Knowing relations between words can help understand their meanings and build a more connected vocabulary network. Here, you can explore parents and offspring and discover the whole family.
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Sources for Etymology:
- Check "fertig" on DWDS.de
Biggest German Dictionary, great for etymology, usage frequency and collocations) - "fertig" on Wiktionary (English version)
(For etymological connections across European languages. Not always accurate) - Etymonline.com - Origins of English words
My favorite source for the origin of English words.
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So one question I have is about when fertig is used as a prefix for a word, such as fertigbringen or fertigkriegen. Do these literally translate to “bring/get to readiness/completion”, or do they have specific meanings, or largely useless idiomatically?
z.B “Ich mache bald meine Hausaufgaben fertig”
“Ich kann mein neues Haus nicht fertigmachen” usw.
Atm I would phrase it as: “Ich schaffe es nicht, mein neues Haus zu bauen” to stay on the safe side.
“fertigbringen” is only about “pulling something off”, in a context of a feat. Not a common word. So the “finishing” aspect is NOT really relevant here.
“fertigkriegen” can go either way… it can be like “fertigbringen”, but it can also just mean “manage to finish”.
– Ich muss die Präsentation bis morgen fertigkriegen. (colloquial)
– I have (to manage to) get the presentation done by tomorrow.
“fertigmachen” for a house is a bit too generic, as it could mean anything… preparing the house for Christmas for instance. So there, “fertig bauen” is the better choice if that’s what you’re trying to say.