Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time, with a quick summer look at the meaning of
rühren
The origin is the exceedingly ancient Indo-European root *k̑erə- . The core idea of this root was “mixing together” with one of the main contexts being the mixing of ingredients of food. Mammoth stew with wild forest mushrooms for instance… hmmmmm. That was a good dish, I can tell you that.
A lot has changed since then. Mammoths emigrated to space, we put a man on a moon and we talk to our computer. But one of the things that hasn’t changed is, we still eat. And rühren is still what we do, if we want to mix it.
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Silly question please.
I visited the Cologne Xmas markets in December. On the stalls there was a notice which said Nicht Anfassen.
I assumed this was ‘Don’t Touch’ and having read your article I now know it did!
However usually in shops the notice says ‘Nicht Beruehren’.
What is the difference? Does the latter almost mean don’t brush against it (and therefore knock it off the shelf) whereas the former is a definite don’t pick it up?
There’s no real difference in this context. Berühren sounds like lighter touch, so you’re not even meant to put a finger against it, while “anfassen” sounds a bit more “hands-on” but the people writing the signs were not really actually thinking about this and picking. They just picked what came to mind for them first, would be my guess.
Google gave me this post because I searched for the meaning of “es rührt sich was”, although it’s not much clearer now.
I bought this jar of Bio Suppe, and it says on it: Ökologischer Anbau. Es rührt sich was.
I kind of get it that it’s supposed to be like a pun, but I don’t quite get it.
So the standard meaning of
– Es rührt sich was.
is that “Something is happening.” in a sense of something is starting to change, shift or progress, where there was idleness before.
Think maybe of a long overdue reform that finally starts.
And then the pun is of course the play on actual stirring in the context of soup.
Now, structurally, the sentence is bit confusing for learners.
The subject is “was”, which is a short form of “etwas” (something).
The “es” at the beginning is a PLACEHOLDER and has NO MEANING. It’s just there to fill position 1.
– Etwas rührt sich.
This is the same sentence rearranged and the “es” is gone.
Hope that helps :)
That helps a lot, thank you :)
Thanks for the fun, helpful article, as always.
“Und ich will, dass du Zähne putzt.” One could also say “Und ich will, dass du dir die Zähne putzt,” correct?
Is there any difference in meaning? Perhaps without reflexive is more pointed and focused on just getting the job done, whereas with reflexive is less emphasized?
The only difference I can “feel” is that the first one might be used more as a general statement, while the second one is for one particular instance.
But this may well be personal preference. The difference is really only “tone” and “vibe” and that is subjective.
I’d recommend going with the “dir” version as that’s just more common overall and take the other one as a synonym if you see it. Not worth analyzing/categorizing in my opinion
thanks!
einrühren vs verrühren – with “ein” it implies that you are adding one ingredient at a time (let’s call it X) and that that the ingredient X that you are adding, there is less X than the ingredient already in the Schlagschüssel.
Verrühren on the other hand is a little bit more messy. It implies few/bunch of substances. They are just throwing a party on their own and everything is gonna get convoluted/kinky.
Einrühren vs unterheben – You can also use einheben, but 8/10 you will find unterheben on cooking recipes. They both indicate the same action. To get ingredients mixed up, but unterheben is that fine very distinct gentleman. If you tangle with unterheben, they will expect you to be delicate.
Very clear example – to make a fluffy cake batter using egg whites, you for sure need to unterheben. Otherwise your Teig will lose all the air that you just got eingerührted.
Sounds about right! Well described! Are you a native speaker or how do you know these finer points?
Hmm, ein lustiger Post, wie wäre es noch mit “aufrühren” und “Aufrührer”…
Ja, stimmt, die habe ich ausgelassen, da sie irgendwie in den Fluss nicht gepasst haben.
Aber ja… die Grundidee von den beiden ist “stirring up trouble”. Danke!
Very nice as always ! Enjoyed the lesson and the quiz !
Freut mich sehr :). Danke für das Feedback!!
Any relation to the word ruhig / quiet?
Nice idea, but there’s no relation. “ruhig” comes from an Indo-European root that was about “resting”.
Emanuel fuhr das Auto, als es das Einhorn berührte. Großer Fehler!
Wait… did you mean I touched the unicorn with the car :)?Because that would be a really really gentle touching then. No accident, if that what you meant.
Hallo there. This comment isn’t really for this discussion. In your introduction you mention “aufregend” (exciting) and aufgeregt (nervous). I can see a connection in that one’s emotions have been stirred, but the first is positive and the second negative. How are they related? Would you know of the German equivalent to the English “upset”. eg: I was so upset with the awful news that I forgot to post the letter.
Many thanks for your work. Oh yeah, and a happy 18th !!!!!!
Renuka
Hi. are you from Brazil?
1 year later, but it is better late than never.
aufregen is actually a mixture of 2 emotions, so you cant actually translate into just one word.
the verb tends to be always very negative – sich aufregen = du regst mich auf => you cause me stress and irritation (mental and emotional).
the adj part tends to be not negative – it is the combination of butterflies in the stomach with a little bit of enthusiasm. Something you would get before getting on stage for school performance or before a job interview.
aufgeregt/aufregend = friozinho na barriga com um pouco de empolgação. um usado para descrever o estado de algo e outro para descrever como uma pessoa está.
If you want to express excitement without the butterfly in the stomach, you can use gespannt. Which only implies the expactation/antecipation/enthusiasm part without the getting nervous part.
Lg,
Matt
Die Artikeln sind immer amazeballs, danke :)
Ich frage mich ob du weißt (weil du nicht erwähnt hast), dass “stir” funktioniert auch in Englisch, für Bewegungen und auch für etwas emotionales: “a touching speech” and “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”
Nee, das wusste ich nicht :). Das ist eine schöne Parallele. Aber kann ich dieses “to stirr” im Alltag verwenden?
– I didn’t stirr for two hours.
Geht das, oder klingt das komisch?
Yes, you can say that, but it’s a rather old-fashioned usage. But you can:
Stir up trouble (also a bit old-fashioned in usage)
Those darn hoodlums always stir up trouble.
Stir up emotions.
The war photos stirred up many emotions in my grandfather.
Thanks for another excellent lesson – great format.
Viele Spaß mit Autobahn fahren!
Uff… ja, danke :).
Ah, thanks. So I’ll stick with these two expressions then :).
Das geht definitiv. Wobei “stirring” klingt für mich mehr nach etwas, was man bei anderen Personen bzw. Geschöpfen beobachtet:
– Thomas didn’t stir for two hours.
Das ist allerdings wohl ein bisschen pingelig.
Zu jonasbys Kommentar: man kann auch ganz gut von “a stirring speech” reden. Die Bedeutung ist “touching” sehr ähnlich, vielleicht ein bisschen mehr in Richtung “Aufruf zum Handeln”.
Hi Emmanuel,
I learned a lot from this post. I just have a couple of comments:
1. Your first question should be “Which of the following ideas IS NOT covered by one of the rühren-words?” or “Which of the following ideas does NOT cover one of the rühren words?”.
2. I answered Rührei for scrambled egg but it said it was incorrect.
All the best on your Führerschein!
Oh, it should be “is not covered”. Does it not say that? Damn it, I’ll check right away.
Also, sorry for the mistake with the other answer. I sometimes forget to mark an answer as correct because the system looks pretty confusing on the back end. I’ll fix that now :)!
Actually, I just checked and “Rührei” was accepted as correct. Are you sure you didn’t misclick?
Wow, du bist noch nicht mal achtzehn Jahre alt?? Alter, du bist so jung… Meine Nichte ist so alt wie du, ich finde das interessant ;)… Sie möchte Tischlerin werden.
So much information in this lesson – I cannot possibly learn it just by looking at it, I am going to have to write the sentences down in a notebook and practice them in my free time. I have a notebook for my Babbel German lessons – now I will have to have one for this, too. I am going to need it!
And good luck with your Führerschein !!
;)
Ach, das war Spaß. Natürlich bin ich älter, ich habe den Blog ja schon fast 8 Jahre :).
Aber ich habe nie Führerschein gemacht, weil ich kein Geld hatte und man in Berlin keinen brauch :).
Danke für das tolle Feedback.
A notebook is a great idea, actually.
LOTS OF PEOPLE SHOULD DO THAT :)!!
I was alaways thinking of whether I should do a “proper” recap at the end but I always felt like it’s actually better if people take their own notes. So yeah… go Alice!!
Hi Guys! I am new to this cool yourdailygerman.com learning course.
I went through the grammar section and was in love with the way it is articulated, most of the materials we find online are so scary to begin with, glad I came across this.
I am taking this opportunity to thank one and all for making this course delightful and especially those guys who are donating for someone else’s membership, who is in dire need to learn German and not enough money in the pocket. I am one of such products, thank you all once again.
And a special thanks to Emanuel for making “German learning” accessible to everyone in such an interesting manner and the initiative of making “money isn’t a limitation to learn”.
Wish you all a very happy learning! :)
Warm regards,
– Raj
Danke für die lieben Worte. Viel Spaß dir :)!!
Best language lesson ever..practically. Anruin.German is so funny
I laugh when studying it.. Der almtïgen Vater der Gott hat berurt mich..anrüht..mich..nein… das ist dein wort..vor..die..happiness…its so funny..I’m so ashamed…der Papst Benedict… xvi… hurray.. hurray
Hahaha… thanks :)!!
BEST LANGUAGE LESSON EVER..peactically..Gid Bless you forever. Thanks for the hard work.
This is a miracle! I’m beginning to crack these prefixed-verbs. Thank youuu!
Glad to hear that :).
English has the same connection between to stir and to move – as in “not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” in The Night Before Christmas.
Oh wow!! Could I use that in daily life or would that sound off?
I think it’s probably a bit less everyday than “sich rühren,” but it’s not a crazy exotic or archaic word to use. You could use it in normal situations – the most typical place I’d think to use “stir” in that sense would be describing someone who’s just about to wake up. We’ve got a newborn in the house, so “he’s starting to stir” wouldn’t be an unusual sentence to hear these days…
Or you can say that someone hardly stirred from his easy chair all day
Wow, I wouldn never have thought that stirring was used in that sense so widely :).
“Stir” meaning “to be (slowly) in motion” is not uncommon, I would say. I remember a South Carolinian making a joke about “there was stirring in the bedroom but not yet in the kitchen” to describe his family slowly waking up late (but not yet making breakfast) on a lazy weekend morning. Like @berlingrabers implied, this usage of “stir” sounds slightly more “high brow” than the everyday cooking usage, which made the joke funny, but it is in no way archaic. I think almost every American can recite the opening line to the Christmas poem quoted by @Jpanosky.
“there was stirring in the bedroom … ” I thought for a second that was referring to THAT activity in the bedroom :D
Bist du wirklich nur siebzehn Jahre alt? Es ist unmöglich! Du schreibst so gut!
Nee, ganz so jung bin ich nicht :)
Sie sind sehr gut… vielen Dank für ihre Mühe
Vielen Dank :)!
Hertzlichen Glückwunsch zum zweiten Gang!
Hahaha… vielen Dank :)!!!
(insider joke, for those of you who are not reading my newsletter)