many of the Indo-European languages. In the Slavic languages for instance, it shifted toward the core idea of waking up, as we can see for example in the Bulgarian verb будя (“budja” – to wake someone up).
And we can also find it used for the “other” waking up. If you’re into meditation, you might have heard of the so called Bodhi Tree. That’s a huge sacred fig tree (also known as peepul tree or bo tree) under which a certain someone had an awaking experience. The Bodhi tree literally means tree of wisdom and the person under it was of course… Jesus.
Nah, I’m kidding.
But it’s a guy almost equally as famous. His original name was Siddhārtha, but he is much wider known as … Buddha – the wise one, the awakened.
So those of you who speak a Slavic language… next time you curse at your alarm in the morning, remember that it is literally related to Buddha.
So… these were two nice little relations, but what matters most for us is of course the Germanic branch of the family.
There, the core idea of awareness was used with a focus on making aware. And a perfect example for that is the English verb to bode and its prefix version foreboding.
“Maria’s angry face doesn’t bode well for Thomas’ romantic ambitions.”
These are about making aware of information, and it’s pretty much the same for the German noun der Bote, which originally was a person delivering a message.
- Die Dunklen Woken sind ein Vorbote des Sturms.
- The dark clouds are an harbinger of the storm.
Lit.: “foreboder”
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Lieber Paketbote, ich bin zu Hause! Bitte klingeln!
- Dear package delivery man, I am at home! Please ring!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And there’s also the noun die Botschaft, which means message (in the more epic sense, for an email or chat the word is Nachricht) and which is also the German word for embassy. I mean… an embassy does kind of deliver a country’s message, right?
- Die Aliens verstecken in unseren Träumen geheime Botschaften.
- The aliens are hiding secret messages in our dreams.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Nachdem der Botschafter mehrfach bedroht wurde, schließen die Eichhörnchen ihre Botschaft auf der Einhornweide.
- After the ambassador was threatened multiple times, the squirrels are closing down the embassy on the unicorn meadow.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
For a long time, the verb bieten itself was used in quite a wide range of contexts that revolve around making aware. We’ll see more of that in the prefix versions. But then it eventually focused on the idea of offering. Might seem like a bit of a stretch at fisrst but it makes total sense if we think about it. Because in essence, offering is also about presenting, making aware. You’re like “Look, here’s what I have.“. It’s just that there’s an added notion of “You can take it.”
Time for examples:
- Ich habe Maria 20 Euro für die Kamera geboten, aber das war ihr zu wenig.
- I offered Maria 20 Euro for the camera, but that wasn’t enough for her.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Insel Rügen hat Urlaubern viel zu bieten.
- The island Rügen has a lot to offer to vacationers.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- So eine Gelegenheit bietet sich nicht oft.
- Such an opportunity doesn’t present itself often.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- So eine Behandlung lasse ich mir nicht bieten. (common phrasing)
- I won’t accept this kind of treatment.
Lit.: “I won’t let this kind of treatment be offered to me.”
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And at this point I am really really happy to tell you that German was generous enough to cut a really special “two for one”-deal exclusively for you German learners. Are you ready for it?!
So here it is: when you translate to offer, you don’t only get bieten, you also get anbieten.
And the best part is that they’re not even really interchangeable #nuance.
Isn’t that absolutely amazing?!
No?
Well, it’s kinda sorta a mandatory deal so… we have to take it, whether we like it or not :)
The Meaning of “anbieten”
The difference is not that hard to grasp though. Anbieten is the more direct, momentary, singular type of offer from person to person. Bieten has got more of a long term vibe to it and it can be “done” by things or locations or jobs or whatever. I mean… a person can also bieten something, like but hotel can’t really “anbieten” comfort for example, just bieten.
The distinction is not super sharp, of course, but basically, anbieten is the word we need for the offers we make in daily life.
- Dealer-Problem im Zauberwald: immer öfter bieten Einhörner Wanderern Drogen an.
- Dealer problem in the magical forest: more and more often unicorns offer drugs to hikers.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Mein Professor hat mir das “du” angeboten.
- My professor offered the “informal you” to me.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Thomas hat angeboten, mir beim Netflix gucken zu helfen.”
“Oh, das ist so selbstlos von ihm.” - “Thomas offered to help me watch Netflix.”
“Aw, that’s so selfless of him.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And anbieten is also where we find the German word for the offer: das Angebot. Which is actually also sometimes used in the sense of available supply.
- Ich nehme dein Angebot an.
- I accept your offer.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wenn das Angebot sinkt, dann steigt der Preis.
- If the supply (“amount offered”) shrinks, then the price rises.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Ey… pssss… pssss…”
“Oh Gott…du bist… ein Einhorn.”
“Ja! Brauchst du LSD? Oder Pilze? Ich mach dir ein spezielles Angebot.” - “Ey… kssss… ksssst…”
“Oh God.. you’re… a unicorn.”
“Yeah. You need LSD? Or mushrooms? I’ll make you a special deal/offer.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Gee, these unicorns. I mean, I know that they’re conniving carnivores and a bane to the forests, but hustling drugs?! That’s something new. But okay, I don’t actually know the laws of the magical forest, so maybe it’s not even forbidden there.
And that’s actually the perfect cue for our next prefix version.
The Meaning of “verbieten”
And verbieten is of course the German version of to forbid.
- Ich verbiete dir, meinen Jogurt zu nehmen.
- I forbid you to take my yogurt.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Maria hat Thomas verboten, ihre Hosen anzuziehen.
- Maria has forbidden Thomas to put on her pants.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Parken verboten.
- No parking.
Lit.: Parking forbidden. - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And while English for some reason doesn’t really has a noun based on that, or at least it doesn’t use “forbiddance” that much, the German das Verbot is really common and often the translation for ban or interdiction or prohibition.
- Du stehst im Parkverbot.
- You’re parking in a no parking zone.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wegen der Sache mit der Hose hat Thomas in der Bar Hausverbot.
- Because of the thing with the pants, Thomas is banned from entering the venue.
(can I simply say “has a house ban”?)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Now, as far as usage and meaning goes I think this verb is pretty obvious. What might not be so obvious is the connection to the plain bieten. And now the origins come into play. Because while verbieten, doesn’t really tie in with the idea of to offer, it does tie in with the core notion of making aware, that we found earlier.
If you’ve read my article on the ver-prefix you might remember that the very core of ver- (as well as its brothers for(e)-, per- or pre-) is the idea of crossing a boundary. And one way to look at that is as a notion of away, out of bounds. And if we now think of making aware as a sort of announcing, then we get “announcing as out of bounds” – and that’s very close to the idea of forbid.
Well, I guess you can also just think of it as “bid away”, that’s a bit shorter actually.
But either way, it makes perfect logical sense that verbieten means what it means. And while we don’t really need that help here to remember the word, knowing the family ties and the inner logic is tremendously beneficial for the next verb… gebieten.
The Meaning of “gebieten”
Well, actually it’s a group of words that are based on gebieten. The verb itself isn’t all that common. But it’s the key so let’s start with that.
Just like the others, it has the core idea of making aware, and for a while it was just a more resolute sounding version of bieten. But slowly, it shifted toward a new concept – the concept of giving orders.
Think about it – if I say “I want a coffee.” then technically, I’m just “offering” that bit of information. But of course, the implied meaning is that my servants go and get one. I… I mean interns, of course. I… I said servants accidentally, because gebieten eventually became a word for the royalty. Kings and lords were people who would gebieten.
The verb itself is pretty much only used in fixed expressions nowadays…
- Der Architekt will mittels oberflächenloser Häuser dem Grafitti Einhalt gebieten.
- The architect wants to bid a halt to graffiti through surfaceless buildings.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Jetzt ist Eile geboten.
- Now, speed/swift action is important.
(lit.: “the situation calls for it”) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
If you read fantasy or history novels you’ll most likely find the word Gebieter for my lord.
- “Hol mir Kaffee!”
“Jawohl, mein Gebieter.” - “Fetch me coffee.”
“Yes, my ruler/master.“ - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
A bit more common in daily life is actually the noun das Gebot. It can be the bid in the context of an auction, but it’s also the word for a kind of general order, in the sense of how to behave. Like… when the king said “Mondays are henceforth wig days, everyone shall wear a wig.”, that would be a Gebot.
The most famous example might the 10 commandments
- Wer kennst alle 10 Gebote?
- Who knows all 10 commandments?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But there are other examples as well, like for instance the very fundamental Rechtsfahrgebot, which is the obligation to drive on the right side of the road. And yes, that really is an official word.
The most useful and common word in this branch, however, is a noun that actually looks REALLY similar to the verb, and yet, I’d bet most Germans are not even aware of it.
I am talking about das Gebiet, which is a German word for a somewhat bigger area. And it’s also used as a metaphorical field.
- Das ist ein Wohngebiet.
- That is a residential area.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wegen dem Einhornschwarm ist der Stadtpark jetzt ein Naturschutzgebiet.
- Because of the unicorn flock, the magical forest is now a natural reserve/nature conservation area.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Auf dem Gebiet von Netflix und Chill ist Thomas ein Neuling.
- Thomas is a newbie in the field of Netflix and chill.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And even though it feels like a completely unrelated word when we just find it in the dictionary, it’s no problem for us now to see why Gebiet means area… it used to be the land ruled by a certain lord. That was the area of which he was Gebieter, that was the area over which he would gebieten.
And as I said, I’m sure most Germans have no clue about this, so if you’re on a date with a German person and the conversation stalls… you can whip it out, this bit of trivia.
Cool.
Now, there are a few more prefix versions, actually, like aufbieten or erbieten or entbieten but they’re all kind of rare, so I’ll leave it up to you to find out about them and we can clarify them in the comments, if need be.
Oh… well, and there’s überbieten and unterbieten which are about making a higher or lower offer, basically. Those are actually common and useful, but there’s not much to explain for those, so I’ll save those two for the quiz :).
So I think that’s pretty much it for today. This was our look at the meaning of bieten and its family and I really hope it helped remember the words a little better.
As always, if you want to check out how much you remember from the article, you can take the little quiz I have prepared.
And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment.
And if you’ve been wondering the whole time what about bitten … well… that is actually a completely different family.
And because there’s also quite a bit to explore, we’ll look at that soon in a separate article :).
I hope you enjoyed it, have a great week and see you next time.
** vocab **
bieten = to bid; to offer (“long term”, can also be done by things and locations)
der Bote = the messenger, the delivery guy (old school, person delivering something)
der Postbote = the mail man
der Vorbote = the harbinger
die Botschaft = the message (grand sense, NOT for SMS or chat); the embassy
der Botschafter = the ambassador
anbieten = to offer (short, singular offers by humans)
das Angebot = the offer; the supply (in economics and for food)
das Sonderangebot = the special offer
im Angebot = on offer/on sale
der Anbieter = the provider (utilities, internet)
der Stromanbieter = the electricity provider
verbieten = to forbid
das Verbot = the ban, the prohibition, the interdiction
verboten = forbidden
das Parkverbot = no parking zone
das Hausverbot = the ban to enter a property
das Gebot = the commandment, the order to behave (general); the bid (at an auction);
die zehn Gebote = the ten commandments
das Rechtsfahrgebot = the obligation to drive on the right side
Eile ist geboten. = Speed/hurrying up is crucial. (fixed phrase)
der Gebieter = the lord (historical, Gebieterin for female)
das Gebiet = the area (big); the field (metaphorical, like “field of math”)
das Naturschutzgebiet = the natural reserve area
das Wohngebiet = the residential area
unterbieten = to beat (by going lower)
überbieten = to top an offer, to beat (by going higher)
I believe there is a missing “l” in “Die Dunklen Woken …”
Would anbieten work here?
If yes, would you agree that with anbieten, it would sound like “I was being generous” or “I wanted to help” whereas with bieten it would sound more neutral or transaction-like?
It does work and does sound less like a bidding auction and more like an offer. LIke… do you want a cake for the camera? Or this 20 Euro? It’s not really about being generous though or wanting to help. That would come from context.
It’s a nuance in this example overall, and I think many native speakers would call the words synonyms here.
Would you say this sentence is unnatural?
Absolutely not. It’s perfectly fine. Why are you asking? Is something in the article suggesting that it’s not idiomatic? I’d have to change that then.
You wrote:
The difference is not that hard to grasp though. Anbieten is the more direct, momentary, singular type of offer from person to person. Bieten has got more of a long term vibe to it and it can be “done” by things or locations or jobs or whatever. I mean… a person can also bieten something, like but hotel can’t really “anbieten” comfort for example, just bieten.
The distinction is not super sharp, of course, but basically, anbieten is the word we need for the offers we make in daily life.
I probably was a bit too fixated on “person to person”.
Oh, got it. That makes sense!
The “anbieten” here is mainly because the context is “selling items” and that context usually goes with “anbieten”. Think of a person on a market stand handing out samples, if you need a visual connection. That’s kind of the “vibe”.
as others have mentioned Hausverbot would be “barred” in british english for this scenraio, but actually only for bars, pubs and clubs where there is a bar serving dfrinks. For shops I guess it would be “banned” however.
When I heard the word gebieten (why i ended up here) i thought it would have some relation to beten but it doesn’t seem to
“beten” does belong to the broader family, but that’s for part 2, which I have yet to finish.
oh really..it would make sense.. look forward to part 2
Hi Emanuel,
Ich habe ihm ein gutes Gehalt geboten/ angeboten
Welches Verb passt hier besser?
Danke vielmals
Beide passen.
“geboten” klingt ein bisschen formeller und unpersönlicher und nach Geld.
“angeboten” klingt persönlicher aber ist trotzdem total okay in diesem Kontext.
I’m pretty sure your hunch is correct and “bjuda” is the brother of “bieten”.
Also, “offering” and “decreeing” are not that different. Like… think of an army general saying “this is an order, not a suggestion”.
Could you give me a context and sentence for “pabjuda” for the translation? It depends on context.
In swedish, the word påbjuda sounds like it comes from på (“on”) and bjuda (“invite”). But I suspect bjuda could be related to buda (“to bid”). In that case, it sounds very much like anbieten. But the meaning is completely different – it means “to decree”, i.e. the opposite of verbieten (which by the way is “förbjuda” in swedish, which is another reason I suspect that påbjuda is related to bieten). So how would I say påbjuda in german; is it in someway also related to verbieten? Thanks for a great article.
I’m pretty sure your hunch is correct and “bjuda” is the brother of “bieten”.
Also, “offering” and “decreeing” are not that different. Like… think of an army general saying “this is an order, not a suggestion”.
Could you give me a context and sentence for “pabjuda” for the translation? It depends on context.
Guten Tag Emanuel
Ich habe diesen Satz “Angebot machen” mit diesen beiden Präpositionen gesehen…
Der Verkäufer macht dem Kunden ein Angebot über/ für ein neues Auto.
Bedeuten sie dasselbe?
Danke schon mal im Voraus!
Ja, die bedeuten das gleiche. Ich finde “für” besser, aber das kann regional verschieden sein.
Great article. A LOT to take in :)
Just a thought… how’s “domain” to explain “Gebiet”? Works for a large area with a specific purpose, as well as for the more abstract notion of topics. And to push the parallel, I’d guess (just a guess though) that it also comes from dominion / dominate / etc, so close to the idea of “Gebieter”?
Nice idea!! It’s definitely a match in the abstract sense, but in terms of nature, I think “Gebiet” is smaller. A “Waldgebiet” can have just a few dozen acres, and I don’t think that’d be enough to be called “domain”.
I’m not sure for English tbh, but in French (where the word comes from… now I’ve looked it up!) it works even for tiny bits of woods. There’s usually a sign to declare “domaine de blah blah blah”. These things always vary a little from country to country though.
When we ban someone from the hospital, it’s called a no-trespass order. We like to do that when people come to bother other patients or steal hospital supplies, rather than to get care for themselves. (Unicorns have long been banned bc they were stealing drugs).
Yup, that sounds exactly like something unicorns would do XD!
I often explain German->English with the heuristic that t -> d and v -> f. (also, ie -> i is quite understandable). I’m surprised it took me until this article to see that “vorbieten” has a direct mapping to “to forbid” with the common letter conversions. It even works in parts: vor -> for and bieten -> to bid. Thanks for another great article.
Small correction… it’s “verbieten”.
Have you read the article on the prefix “ver-“? That might be quite the eye opener :)
Oh wait, I just now saw your name :D. Pretty sure you have read that ver-article.
Schön zu sehen, dass du noch mitliest!!
I wasn’t even aware that a single concept can branch out into so many terms, that’s insane! I don’t really come across these as much except for some compound words like “Wohngebiet” but I’m glad to know more about its roots.
(I got to read this article thanks to lovely fellers who pitched in and helped me get this access, many many thanks! <3 I’ll work hard!)
Hi im new here and ive been reading your articles for a while.
Your articles are soooo awsome.. I love your sense of humor.
Im so grateful i dont have to depend on my clinical dumb grammer books anymore.
Its so great how you explain origins of word. Literally makes all sense.
It has literally saved me from rote memorising words. Now i just get an intuitive gist of the word.
Lots of love
Haseeb
thanks to all members especially to those who pay a little more , im happy to join u all and learn with u , the website is too informative !!
Hi Emmanuel, I love your blog and your teaching style. German is almost easy and comprehensible with your explanations.
I don’t know if this idea is even possible but, it would be super groovy to hear you read out loud the text of your emails, in order to hear the accent, rhythm, flow, etc. It is a lot of work so I totally get it if that’s not possible.
Thanks for this great blog.
mdB um Erlaeuterung: Sie schreiben: Anbieten is the more direct, momentary, singular type of offer from person to person. Bieten has got more of a long term vibe to it and it can be “done” by things or locations or jobs or whatever.
Aber als Beispiel fuer bieten, gibt es: Ich habe Maria 20 Euro für die Kamera geboten
Den Erklaerungen nach, sollte das nicht, Ich habe Maria 20 Euro für die Kamera angeboten sein? Hilfe?
Du hast Recht, das Beispiel passt nicht. Aber es ist keine feste Regel. Es gibt immer eine idiomatische Komponente und im Kontext von Geld, making a bid, “bieten” ist besser als “anbieten”.
Hallo lieber Emanuel
Es ist immer eine unbeschreibliche Freude deinen Artikel zu lesen ! Ich biete es nicht über das zu sagen, wirklich so ist es .
Herzlichen Dank nochmal
PS:
Ich möchte etwas hinzufügen, dass mit was du über Indo-europäisch Stamm von Bieten , gesagt hat, stimmt. In der Tat, in heutigen persische Sprache , es gibt das verb ” boudan ” das bedeutet sein oder existieren ( or to be in English ) sehr nahe bei budja
in Bulgarische Sprache .
Danke für das schöne Feedback und für den kleinen Einblick ins Persische. Das ist immer sehr interessant.
Eine kleine Korrektur:
“überbieten” passt nicht, so wie du es verwendet hast. Das Wort, was du brauchst, ist “übertreiben”.
“überbieten” ist über Konkurrenz.
At least in UK English .. this would be ..
Because if the thing with the trousers Thomas is barred from the venue.
I‘ve done a little speculation about „Gebiet“ myself! I have a theory that it’s why the area a police officer patrols is called their “beat”. Sounds plausible, no?
Etymonline actually mentions that use, kind of.
The noun “beat” could be used in a sense of “route travelled regularly” since about 300 years. I think it’s a derivative of the idea of regular heartbeat or something like “the beaten path” rather than the German “Gebiet”.
That said, nice mnemonic :)
Here’s the link for reference:
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=beat
Hello!
I had a great time in Sweden but no, I didn’t meet up with Amerikanerin because we were on opposite sides of Sweden and our plans and schedules didn’t tie in… But there’s always a next time :)
And now I’m back for typos:
“If the supply (“amount offered”) is shrinks, then price rises” (If the supply (“amount offered”) (remove the is) shrinks, then the price rises)
“his servants go and get one” (don’t you mean my servants?) lol
surfaceless is just one word, no hyphen
“Now,there are” (you forgot the space after the comma; picky, I know!)
Thank you soooo much for explaining the difference between “bieten” and “anbieten”, I never understood it until now. I also always confuse “bieten” and “bitten” and have a lot of trouble with the usage of “bitten”, so I’ll be looking forward to your article on the latter!
Bis bald!
Wohoo, really proud of my typo count this time :).
Danke wie immer!!
Since you mentioned it… what kind of trouble are you having with “bitten”? The meaning or the grammar?
The grammar… I never now how to use the “um” in bitten um… especially when the verb to ask refers to an action, for instance “I asked you to explain this to me”