Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will have a look at the meaning of:
die Erfahrung
Erfahrung means experience.
Okay. Cool.
- Ich hab’ viel Erfahrung damit.
- I have a lot of experience with that.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But WHY does Erfahrung mean experience.
And what the difference is between Erfahrung and Erlebnis, which ALSO means experience.
And what’s with the verbs erfahren and erleben?
Today, we’ll explore all that and more, so if you’re ready to learn some useful vocabulary, let’s jump right in.
And we’ll actually start with a quick look at the English word experience.
The surprising origin of “experience”
It consists of three parts.
The ending -ence is an ending that was originally use to form nouns. Like patience, silence or existence. On the other end, we have the prefix ex- carries the idea of outward or outside. And in the middle, we have the element peri. That’s an old Latin and Greek root which had the idea of surrounding, encircling and it’s for instance the core of the word perimeter.
And that’s kind of the key to experience.
Imagine growing up in a little village hundreds of years ago with a little wooden fence around it. Pretty save, but also pretty boring. So you might decide to venture outside into the surrounding forest.
You “exit” the “perimeter”.
It’s an experiment, you might meet perilous animals, but you’ll get lots of experience.
Experience (as well as the other two words I mentioned) is based on the idea of going out into the world beyond the “perimeter”.
I though that’s pretty cool already but it gets better.
The Origin of “Erfahrung” and “erfahren”
Just like experience, the word Erfahrung consists of 3 parts: er, fahr and ung.
The Ending -ung is a very common German ending that makes nouns. Like Endung (ending) or Warnung (warning).
On the other end we have the prefix er- which is of course crystal clear to all of us so we don’t even need to talk about it.
I’m kidding of course. The prefix is not clear at all. I do have a lesson about it though, so if you want to learn more about “er-“, you’ll find the link below this one. For today, let’s just say that the core of er- is the idea of “attaining, reaching” something.
Now, in the center of Erfahrung is fahr and I’m sure you’ve all been the thinking the same “This kinda looks like fahren.”
And you’re spot on. Heck, the verb to experience is erfahren.
Fahren means to drive, so the word for experience being connected to driving… I mean… it’s on brand, I guess. Germans and their cars and highways.
However, we’re not THAT obsessed with our cars after all.
The verb fahren is related to the English word fare is of course much older than cars and originally it was used for all sorts of travel.
- Ich fahre nach Berlin.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This simply used to mean:
- I travel/go to Berlin.
This old meaning is still visible in quite a few idiomatic expressions.
- Fahr zur Hölle!
- Go to hell!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Morgen ist Christi Himmelfahrt.
- Tomorrow is Ascension Day.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Of course, Jesus didn’t “drive” up to heaven. He levitated up there like a boss.
Hey, which car would Jesus drive, by the way?
A Christler.
Badumm tsssss.
I… sorry… I just have to be silly sometimes.
So, we just learned that fahren used to be a general word for going places or travelling.
And we have the er-prefix with its broad sense of attaining. So the verb erfahren taken literally would be something like “attain through travelling”.
And what’s something you can attain from travelling REALLY well? Experience!
And that’s where the noun die Erfahrung comes from.
English experience was kind of the knowledge you gain when you leave your village.
German Erfahrung originally was stuff you learn while travelling.
Quite similar after all.
And by the way… , the verb fahren and the word peri are actually kin, too. They all come from a root that was about the idea of a boundary and going beyond it.
You don’t have to remember that, of course, but I always find these connections fascinating.
Anyway, enough with the history. Time to get to more practical things. And we’ll actually start with the verb erfahren.
The meaning and use of “erfahren”
Originally, erfahren was about reaching something through travelling.
- Ich habe Berlin “erfahren“.
- I traveled Berlin.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But over time, the verb shifted more toward seeing new things and “learning new things” and the idea of travelling paled more and more. In fact, today, most native speakers don’t even really realize that erfahren has fahren in it and that this is kind of funny.
But yeah, the main meaning of erfahren today is to find out something by reading or hearing about it. It is like the English to learn, but not to learn as in sit down and study.
It is the to learn as in “it was brought to my attention”… let’s do some examples.
- Maria hat gestern erfahren, dass Thomas sie betrogen hat.
- Maria learned/was told yesterday, that Thomas cheated on her.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Erst ganz am Ende des Krimis erfährt man, wer der Täter ist.
- It is only at the very end of the crime story that we learn/find out who has done it.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Now, does erfahren also mean to experience? The answer is “jein” as we say in German. Yes and no.
Erleben is generally the better choice for to experience.
- Ich habe erlebt, was es heißt, kein Geld zu haben.
- I have experienced what it means to have no money.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Technically, erfahren can be used that way too but it sounds somewhat big… I don’t know how else to say it.
- Maria hat viel Leid erfahren.
- Maria has experienced a lot of suffering (lit.)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The point is that erfahren will always have this other meaning of to learn/to hear.
- Ich habe erfahren, was Rassismus ist.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This could mean 2 things
- I have experienced what racism is/means.
- I have learned/been told what racism is.
Erleben is just less ambiguous.
So when it comes to translating to experience, there is a clear favorite.
For the noun the experience, it’s less clear.
Erfahrung vs Erlebnis
Both, die Erfahrung and das Erlebnis are translations for the experience.
And there are some contexts where the two can by synonyms, but there are also important difference.
First off, if the focus is on how something “looks or feels”, Erlebnis is the natural choice.
- Jetzt Kaffee umsonst – für das ultimative Einkaufserlebnis.
- Now coffee for free – for the ultimate shopping experience.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Das Erlebnis für den Nutzer ist wichtig.
- User experience matters.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Erfahrung on the other hand is more about the “brain”. Remember… the verb is focused on learning new things.
It’s not like Erfahrung is always about facts, it can also be about a more visceral or holistic experience, but it does lean toward “learning/experiencing something new”.
A roller coaster ride for the first time can be called Erlebnis and Erfahrung. For the 10th time, it’s still an Erlebnis, but not really an Erfahrung anymore, because you already knew it.
This “learning”-focus is also the reason why Erfahrung is THE word in the context of experience that relates to “skill”.
- Dafür braucht man viel Erfahrung.
- You need a lot of experience for that.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe damit gute Erfahrungen gemacht.
- I’ve made good experiences with that.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Während meines Studiums konnte ich schon viel praktische Erfahrung sammeln.
- During my studies I could gain a lot of practical experience.
(I used to translate this “schon” with “already” but it doesn’t work and best remains untranslated here.. for more check out this comment)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe viel Erfahrung mit Wildpferden.
- I have a lot of experience with wild horses.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The experience in the last example will be interpreted as knowing a lot about wild horses. Not as “I have been kicked and bitten thousands of times“. Or at least that is how the German sounds… I don’t know for English. I suck.
Anyway… I have to go to the prairie in a little bit so we’ll have to finish soon. But let’s look at 2 related words. Of course we have an adjective for experienced and to confuse everyone it looks just like the verb…. erfahren.
- Ich bin sehr erfahren.
- I am very experienced.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But thank god the adjective endings will avoid confusion most of the time. Thanks adjective endings… you’re the best.
- Ich bin ein sehr erfahrener Wildpferdtrainer.
- I am a very experienced tra… bla bla bla.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
By the way… the opposite of that is unerfahren.
And lastly there is the word erfahrungsgemäß. Gemäß means something like according to so the whole word literally means according to experience.
- Erfahrungsgemäß wird es im Winter manchmal kalt.
- According to experience it’ll get cold in winter from time to time.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Wann kommst du morgen zur Party?”
“Ich komm’ erst spät, da die erfahrungsgemäß eh erst spät gut werden.” - “At what time will you come to the party tomorrow?”
“I’ll come really late because usually parties only get good late anyway.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Sounds super useless in English but the German word is quite handy, indeed.
There are also billions (in sense of like 10) of compounds like Erfahrungsbericht (report of ex..), Erfahrungsaustausch (exchange of ex…) or Programmiererfahrung (programming ex…) but you’ll be able to figure those out if you know the other part.
So… and that’s it.
This was our German Word of the Day die Erfahrung. It comes from the verb fahren so it seems like a very very very German word but fahren originally meant to travel. So Erfahrung is what you get when you travel or go places and it means… experience.
If you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Further Reading:
Thanks for some very useful information. I think you could possibly do an article on lernen. You mention in this one that erfahren is to learn by reading or hearing and I’m definitely seeing that it is not the same as lernen, but I’d love to know more.
Thankss!!
Perhaps a better translation, closer to its use in English, both standard and idiomatic, would be “discover”.
As in “I discovered Berlin”, which , in context, does not mean that the person literally found a city no one had known existed, but that they had experienced something there they had never expected.
As in a “bigger” version of experience.
Just as “erfahren” is a “bigger” version of “erleben”.
That’s interesting… “discover” in this context sound bigger than “experience” to you? That’s a surprise. The thing that makes me a bit hesitant is that (to me anyway) discovering has an active tone, while “erfahren” is more of an “sitting back and letting the city take the reins”. Thoughts?
It is definitely bigger. Experience can relate to anything. One experiences something even if one has already done it hundreds of times. If you have a favourite restaurant, you experiences it every time you go. “Discovery” on the other hand, implies a singular experience, not to be replicated. One discovers one’s soon to be favourite only once.
I can experience Berlin and all it has to offer many times. I can only discover it once. “Discovery” is more profound than “experience”. Revelatory, even, by definition.
As for Erfahrung, the above etymology definitely involves the same active participation, certainly more than “erleben”. Which requires more active participation, “fahren” or “leben”? The former requires input, the latter just occurs. One can sit back and “leben”. But despite technologies best efforts, we are still not at a place where we can sit back and “fahren”.
However, it should be noted that the stated etymology for “experience” above is actually a bit of a false, folk etymology. In fact, although the “peri” in “experience” is related to the root “peri” in “perimeter”, it is only related indirectly. Rather, the word “experience”, originating in English sometime in the 15th century, derived from the Latin experiri, “to try, test,” from ex- “out of” + peritus “experienced, tested”, in turn stemming from the proto IndoEuropean root *per-yo-, suffixed form of the root *per- “to try, risk”, as seen in the related English “peril”. It originally meant “having done something and gotten good at it”. I.e., that received or derived out of risk.
Does the verb “Erfahren” also work for “to deduce” as in extracting information from texts and examples?
Google translate states “ableiten” as a translation for “to deduce”, but you know how dictionaries are, just try to translate a Japanese sentence to English and you’ll have a gio laugh, anyway I just need some help with that bit, and as always thanks for the great posts, they’re much appreciated.
(By the way how many languages do you speak? Just wondering.
“ableiten” is fine and it’s actually quite literal. “duce” come from the Latin word for “to lead” and “de-” is similar to “ab-” in a downward, consequential sense. “erfahren” doesn’t work because it doesn’t involve active research. It can be the result of active research but “erfahren” is not about the process.
Hope that helps.
Oh and I speak German, English and French (B1) and that’s it, sadly :)
Well what do you know it turns out the dictionary is actually reliable this time :), thanks for clearing it up.
By the way I’ve noticed while learning German that Arabic is actually similar to it in a lot of points grammar wise, and Japanese actually does not have plural or pronouns, and it tends to drop subjects whenever they are known instead of using pronouns.
I know it’s unrelated information but I know how you like linguistics, hope you find it interesting.
Definitely, thanks. These unexpected parallels between languages that aren’t related are always fascinating.
Hi Emanuel! I just discovered your webpage today (I was intrigued by the distinction between “erlebnis” and “erfahrung”). What a lucky find; I’m very grateful! Anyhow… I’m a native Spanish speaker, a seasoned tutor, and a logopedist. I’m also fluent in English and speak French (a rusty B1, haha), and Portuguese. If you ever want to “exchange languages” (German for Spanish), let me know, and we could meet periodically on Zoom, enriching each other without ever spending a cent!
Thanks for the offer :). And welcome here! There’s a LOT to discover.
“During my studies I could already gain a lot of practical experience.”
The “already” is out of place here. Once removed the sentence makes perfect sense and I think pretty close to the intended meaning of the German sentence. Left in, it’s a bit of a head scratcher. The speculative/subjunctive “could” does not combine with “already” here, although a simple past tense “could” can work with “already” – e.g. “it could already have happened”. If you really need to spell out that this practical experience will have been gained in advance of getting a proper job (and I don’t think you do need to spell it out personally) then you would need some additional phrasing.
Yeah, I’ve since learned that “already” is way less broad as “schon”. I think it’s one of the typical mistakes to make for a German, misusing “already”. And you’re right that technically the “schon” doesn’t add new information. The gaining experience is in the past, so no need to add that it’s completed. What “schon” does is make it sound like something great. It’s a bit like saying “The dish is tasty” vs “the dish is really amazing”, but way more subtle. You color the information so that it’s the better sales pitch.
Thanks for that. I think I have a long way to go with understanding “schon”. This helps. Think I’ll sneak another peak at your article on it.
OMG I just wrote “sneak a peak”. I’m going to slyly slip a mountain into my back pocket. Then write out “sneak peek” 50 times.
:) I’ve done that many a time
So “schon” works as an intensifier? Kind of like “quite”?
No, I think I phrased my statement in a confusing way.
“schon” makes the example in question sound like your gaining this experience is an achievement.
– Während meines Studiums konnte ich Erfahrung sammeln.
This is a neutral statement.
– Während meines Studiums konnte ich schon Erfahrung sammeln.
This sounds like “wow, I already have experience”.
The schon doesn’t just intensify what’s there like “quite” does. It adds a notion of “This is the case, and that’s already quite something”.
Does that help? I have an article on “schon” if you want to dig deeper.
Another great post!
This post also helped me learn difference between Kenntnis and Erkenntnis
as in er has an idea of reaching something through a process
Thanks
hi,
How do you ask when you want to know any third persons Cell number?
z.B.:
A: Du hast mich angerufen,aber wie weisst du,was mein cell nummer ist?
B:ich habe es von Daniel gelernt/erfahren/erhalten
is this conversation true way?
thank you!
The first sentence would be:
– … Woher hast du meine Telefonnummer.
And the most idiomatic answer would be
– Ich habe SIE (die Nummer) von Daniel.
… without any of the verbs :) . You can use “erfahren” and “erhalten” but both would sound stilted/scripted. “Gelernt” wouldn’t work here. “lernen” in German isn’t used in sense of “to find out”.
Hope that helps.
How about bekommen or geholt?
“bekommen” works perfectly, but “holen” sounds like “to fetch”. So you went to the person physically to pick up the number.
always informative And interesting.
You are correct in
I have experience with/in something. Both are usually fine. “In” would likely be experience in a field/area of knowledge. “With” is referring to things, people, or animals therein.
Example: I have exp. with dogs.
I have exp. in dog training.
But they are interchangeable
Cool… learning prepositions is really a life long journey :D
Just to add to this, you can also use an “-ing” form with no preposition at all.
– I have experience with dogs.
– I have experience in dog training.
– I have experience training dogs.
Any difference between “erfahrungsgemäß” and “meiner Erfahrung nach”? I feel like I’ve heard the second in real life but not the first.
Fantastisch wie immer! Aber ich habe allerdings eine Frage: Am Anfang haben Sie geschrieben: Ich hab’ viel “Erfahrung damit”.
Wir wissen, dass Erfahrung feminim ist. Warum ist es “viel” und nicht “viele”? Dieser Artikel (https://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/adjektivendungenexpl.html) sagt, dass “viel” eine adjektiv ist.
Das, was bei dem Link steht, ist leider nicht ganz richtig. Was “viel” ist, ist nicht genau geklärt. Der Duden sagt “adverb”.
“Viel” kann auch ein Indefinitpronomen sein… oder ein indefiniter Artikel… oder ein Zahlwort… oder ein Gradpartikel… da kann man dann schön diskutieren. Aber es Adjektiv zu nennen, geht meiner Meinung nach an seinem Kern und seiner Verwendung vorbei.
– Es gibt viele gute Bücher.
Dieses viel ist meiner Ansicht nach ein Artikelwort. Nicht, wie bei deinem Link gesagt ein Adjektiv. Und hier ist der Beweis warum eine Interpretation als Adjektiv zu Fehlern führen kann:
– Es gibt viel gutes Bier.
Es ist eben nicht
– Es gibt vieles gutes Bier.
This would be the reslut if I did what the link told me to and declined each word the same way. But this would be totally wrong. The “viel” functions as an article here and it can be replaced with “ein”. And then for the sentence in question… Erfahrung is in singular (non countable reading in this case)… ops… Sprachverwirrung :)… also
– Ich trinke viel Wasser. (das)
– Ich mache viel Sport. (der)
– Ich habe viel Erfahrung. (die)
Für mich ist es ein Indefinitartikel… aber was genau es ist, ist im Endeffekt nicht wichtig, denn nur ohne e ist’s richtig :D
Danke schön für die Erklärung! Jetzt habe ich die “Erfahrung”, dass ich nicht alles, die in Internet geschrieben ist, glauben muss.
Is a young Täter called a “Täter-tot?” I might be more excited about learning this new word. haha.
I don’t get it. What do you mean??
Wait… I get it… you mean that “chair” right? I won’t spoil it so others can try to figure it out :D
Ha, sorry, this was a silly joke.
In America, a “tater” is a Southern way of saying “potato” (think po-tater). And if you ever eat at Sonic, you know what a tater-tot is. It is a small, fried, bite-size piece of potato. And I think it is a funny word.
I was expecting some Americans to get it!
I thought you were going for “teeter-tot” but yours is even “insider-er” :D
Wow. Thanks for yet another great learning experience. No pun intended!