Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. And this time, we will have a look at the meaning of
zwischen
Zwischen looks like the lovechild of wischen (to wipe) and zischen (to hiss) but it’s not. It is a preposition and it means between. The origin of both those words is the same … an old version of the word for 2… the German version is just… well, shhhh-er :). But we can do even shhhh-erer… just take the German imitation of birds noises… zwitschern. Imagine a German had invented Twitter… it would be called Zwitscher …”Hey follow me on Zwitscher“…
“What? Where???“
“Zwitscher.. that’s German.. it is like ‘tsvittshair'”
“Oh… uh I.. I’ll check it out .” … I doubt it would have been as successful. But back to our Word of the Day Zierfisch… uh I mean zwischen.
So zwischen means between and that works pretty much one to one…
- Ich komme wohl so zwischen 6 und 7.
- I’ll probably come somewhere between 6 and 7.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Zwischen dem Herd und dem Kühlschrank sollte ein bisschen Platz sein.
- There is a hole between the stove and the fridge.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Zwischen Thomas und Maria stimmt die Chemie.
- Between Thomas and Maria there is good chemistry.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So far so good. What makes zwischen interesting are the many words that are build with it. The most obvious one is certainly dazwischen. If you already have an idea of the da-words (check those out here) you probably know that it means between that. Since you usually need more items than one if you want to put stuff in between dazwischen also means between those or in between…
- Thomas hatte gestern insgesamt 75 Meetings. Aber dazwischen hatte er immer ein bisschen Pause, es war also ok.
- Thomas had 75 meetings yesterday. But he had short breaks in between so it was okay.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Hier sind alle meine Superboy Comics. Der Playboy ist irgendwo dazwischen.
- Here are all my Superboy comics. The Playboy is somewhere between them/among them.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Auf einer Skala von 1 bis 10… wie fandest du den Film?”
“Hmmm… schwierig… nicht 10 aber auch nicht 8… irgendwas dazwischen.” - “On a scale from 1 to 10… how did you like the movie?”
“Hmmm… hard to say… not a 10 but not an 8 either… something in between.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The next word is inzwischen and it looks like a direct translation of in between. However, it is not. Inzwischen is actually a time word… not super common but certainly one of the words that can really enrich your vocabulary. One translation is in the meantime or meanwhile.
- Schneid’ du mal das Gemüse und ich mache inzwischen schon mal das Dessert.
- You go ahead cut the vegetables and I’ll prepare the dessert (so we got that done).
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
However, German has other words to express the “parallel-ness” of events in time… derweil and währenddessen and those are the better choice for random things. Inzwischen sounds right in personal situations like the one in the example. But it has a second meaning and that is the more common one I would say. It is something like by now or since then.
- Vor 2 Jahren dachte ich noch, Deutsch ist superschwer aber inzwischen habe ich meine Meinung geändert.
- 2 years ago, I thought German was super difficult, but I have changed my mind since/ I have changed my opinion.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Früher musste man 2 Stunden warten bis der neue Trailer runtergeladen war. Inzwischen kann man HD im Stream gucken.
- In the 90s, you would have to wait for 2 hours until the download of the new trailer was completed. Today/Nowadays/By now you can watch HD in streaming.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So… it is still kind of in the meantime but in the meantime related to now and with a strong focus not on what happens but on the result… like… things happened in the meantime and so inzwischen(now) it is this or that way. It isn’t even really important what time span exactly… in the following example it is probably from the last meeting till now…
- Und.. warst du inzwischen mal in der Ausstellung, die ich dir empfohlen habe?
- So… have you been to that exhibition I recommended by now?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And here, we have no idea at all…
- Mein Gott… Eintritt zu Parties ist inziwschen so teuer geworden. Ich kann mir das fast nicht mehr leisten.
- My God… the cover has become sooo expansive. I can barely afford it.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So.. sometimes inzwischen doesn’t really translate to a word but rather just transports the idea of change that has happened. That makes it quite handy in certain situations.
- Maria hat 2 Jahre in der inzwischen geschlossenen Bar am Kirchplatz gearbeitet.
- Maria worked for 2 years in that bar at Kirchplatz that has since closed.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
With inzwischen and a participle construction it is no problem to squeeze all that in front of the noun with the result that the German sentence is almost as short as the English one… what a success :).
All right.
The next word is also quite useful and it is also quite likely that you will see it if you spend time in Germany because marketing people love it… zwischendurch. What? Can a word that looks like your cat has walked across the keyboard really have any appeal? Like…
- Ok… I need a claim… “Crunsh-crispies – Der Top Snack für zwisChenDur… hey damn cat… get off my computer…
But it does. You can find billion of ideas for Snacks für zwischendurch on Google( here...). So what is it with zwischendurch? Well, it is a word especially great for our multitasking society… zwischendurch means in between times or on the side. If you eat something zwischendurch, then it is not really a meal… it is the apple that makes you fat or the candy bar that keeps the doctor aw… hold on, something is wrong… meh anyway… if you do something zwischendurch you do it basically while you are actually doing something else or you make a quick break doing something else. Examples:
- Wenn ich schreibe, dann bin ich super fokussiert. Ich gucke nur zwischendurch mal meine Mails nach.
- When I write I am super focused. I just check my mails every now and then (“in short pauses”)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Wie war der Film?”
“Ach ganz gut… ich hab’ zwischendurch mal kurz geschlafen aber insgesamt war’s cool.” - “How was the movie?”
“Oh, it was alright… I slept for a few minutes at some point but all in all it was cool.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die neue CD ist ziemlich gut. Das einzige Problem ist, dass da zwischendurch immer so komische Gedichte vorgelesen werden.
- The new CD is pretty good. The only problem is that there are all those odd poems being read in between things.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I hope that gives you an idea of zwischendurch. Now… there are 2 things I want to mention, firstly zwischendurch and inzwischen are NOT synonyms. Inzwischen focuses on a change of sorts and it is usually used to compare past to present. Zwischendurch on the other hand is more a description of how or when you do something… like “in between times” or on the side. I don’t really find a better way to put it so if I am not clear just ask me in a comment and I’ll try to explain it better. Anyway… the second thing we need to be clear about is that inzwischen, zwischendurch and dazwischen all have the same function in a sentence while the function of just zwischen is completely different. Zwischen is always completed by a thing or a person. The other words NEVER are… you cannot say
- zwischendurch mein Arbeit
- dazwischen dem Tisch
Zwischendurch and the others are full answers to the question when? or where? for dazwischen.
Okay… now let’s look at zwischen as a prefix. Okay… not really a prefix… more a part of a compound word. There is fair number of nouns that start with zwischen and it can add the idea of in between… a Zwischenruf is a shout in between… for instance during an opera (don’t do it) or a Zwischenraum is a very generic word for gap… it is space in between things. On a more abstract level zwischen can also add the idea of intermediate or not final... like… der Zwischenstop is not the final stop, das Zwischenergebnis is a result but not the final result, Zwischenmiete is a rental period but not a serious one and the … just a short term and so on.
Now… does this also work for verbs? Well, kind of … but the verb for Zwischenruf would actually be dazwiscHenruFe… hey, hey will you get off here you damn feline or kiss your “tun(a)ight” good bye… … … … … … did I just do that pun?
Oh man, this is so bad… I think I have to stop for today… so… this was our Word of the Day zwischen. It is a really deformed version of zwei and it means between. Also it is part of quite a few nouns and the base for 2 quite handy time words… inzwischen and zwischendurch. And to give you one last example…
- Bis vor einem Jahr habe ich viel zwischen den Mahlzeiten gegessen aber inzwischen esse ich nichts mehr zwischendurch.
- Until a year ago, I used to eat a lot between meals but by now I have stopped eating between meals / between times.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
If you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Hi
A few minor points
Zwischen dem Herd und dem Kühlschrank sollte ein bisschen Platz sein.
There is a hole between the stove and the fridge.
I gather you really mean a space (to prevent overheating) rather than a hole through which a rodent enters
And
And wouldn’t the correct translation be — there should be (not “there is”) a small space between the stove and the refrigerator?
And
You can find billion of ideas for Snacks
Should be
You can find billions of ideas
Or
You can find a billion ideas
(And do you want these kind of minor corrections that do not really affect the ability to understand the lesson?)
And
If I understand correctly, zwischen is a preposition, whereas the other adverbs and therefore cannot be connected to nouns
Thanks
Jeff
I’ve seen zwischen used in translations for things like “among friends…”, where I thought unter was the preferred choice. Can they both be used like that?
They’re very similar, but “zwischen” has a bit more undertones of confrontation.
I’d stick with “unter”, that’s on the whole the more natural choice in most contexts.
Sollte man immer zwischen A und B sagen?
Oder funktioniert zwischen uns auch?
Zum Beispiel : Er steht zwischen uns.
Funktioniert sehr gut :)
Hallo Emanuel! Kleine Frage für Dich: Ich habe heute meinem Mitbewohner gesagt: »Putze mal die Küche und ich werde inzwischen mein Zimmer aufraümen, gell?« Dann hat er mir gesagt, dass »inzwischen« nicht im Futur benutzt sein konnt, sondern nur »derweil«. Aaaah, wiesooo? Danke!
Diplomatisch ausgedrückt… das ist absoluter Quatsch. Google hat 22 Millionen Treffer für die Phrase
– “werde inzwischen * machen”
https://www.google.de/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1DVCJ_enDE430DE443&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22werde+inzwischen+*+machen%22
und nur 6 kleine Minitreffer für das gleiche mit “derweil”
https://www.google.de/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1DVCJ_enDE430DE443&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22werde+derweil+*+machen%22
Das ist so ein deutliches Ergebnis, dass ich nicht mal sagen würde, es ist etwas regionales. Würde mich echt mal Interesseieren, wie dein Mitbewohner darauf kommt :D
Hi Emanuel! I’ve found this example from https://de.thefreedictionary.com/zwischendurch:
Wir haben um acht gefrühstückt und um sieben zu Abend gegessen und zwischendurch nur einen Kaffee getrunken.
-> In this case can I say instead “… und dazwischen nur einen Kaffee getrunken”, with “dazwischen” meaning “between those two times”?
Yeah, I’d actually prefer that over “zwischendurch” :)
I’m late, but i want to write it, and i can be wrong:
i think zwie is zwei/two as in zwieback, doubled baked. So zwischen is “in be tween” or “bi in zwie” / in between?
You’re completely right. “Zwischen ” belongs to that 2-family… just like “between”, “twist” and “Zwingen” (to force) , “Zwilling” (twin) and “Zweig” (twig)… I especially like the last one.. oh look, the branch splits in two. Let’s call that “twigs”. That is so pragmatic :D
Zwischenruf: interjection (during a discussion) heckling (during a performance)
Zwischenergebnis: preliminary result.
both words are common and useful at least in english.
Oh they are used in German too… they are just kind of specific :).. thanks for adding the translations!
Guten Tag Emanuel, Herzlichen Dank für eine hervorragende WebSeite. Für zwischen wende ich ein Trick an.
Wenn ich zwischen mit ‘in the meantime + action verb’ nützen kann, dann wende ich inzwischen an.
Wenn ich zwischen mit ‘in parallel + action verb’ nützen kann, dann wende ich durchzwishen an.
Ist das sinnvoll? (is this the correct way of saying does it make sense?).
Freundliche Grüsse
Lucius
Ja, das ist ganz gut gesagt.
Das einzige, was wichtig ist, ist, dass, was auch immer die “actions” sind, nicht parallel gemacht wird sondern intermittierend.
(if you can understand this last sentence, you’re really good :)
… also A, dann kurz B, dann wieder A… es meint nicht: A und gleichzeitig B
As for “Ist das sinnvoll”… that doesn’t really mean the same. “Ist does sinnvoll” is more like “Is that useful/Is that of any use” and you’d use it to judge activities and not so much thoughts. So it is “sinnvoll” to DO something.
Me personally I do say “das macht Sinn” but there are many people in Germany who dislike that as an ugly and wrongfully translated anglicism that is wrong German. If you want one REALLY in depth discussion about WHY it doesn’t actually make sense in German to say “Das macht Sinn” then I dare you to check this out:
https://www.belleslettres.eu/artikel/sinn-machen-make-sense-anglizismus.php
This is for nerds though.
I think on the long run “Sinn machen” will be established and accepted… it is just too cell phone ;)
Ok, Ich versuche die Frage, die sich um “eher und mehr” handlet, zu beantworten. Ich finde diese Unterschied auch manchmal verwirrend. Also, man sagt im Englischen
“This is more of a dream than a reality”. Aber auf Deutsch man sagt “das ist eher ein Traum als Wirklichkeit. Im Rahmen dieser Konstruktion bedeutet eher “more”. Ausserdem kenne ich keine Aenlichkeiten zwischen eher und mehr.
Ausschlussklausel: Ich bin kein Deutscher sondern Amerikaner!!! Was ich hier gesagt hast ist nicht die unbedingte Wahrheit!
Stimmt genau!… das ist alles was “eher” und “mehr” gemeinsam haben :)
wow ich habe nie eine bessere erklärung als diese gefunden.ich danke dir sehr
es wäre ja auch toll wenn du eine erklärung zum theme nominalisierung…ich werde dir denkbar weil dieses thema so kompliziert ist
Nominalisierung… das ist wirklich was für Fortgeschrittene :)… ich werd’ mal sehen ob ich mich dazu aufraffen kann :D… so trocken
Ich hab’ einen Vorschlag für Word of the Day: Lassen!
This “semi-modal” verb is sometimes really confusing to me. When do you need to use it and when can you survive without it? Also the weird (compared to any other language I know) expression you use it in are probably confusing other language learners too. Like “Ich lasse mich scheiden”.
Ich muss sagen, dass dein Blog wirklich die beste Webseite für Deustchlerner ist. Zumindest für mich :) Ich habe dadurch so viel gelernt. Ich hab auch das Gefühl, dass irgendwie deine Schreibe mich leichter zu merken ist, als anderen. Weiß es zwar nicht, ob es wegen deiner schrecklichen Scherze ist, aber irgendwie deine Beispiele kann ich mich immer erinnern. Danke!
Ja, super Idee, danke :)… und danke für das Kompliment. Freut mich wirklich, dass es für dich funktioniert und das es dir was bringt… mit den ganzen schrecklichen Witzen :D . Ich werd’ mir in Zukunft auf jeden Fall weiter Mühe geben mit den BeispieJa, super Idee, danke :)… und danke für das Kompliment. Freut mich wirklich, dass es für dich funktioniert, mit den ganzen schrecklichen Witzen :D. Ich werd’ mir in Zukunft auf jeden Fall weiter Mühe geben mit den Beispielen :)
Hi, GIE, would you please tell us what is the difference between mehr and eher? Or, if you are willing, please tell us how to use correctly mehr, eher, noch, weiter and zusätzlic? Perhaps these are stupid questions, but you have to forgive me, that as an orient if I don’t know too much about German it is quite nature.
Puh… this is certainly not a stupid question and I think many people have it but it is in fact quite big a topic. All the words can mean several things so it would take more than one post to explain the differences between them all…
mehr generally is “more”
“eher” is earlier or “rather”
This is what I can tell spontaneously… I will do words of the day about all the words you mentioned. They are all great. But it’ll take me a while so by the time I am done you probably know everything already.
Sorry I can’t do better, but it is just a very huge topic. If you have issues with particular sentences I can maybe be of more help. Viel Glück auf jeden Fall beim Lernen :)
Hey Emanuel! Great post. I read it in class, then looked down at the reading I was *supposed* to be doing, and “inzwischen” was right there, but now I knew what it meant!
Just wanted to point out that we do have a way to say “der inzwischen geschlossenen Bar” auf Englisch: it’s as simple as “the now-closed bar”. I’m not sure if that’s *super* common, but you’ll definitely see it and it’s fine English.
cool, just in time delivery for inzwischen :)…. thanks for the update on that bar-thing… I was almost sure that there would be a shorter way to express that at least in spoken English… but what about this:
– Das inzwischen abgerissene Gebäude…
– The now-torn-down building…
is that possible? :)
The as of now torn-down building,
The building that has since been torn-down,
the since torn-down building,
I believe these all work though the second might have the most clarity.
Cool, vielen Dank :D
I’ve also seen and used constructions like this:
‘The ordinary man now turned superstar has been doing….. etc. etc.’
That sprung to mind immediately.