Meanings
Examples
You need to be a member to see the examples.
My Articles
A quick and fun look at the word Liebling and at how to say “my favorite” in German. Because there's a very common mistake lurking. Also: some names :)
Vocab:
lieb, der Liebling, Lieblings-, der Schatz
Word Family
Root: *leubh-
The core idea of this root was
liking, loving, caring
It’s the origin of love as well as libido and belief, which literally used to be a thought you “hold deer”.
Questions and Comments
🗨
I’m a bit confused when lieben takes the reflexive.
Are there some instances where its ok either with or without and some where there it clearly needs one or the other?
looking at this i was wondering if it takes the reflexive when there is a “change of state”? but i can’t quiet figure out the rule
Are you sure you’re not mixing in “verlieben” here?
“lieben” is used reflexively if you talk about loving yourself. Otherwise, it’s just a normal verb with an accusative object.
ooooh yeah i was mixing this up a bit. But i also figured that sich can be used to mean each other. Danke für die Antwort!
Oh, true, it can.
But that’s a general “issue” with “sich” and has nothing to do with “lieben” as a verb.
– Thomas und Maria lieben/sehen sich.
In both sentences, the “sich” can mean that they each “verb” themselves or that they “verb” each other.
Cool, danke dir
Danke für’s Fragen :). Jede Frage macht das Wörterbuch besser.
Does belieben mean ‘inflict love’ or to like someone a lot, or some other thing?
Thanks.
“belieben” is quite rare as a verb itself, and only used in a few phrasings.
You’d absolutely not use “belieben” directly as “Ich beliebe etwas”.
Technically, that would mean “i inflict loving.” but it’s not something people say.
The related words are more common, but there’s not that one single logic that would explain them all.
The core idea of “be-” is not really helping much here.
Thanks, it is always interesting to see exceptions.