Hello everyone,
and welcome to another German Word of the Day. And today we’ll take a look at one of the daily-est, colloquialest and most overlookedest verbs of them all.
And all that in impeccable English.
Get ready for the meaning of
kriegen
Now, if you’re vaguely familiar with German history, or if you read the soccer coverage about Germany you probably noticed that not that kriegen looks a LOT like der Krieg – which means war. And that is not a coincidence. The two words are related.
And the evolution of their meanings actually kind of show the stages of war.
It all started with a root that was about the idea of insistence and perseverance….
… which then shifted toward resistance and obstinacy. Then, it moved on to discord and then finally the armed conflict.
That is exactly how the word Krieg has evolved over the last 1000 years.
And the verb kriegen started out as something positive like “to make an effort”. But just like the noun Krieg it became more and more confrontational for a while…
- Der König hat sich zum Geburtstag ein Land gekriegt.
- The king “war-ed” himself a country for his birthday…
Something like that, at least. But kriegen never fully clicked with the whole war-thing and slowly focused on something more positive: the result of making an effort, or more precisely the idea of attaining something.
And eventually, it shifted and got the meaning it has today – to get, to receive.
- Ich kriege 300 Spam-Mails pro Tag.
- I get 300 spam emails a day.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I mean… clearly I made no effort whatsoever to get these spam emails :).
But yeah, kriegen means to get, to receive. And I am sure most of you are now wondering about bekommen.
Because that’s the word you typically learn in books and courses.
kriegen vs. bekommen
Well, as far as meaning goes, the two words are really pretty much synonyms. But kriegen is MUCH more common in daily conversation.
Let’s look at a few examples…
- Ich habe zum Geburtstag ein Buch gekriegt.
- I got a book for my birthday.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Hast du meine Mail gekriegt?
- Did you get my mail?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wenn ich Stress habe, kriege ich Pickel.
- When I am stressed, I get pimples.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
We could totally use bekommen in all these examples and the meaning wouldn’t change.
The difference is really only tone.
You see, bekommen comes from this very old and accomplished basic verb kommen and it has a prefix which we all know Germans hold so dear. Also it sounds quite nice …
- Ich habe ein Pony bekommen. (I got a pony)
- Maria bekommt eine Mail. (Maria gets an email)
These sentences almost sing themselves.
Kriegen on the other hand… well… kriegen is kinda ugly.
- Ich habe ein Pony gekriegt.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Gekrrrickkttt. That sounds a bit like I’m breaking the poor pony’s spine.
Or how do you like this beauty..
- Du kriegst nix.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
It’s stuff like this that gave German the reputation of sounding harsh. But it does have its own flow.
It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it gargles out the throat. But it’s kind of wicked fun to say it. At least more fun than the noble, accomplished bekommen.
And the fact is… in REAL daily life, people use kriegen a lot more than bekommen.
It’s like… this one friend many people have, you know… not very pretty, not very charming, not rich, not athletic, not even all that interesting… and yet he gets all the girls. Kriegen is THAT guy.
It is just shorter, snappier, has more energy. And it works really well in the daily slur… like here in a random café in Berlin…
- “Krieg ich meinn Kaffe noch heute?”
“Wennde mich so fragst, dann kristen ganich? - “Will I get my coffee today?”
“Asking like that you won’t be gettinit adall.”
(kristen = kriegst du ihn) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Kriegen is a common word for the common people. It doesn’t have a membership in the poets society but it’s out there in the supermarket, in your shared apartment and around the corner at the kebab stand and you should definitely start using it, too. It’ll make you sound much more native.
Cool.
So far we learned that kriegen is the colloquial choice for to get and as such it’s at least as common as bekommen.
Now, the word to get is super broad though, and while kriegen and bekommen both cover a large portion of it, they are not as broad. So let’s take a closer look at what kriegen can do.
“kriegen” as “to get”
And just keep in mind that whenever I say something about kriegen, you can kind of assume that the same applies to bekommen. The two are really synonyms in terms of meaning.
So… we can divide all the various uses for to get into four main groups. And a dumpster group that catches all the leftovers, but we’ll ignore those today :).
The four main ideas are:
- receiving (getting an object)
- achieving (getting something done)
- becoming (reaching a state)
- fetching (go and get)
The underlying theme that unites those is a sense of “reaching”, be it because it comes to you or because you go toward it.
Either way, the examples we’ve seen so far were about the sense of receiving. Here again a typical bar dialogue in Berlin,
- “Hallo, was kriegst du?”
“Ein Bier bitte, was kriegst du?”
“4 Euro.” - “Hi, what can I get you?” (Literally: “What are you getting?”)
“A beer please, what do I owe you” (Literally: “What will you get?“)
“4 Euro.”
This doesn’t only show just how common kriegen is in daily life, it also contained an example for a get-phrasing that WON’T be translated with kriegen…
- What can I get you?
- I’ll get myself a beer.
These are is the fourth type of getting, the fetching. And those are NOT translated with kriegen. Kriegen does NOT have this active component of going somewhere and using it here would be SUPER confusing to a native speaker.
- Was kann ich dir kriegen?… NOPE!!!
- Ich kriege mir ein Bier…. NOPE AGAIN!!
Those two make NO sense, and holen and bringen are the proper words here. So, get in a sense of “go and get” is NOT translated as kriegen.
And the other type that’s also NOT translated with kriegen is the third one, the idea of reaching a state.
- I’m getting tired.
If you translate that with kriegen it makes NO sense.
- Ich kriege müde…. NOOOOOPE!!
And just to make sure… it also DOESN’T make sense with bekommen. The proper word in German here is werden.
- Ich werde müde.
So, kriegen does work for the receiving-get, but it doesn’t work for fetching-get and the becoming-get. That leaves the achieving-get. And actually IS expressed by kriegen.
In fact, the notion of getting something done might make up for more uses of kriegen than the notion of receiving.
- Ich kriege mein Auto nicht sauber.
- I can’t get my car clean.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- So kriegen Sie ihren Partner zum Yoga-Kurs.
- This is how you get your partner to yoga class.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie kriege ich meinen Bauch flach?
- How to get my belly flat (lit.)?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And it also works in the sense of getting someone else to do something…
- Wie kriege ich meine Freundin dazu, mit mir dumme Actionfilme zu gucken?
- How can I get my girlfriend to watch dumb action flics with me?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich versuche, meinen Chef dazu zu kriegen, mir mehr Geld zu geben.
- I’m trying to get my boss to give me more money.
(colloquial… bringen or überreden would be better) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So… bottom line is, of the four types of to get, two can be expressed with kriegen (and bekommen).
- receiving (getting an object)… Yes
- achieving (getting something done)… yes
becoming (reaching a state)... nopefetching (go and get)… nope
And that also extends to the prefix versions of kriegen, which is the last point we’ll look at today :)
Prefix Versions of “kriegen”
And kriegen is a REALLY opportunity to see how prefix verbs are actually just kind of a convention. Let’s take this example again:
- Wie kriege ich meinen Bauch flach?
- How to get my belly flat (lit.)?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wie kriege ich meinen Bauch weg?
- How can I get my belly away (lit.)?
- How to get a flat belly?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The sentences are virtually identical. But flach kriegen is not a prefix verb, while wegkriegen is one. And the reason is more or less … well… custom. Like, in a way prefixes are prefixes because everyone they’re typically prefixes. Sounds stupid, but that’s how it is. And in fact, there is a blurry middle where people are not always sure what to do…
- Ich bin Fahrrad gefahren / fahrradgefahren /Fahrradgefahren …
The first one is officially correct but the others are not unheard of.
Anyway, I digress.
So there’s a whole bunch of prefix version of kriegen where the prefix basically specifies what we’re getting done, like zukriegen , aufkriegen or abkriegen
- Ich kriege meine Hose nicht zu.
- I can’t close my pants.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe den Sticker mit einem Föhn abgekriegt.
- I got off the sticker off with a hair dryer.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Thomas ist sehr traurig, weil er sein Bier nicht aufkriegt.
- Thomas is very sad because he can’t get his beer open.
Another nice one is rauskriegen, which has a really common figurative meaning besides the factual “getting something out”.
- Mein Bier hat sich im Kühlschrank verhakt und ich kriege es nicht raus.
- My beer got stuck in the fridge and I can’t get it out (of there).
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich muss mal rauskriegen, was für Gewürze die an die Suppe machen… so lecker.
- I have to find out what kind of spices they put into their soup… so tasty.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Ich weiß noch nicht, ob ich Zeit habe.”
“Dann krieg das mal raus und sag mir Bescheid.” - “I don’t know yet, if I have time.”
“Well, then find out and let me know, okay“ - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And of course, we need to mention the king of them all… the generic hinkriegen.
If you’ve read my (awesome ) series about The Evolution and Function of Prefixes (I’ll put the link below), then you’ll know that prefixes, in all European languages, add a sense of destination to their base verb.
And if you’ve read my (equally awesome) article on hin (link below) then you’ll know that hin is basically a super generic destination that can stand for anything.
And so hinkriegen is basically a generic version… pretty much like “getting it done”, where it can also be all kinds of things.
Here’s an example with an explicit goal…
- Und? Kriegst du die System Registry neu konfiguriert?
- And? Can you get the system registry reconfigured?*
(* This is an example. We’re aware that it may not make any sense.
Nerds are asked for forbearance. Thank you)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And here’s an example where the goal has already been stated …
- Und? Kriegst du es hin?
- And? Can you do/fix it?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Here’s another example…
- “Thomas hat versucht, die Waschmaschine zu reparieren.”
“Und? Hat er es hingekriegt? - “Thomas tried to fix the washer?”
“And? Could he do it? - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And if you’re wondering, why not just kriegen? Well, that would then sound like “receiving it”. So the hin makes it clear that we’re talking about the sense of achieving a goal.
This hinkriegen is SUUUUPER common. Like… hinkriegen has 9 million hits, aufkriegen just has 55 thousand.
And oh… if you’re wondering about the difference to schaffen, which is also about getting something done, pulling something off… well.. to an extend they are indeed synonyms
- Schaffst du das?
- Kriegst du das hin?
- Can you do it/pull it off?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Generally, I would say that hinkriegen is more suitable for small things, like fixing something. It maybe has a little bit of an aura of tinkering. And it would sound a bit nonchalant for a complicated successful heart surgery.
Cool.
Now, of course, there are also prefix version based on the other big idea of kriegen – the sense of receiving. Like abkriegen for example. We just had it in the sense of getting something off of something. But it can also mean to “receive” a share of something, good or bad..
- Ich hab was von der Pizza abgekriegt.
- I got a piece of the pizza.
(sounds childish in German) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Heute im Kino hat sich der Typ hinter mir auf einmal übergeben.”
“Ihh… hast du was abgekriegt.” - “Today at the movies, the guy behind me suddenly threw up.”
“Eww… did you get hit?” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And then, there’s the somewhat metaphorical mitkriegen, which is a colloquial option for to notice in the sense of information you pick up. You “to receive with/alongside other things”, if you will. A little similar to merken and bemerken, but mitkriegen is really information focused and has nothing to do with sensing.
- Hast du mitgekriegt, dass ich eine neue Frisur habe?
- Have you noticed that I have a new hair do?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And lastly, here’s a couple of fixed expressions with prefixed versions of kriegen, that are kind of hard to guess.
- Lass dich nicht unterkriegen!
- Don’t let them get you down! (Keep your tail up)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Maria hat sich überhaupt nicht mehr eingekriegt, so sauer war die.
- Maria was so pissed, she wouldn’t calm down a bit.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Krieg dich wieder ein!
- Chill out, will you!
(Can sound quite out of line/rude… only use among good friends) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And I think that’s actually enough for today :).
This was our look at the meaning of kriegen and its prefix versions. Sure, there are some versions out there that we didn’t cover, but I think with what you’ve learned today, you’ll be able to get them from context.
As usual if you want to recap and check how much you remember, you can take the little quiz I have prepared.
And of course, of you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment… I love Kommentare kriegen :).
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
further reading:
By the logic of this article, I guess that the verbs zurückkriegen and zurückbekommen follow the same logic as in “receiving something back”. Like in
I think I used it wrong in the past as “getting something back by your own means” – kind of like to fetch
I guess this does not make much sense since zurückkriegen means that I will receive it back from the thief, as in him maybe giving it back willingly. Would wiederholen be the right verb here?
You can definitely use “zurückkriegen” in that way, though it is less active sounding than “to get back”.
Your example with zurückkriegen sounds like you’re sure you’ll get it back (maybe because there’s a tracker and you told police or whatever) but it does not directly imply that you go all John Wick about it.
If you want to really focus on the active component, “zurückholen” is the best choice. “wiederholen” not so much. It sounds too weak and wishy washy.
Wicked cool you said wicked fun!
So I saw this film Tár last night. Can’t say i thought much of it at all – but some of it was in German and that of course was of interest to me. The subtitling ( when used) was a bit weird. In some cases I think they just decided to rewrite the dialogue rather actually translate what was said directly.
Anyway what was particularly interesting to me was a scene where the main character goes up to a girl who has been bullying her daughter and threatens her.
She uses the word “kreige” for this. It’s translated in the subtitles as “get”.
I can’t remember if it was “ich kriege dir or “ich kriege dich”. Bascially she threatens “to get” the girl if the bullying doesn’t stop.
I suppose this started me thinking about the word “get” and how its used in english. Like, a child might say something like “He’ll get you” or “the monster’s going to get you”. “Get” is less about the specific moment of capture but more so the violence that follows.
I knew kriegen can be used to refer to catching someone. I was just interested if translating “ich kriege dir or “ich kriege dich” works as “i am going to do you harm”
If kids play ” it” in the playground do they refer to catching each other as “kriegen”
But also the main character in the film isn’t german so maybe her german is just bad(?)
The right phrasing is:
The notion of threat comes from the context but it doesn’t take much to be “activated”. It’s not really part of this specific verb though.
This can also be a threat, but that doesn’t mean that “sich umdrehen” has this sense in it. It comes from the overall semantics, not the vocabulary used.
Yes, I see, interesting example. Danke dir.
Oh, and about subtitles… I remember that well from when I was actually learning English. Things really don’t match up sometimes, and part of the journey is to notice these instances and “do the Leo”…
“There, they just changed the dialogue!!”
yeah, there’s definitely some very liberal translations out there….. I actually am becoming more and more interested in translation. I’m sort of looking for a change and some of my friends work as translators already and it seems very interesting to me,,… It’s something i’ve wondered about for myself in the future, I mean, its getting very automated, but still perhaps there’s still space for people in the process…
Oh, I have ZERO doubt there will be a need for translators.
I’ve done a couple of projects “in the field” and it’s incredibly interesting.
Not for a user manual or a random buzzfeed article, but as soon as we’re talking fiction or philosophy, the choice of words REALLY matters and you have to make decisions constantly what the tone is of the original and how you can preserve it. Often you can’t preserve all of it and you have to make a choice between what to lose and also what is possibly acceptible to add in terms of “vibe”.
It was talking to the author quite a bit when I did it, asking questions like “What aspect of this phrasing is more important to you, because one has to go”. An AI is NEVER going to be able to do that.
true. That’s reassuring i guess : )
I had the same thought process but about this picture https://www.reddit.com/r/aberBitteLaminiert/s/HFKzx8LzCI
yeah! also a good example of reddit being a goog place to learn german, which someone else mentioned in a comment somewhere recently
Yeah, if you can find some good subreddits it’s awesome :D I love this one, it’s my newest find. The notes are usually bite-sized, funny, and have useful “on the ground” vocabulary.
Do you have some cool subreddit suggestions? I’ll probably make an Advent Calendar post with a collection.
hmmm, i think i probably only know the basic ones that anyone would know cus they get recommended or are popular e.g. ichiel i haven’t really delved into to the german side of reddit that much, but it does seem like a good idea to actively do this…
This is a great Subreddit. I’ll share that in the Advent Calendar this year. If you have more that you use, I’d love to hear them :)
Yay! :D This one is honestly my favorite. Other ones… duschgedanken can be quite good, ich_lel of course, and actually gedichte is pretty good – the poems are often quite basic and user-friendly for learners. There was a super cute one recently about a Kühlschranck.
Just coming back to the word Mitkriegen
I understand the primary definition as to notice or pick up something (information).
I had a question about definition in the dictionary (i am using this dictionary more and more by the way because you tend to explain the tone and context the word gets use with )
to get “on the way”
(Pretty much only ever used in the context of inheriting some features or traits or possibly also advice.)
I just wanted to clarify because i was a bit confused because I would say “features” and “traits” aren’t really directly suggestive of information (although i supposed there could be some sort of argument they are a kind of information).
“Inheriting features” sounds like this could be genetic e.g inheriting his fathers eyes or in terms of traits “he inherited his mothers bad temper”.
If i understand you correctly to “to get “on the way” might be more eleganly phrased as ” to pick up along the way”. But with something like inheriting a parents (physical) features this doesnt work.
Someone might say ” i picked up a bit of japense while I stayed with a japenese friend’s Family when i was younger”. Does this work with this sense of mitkriegen ?
Or something like “she picked up a regional pronunication of
certain words by living in that part of Germany for so long”
In which case this sounds like a quiet passive and almost subliminal exchange with the environment.
Does it work with art – like if we are talking about inheriting stylistic features, maybe a video games derives an idea or something from an earlier game?
I actually think my description was a bit misleading. What I meant was something that is passed on or given to you by someone that you then take with you on your “path” through life. That can be a talent you get from your parents or God or the heavens, but also a piece from your grandma that sticks with you.
The examples you described are leaning more toward the first idea of “noticing”, but you wouldn’t use “mitkriegen” there, because it’s more singular, pointed pieces of information.
As for the video game… here, mitkriegen sounds a bit too much like the old game had an active role in passing on the feature. So yeah… it’s mostly used for humans.
I have modified the explanation in the dictionary. Happy to hear you’re using it! Exchanges like this one help me refine it.
What would you say is the “hit”-rate? Like… how much of what you look for do you find? Statistically I am at about 20% failed searches, but that includes a lot of typos, so I’d say 85% are successful. My goal is 90%
Thanks for the answer.
The examples you described are leaning more toward the first idea of “noticing”, but you wouldn’t use “mitkriegen” there, because it’s more singular, pointed pieces of information.
Actually I wouldn’t necessarily say I felt the examples I used for language were about noticing but more about acquiring.
With the english phrase “to pick something up” especially with languages there is a sense that it could be outside of a structured learning situation. It’s like a byproduct of being in a situation where you are surrounded by the language. It could even almost be subliminal (like picking up an accent). If its not mitkriegen is there a good German word for this kind of process ?
With the dictionary (typos aside) I am often surprised how often the word has a definition. I’m kind of intrigued about what your process for creating it was – clearly it must have been a lot of work.
Probably i’ve had less luck with slang /informal words.
I did notice the other day “die Panne” was missing , I know the word already but was curious on your take on the extent of what it can be applied to (i.e. just vehicles or items beyond that). Thats even on the B1 Goethe institute wordlist so its one a lot of learner will come across fairly early on.
“merken”, “bemerken” and “dir auffallen” would be the choices there depending on the exact context :).
As for the dictionary… it was a multi layered approach. About one third of it was read in automatically based on the vocabulary csv-files that I have under the articles, and then I went over them all to check and maybe add some notes.
The rest, I entered by hand over 2021 and this year.
I am tracking failed searches and every no and then I would go in and add the words that I deemed useful (and that I felt like writing about).
It’s kind of a mix between being thorough and being quick. I don’t spend too much time for one entry, and the note is just what comes to my mind immediately.
For the rest, there’s always the comment section.
I’m at like 9400 entries so far, with some lenience in terms of alternative spellings which I slowly but surely start to capture.
A big thanks goes to a programmer who did the base layer code in 2020 while in quarantine in Spain. He was a visionary in how he set it up, so I could easily expand it with opposites, examples and notes and (soon to come) “common-ness”.
I’ll make it an app eventually, but maybe a browser plugin first. I already have parts of that finished.
I guess while we’re add it I could add that I did NOT scrape any information from online dictionaries.
My dictionary is at database level built around ideas rather than words. So all the features like opposite, your notes, and the examples are specific to one of the ideas a German word can have.
By the way… here’s a little easter egg for you and anyone stumbling across this:
https://nuggets.yourdailygerman.com/
Not much content… yet. But let me know what you think.
Wow , love an easter egg. I feel pretty honoured to get a sneak peek at this.
I enjoyed the tongue twisters / etymologies particularly. I think there might be some more space for literary textual analysis in the the world of “German Learning”. To me anyway it seems a fun and interesting way to learn.
I was particulary interested to read the explanation of jedem das seine. I’d wondered about the grammar of this phrase previously. At that time I took the translations i found on face value but what is happening grammatically feels quiet obscure to me. That might be just because I am used to “to the” or “to each” being split up in two words and having just one word feels like a very alien way of thinking to me. Grammatically this is doing something quiet similar to “Dem deutschen Volke” right?
I think i exhausted all the cards – but that said, it does tend to repeat cards you have already seen a lot before it shows you entirely new ones. Theres a bit of a mixture her content-wise too – some is very useful for people just beginning, some is interesting for people who have been learning a while. I noticed you tagged them however which suggests there may be a way to filter them which would potentially be helpful in this respect.
Personally I tend to study German in quiet a focused way and I like going in depth into particular topics so I think i will always enjoy the “deep dive” side to this this site. But thats just me. I think lots of people seem to enjoy this kind of digital “flash card format”. I mean if this was expanded into a feature i’d look at it anyway and for sure i got something out of it but i wouldn’t be the core attraction in comparison to the in-depth stuff…
I’ll spin that off onto a completely separate website, it’s just here for development.
Instagram and TikTok are full of these “hot takes” but there, they’re wasted and disappear in the never ending stream.
I plan to limit cards per day to like 3-5, the rest is then premium, including the filter options.
Also, I can use these cards to do “daily german nugget” emails that would also be premium.
And I’ll add links to YDG if there is more to learn about something.
So yeah… essentially a “side hustle” for now.
And the fact that some are interesting and some are boring… that’s exactly what TikTok does… you get boring shit on purpose because they know that’ll make you keep swiping for that next bit that you actually like and the dopamine rush associated with it.
I’m not gonna use AI for this, of course, just randomness. And once there are hundreds of these, there shouldn’t be too many repeitions :).
All subs to YDG will get a hefty discount or even an account for free. I’ll have to see.
For me it’s nice because I can shut off the inner critic that constantly wonders “Is this interesting enough?”.
But I try to add one interesting tidbit to each one, so it’s defo more compelling than just a random ass word pulled from a dictionary, like some Word of the Day newsletters do.
There, now you know the gameplan :).
These instagram and tiktok channels get on my nerves pretty bad, but packaged in this way, this short content actually can make money on its own without sponsorships… at least I hope.
Generally, I do not like ingesting too much bite sized info at once. Our brain goes like “Wow, that was interesting” and then… boom, it’s gone :)
The etymology is really interesting. I’d always assumed it was a conceptualisation of war as a method for getting stuff (e.g. raiding and plundering a nearby village). Etymologys never cease to be surprising
Do this imply a total loss of control? Like totally flipping out? Or pissed off but maybe still maintaining some self control?
It can still be controlled but she’s definitely worked up and doesn’t manage to calm down.
I can’t tell you how wonderful, enjoyable, and funny it is to read your explanation. WOW, thank you very much! This long explanation worth every word.
Vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback :D
Hallo Emanuel –
Vielen Dank wie immer für deine Hilfe!!
Der Satz: Ich muss mal rauskriegen, was für Gewürze die an die Suppe machen… so lecker. Die Wortkombination – “an die Suppe machen” – ist die eine feststehende Phrase, um jemanden zu fragen, was im Gericht steht? Deshalb könnte man den Gastgeber fragen: Das ist köstlich, was macht an die Suppe? Ist das ähnlich wie, was ist da drin? Kann man diesen Ausdruck(an etwas machen) für etwas anderes verwenden?
Vielen Dank!!!
“an [das Essen” machen” ist eine Phrase, die für einzelne Zutaten verwendet wird.
– Ich mache noch Kartoffeln an die Suppe (ran).
Man sagt auch “in die (rein)machen”.
Aber es fnktioniert nicht so gut für alle Zutaten zusammen. Da ist “drin” die bessere Wahl.
– Die Suppe ist lecker, was ist da alles drin?
Aber du kannst zum Beispiel nachGewürzen fragen:
– Welche Gewürze machst du an die Kartoffeln?
Hoffe, das hilft!
Hast du eigentlich meinen Artikel über anmachen gelesen? Ist mir grad eingefallen :):
https://yourdailygerman.com/anmachen-meaning/
Hallo Emanuel
Wie immer ein toller Artikel! Heute habe ich zwei Fragen. Den Satz: “Wennde mich so frast, dann kristen ganich?” Ist das der Slang für “Wenn du………..”. Die zweite Frage bezieht sich auf diesen Satz, den ich kürzlich gelesen habe: “Wenn die Kinder dauernd Quatsch machen dürfen, kriegen wir sie nie ins Bett!” Kriegen bedeutet hier “erreichen” oder “erledigen”, sie ins Bett zu bringen?
Vielen Dank
Ja, der Satz war Berliner Dialekt.
– Wenn du mich so fragst, dann kriegst du ihn gar nicht.
“ins Bett kriegen” ist wie “get them to go to bed”.
Hoffe das hilft :)
Vielen Dank! Ich habe dieses Wort zum ersten Mal gehört. Und wie du oben sagst, ist es überall.
The search brought me right to it!
Super :)
Wow, very useful post, so thank you. Also, you’re hilarious ! :-D
Thanks :)
Hello,
wonderful word “kriegen”, isn’t it? I have done it now several times and I would like to add another two prefixes to the word. Tell me if you think that is impolite of me. I know that this is a difficult work you do here and obviously it is near impossible to catch every aspect of a word. And you do a hell of a job, really. Here they are:
First “bekriegen”. I think it would have fitted where you told us about the connection between “kriegen” and “Krieg”(war). “bekriegen” still contains much of this older meaning. You use it for fighting a war. But normally not in context with real wars. You could say: “Im Hundertjährigen Krieg bekriegten sich die Franzosen und Engländer.” But normally you would use “kämpfen”(to fight) or “Krieg führen”(to lead a war) in that cases. “bekriegen” is not so strong. It is used for smaller “wars”. Like the war between siblings. “Maria und ich bekriegen uns.” “Die Ameisen(ants) bekriegen sich/einander.” And that is also how I would use this word. “A und B bekriegen sich.” Theoretically it would also work to say: “A bekriegt B.” But that sounds old and sometimes wrong.
Second “rumkriegen”. “To get someone around (to your side)”. You use it in situations where you want somebody to agree with you, help you or – ahem – go out with you. For example:
“Der Chef hat gesagt, wir dürfen heute nicht früher Feierabend machen.” – “Überlass das ruhig mir, ich kriege ihn schon rum.”
“The boss said, we are not allowed to end our shift early today.” – “Just rely on me, I will get him to comply.”
“Janet ist so schön. Hast du eine Ahnung, wie ich sie rumkriege?”
“Janet is so beautiful. Do you have a clue how I can get her to like me?”
Maybe there are more straight forward translations of these words. I would like your opinion. Thank you.
I don’t think it’s impolite at all if you add more words in the comments. Sometimes I just forget some and sometimes I leave some out for pacing reasons and I actuall kind of hope for someone to bring it up in the comments. So yeah, thanks for adding those two. Especially “rumkriegen” is someting useful for collouial every day German.
I think “getting her to like me” is a bit of an understatement. In context of love “get her to bed me” would be more what it’s about. As for a general translation… I think that’s largely a matter of context but “getting to do” seems fine Maybe also “to sway” but that doesn’t match the colloquial tone.
There are probably collouial terms as well. Maybe a native speaker reading this can add some.
Good day. First things first: you, my good sir, are a magnificent teacher.
Now, to the point:
You said bekommen can be used instead of kriegen, but did not elaborate on the prefix usage with bekommen. Do the same prefixes apply? Should that not be the case, does the morpho-syntax change? (I bet you liked that word: basically means word order in a sentence)
Thanks
Pd: perhaps this will sound basic, but could you explain the word “danke”, it’s a mystery to me, from the many different ways to say thank you with it.
Danke/vielen Dank/ich danke dir for the nice feedback :)
Yes, “bekommen” can take the same prefixes for the most part:
an/auf/an/zu/rein/raus/runter/ab/weg – they all work.
As for “danke”… that’s a good suggestion. It does sound basic but basic shmasic – I think you’re not the only one confused about that.
Ich muss mal rauskriegen, was für Gewürze die an die Suppe machen… so lecker
I was wondering why its AN die Suppe, not in die Suppe. Prepositions can be so confusing…
There’s really no deeper logic behind this one. In context of adding spices and other ingredients to food you’ll see “an” a lot but “in” would make sense too in this context. It just wouldn’t sound as “cook”-y. Like… a chef would never use “in” :)
Vielen Dank! your page is so helpful!
Freut mich :). Danke für das liebe Feedback.
Kleine Korrektur:
Man sagt “Vielen Dank”… ohne “e”. Das machen viele falsch :)
Hi, I came across with this: Ich kriege von meinen Eltern gesagt, was ich tun und lassen kann. Can you help with the connection between kriege and sagen.
Oh, good one… it’s a kind-of passive and pretty similar to
– I get told
The German phrasing is by far not as flexible as English though. I think it only works when you receive something.
– I get told/sent/cooked something.
– Ich kriege etwas gesagt/geschickt/gekocht.
It doesn’t work for non-transfer verbs like to paint
– The car gets painted… okay
– Das Auto kriegt gemalt… NO, not understandable
Wie immer, ein sehr toller Artikel, vielen Dank! Ich lerne deutsch jetzt hier in Berlin, und unser Unterricht samt deinen Blogs helfen mir damit, viel Fortschritt zu machen =)! Eine kurze Frage… wie kann man diese Sätze in der Vergangenheit ausdrücken? Zum Beispiel, “Ich kriege meine Hose nicht zu”. Wäre es besser mit dem Präteritum von ‘kriegen’ (ich kriegte meine Hose nicht zu), oder mit dem Präteritum eines Modalverbs, zB ‘können’ (ich konnte meine Hose nicht zukriegen), oder mit dem Perfektform + Modalverb (ich habe meine Hose nicht zukriegen können).
Es klingt mir ein bisschen komisch, ein Modalverb zu benutzen… weil ‘kriegen’ und ‘können’ ein bisschen ähnlich scheinen… aber ich weiß nicht… haha. Please feel free to correct any of those errors that I might have made too haha…
Thanks again!
Also ich persönlich würde hauptsächlich die “Spoken Past” von “kriegen” nehmen
– Ich hab’ die Hose nicht zugekriegt.
aber das Präteritum hört man schon auch hier und da, vor allem im Norden.
Das mit “können” ist, wie du schon sagst, ein bisschen doppelt gemoppelt. In Englisch funktioniert das ganz gut.
– I couldn’t get the door open.
Aber in Deutsch klingt es für mich ein bisschen komisch. Nicht falsch, einfach nur ungewohnt. “Kriegen” ist ja ein ziemlich umgangssprachliches Wort. Das ganze dann kombiniert mit einer so komplexen Form wie “habe zukriegen können” … das passt irgendwie nicht so recht zusammen :)
Man, this is not listed on your WOTD list. This word is fundamentally important for every German learner, so it deserves to be officially listed there despite your laziness.
Hahaha… yeah, it does. Thanks for the heads up!!
After reading this I hear and see kreigen everywhere! Thank you for turning the light on for me.
Yeah… I can imagine. “kriegen” is really one of the words that is everywhere except in textbooks.
redundant : überflüssig