Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. And today, we’ll take a short and sweet look at the word
schweben
Schweben is the German word for to hover, and I know that most of you now think “Mehhhhhh.”
And yes, I admit, it’s not the most useful or exciting word ever. And not many interesting relatives either. But there are a few nice colloquialisms here. And hey… every good TV show has these kind of “slow” episodes where not much happens, right? RIGHT?
So… now that I’ve lowered the expectations enough, let’s jump right in :)
And we’ll start right away with a few examples…
- “Wow, mein Bierglas sieht aus, als ob es schwebt.”
“Bist du betrunken? Das ist ein WEINglas.” - “Wow, my beer glass looks like it’s hovering/levitating.”
“Are you drunk?! That is a WINE glass!”
- Der Magier bringt die Frau zum Schweben.
- The magician makes the woman levitate.
- Das Plankton schwebt im Wasser.
- The plankton is floating in the water.
As you can see, the translation doesn’t always have to be to hover, but the core notion of kind of “standing” in air or water is always clear. And that also goes for the more figurative uses.
- Seit dem Date schwebt Maria auf Wolke 7.
- Since the date, Maria is (floating) on cloud 9.
- Wie ein Damoklesschwert schwebt die Bohnensuppe, die Thomas gegessen hat, über der Hot-Yoga-Stunde.
- Like the sword of Damokles, the bean soup Thomas ate hangs over the hot yoga class.
- Die Teilnehmer beim Hot Yoga wissen nicht, dass sie in Gefahr schweben.
- The participants at hot yoga don’t know that they are in danger.
The last one is a bit random, no doubt, but it’s a pretty common phrasing in books. And it makes sense if you think of it as a metaphor for falling any minute.
Cool. Now, we definitely need to mention the one context of to hover where schweben is NOT a good translation. I am talking about hovering in context of a computer mouse.
- Hover over the button to show tool-tip.
I think this hovering is pretty common in English computer lingo, but German actually kind of lacks a standard here.
People use bewegen or fahren or they might even just use “hovern” with German verb endings…
- Bewege den Mauszeiger über den Button, um den Tool-Tip zu zeigen.
- Fahre mit der Maus über den Button… yup
- Mit der Maus über den Button hovern um den Tool-Tipp zu sehen
But what absolutely doesn’t work is schweben.
- Schwebe mit der Maus über den Button… NOPE
That sounds like I have to sit on some giant bio-tech hover-mouse and I’m like “Hover over that button, Mouse!”, and the mouse is like “Very well, master. Shall I load the laser guns?” and I’m like “Absolutely.”
Well, okay… it doesn’t really sound like all that, but schweben with a computer mouse is not idiomatic.
Anyway, speaking of imagining something… that actually brings us to the prefix version vorschweben. Or jemandem vorschweben to be precise.
Taken literally, it means to hover in front of someone. And if we know think of it in a figurative way, it makes perfect sense that it’s about… an idea.
Not an idea in a sense of “Wow, I just got an idea.” but in the sense of having an expectation or vision.
Think of it as picturing something, just with the roles reversed. So you’re not picturing, you just sit there and it hovers in front of your eyes.
- “Lass uns dieses Wochenende was entspanntes machen.”
“Klingt gut! Was schwebt dir vor?” - “Let’s do something relaxed this weekend.”
“Sounds good. What’s your vision/what’s your idea?
Lit.: “What’s hovering in front of you?”
- Spätibier?! Mir hat was anderes vorgeschwebt, als du mich zum Date eingeladen hast, aber ok.
- Beer from the late shop?! I imagined something different when you invited me on a date, but okay.
Now you might be like “Emanuel, is there any difference to sich vorstellen?”
And the answer is… not really. Well, there is as far as phrasing goes.
- Ich stelle mir etwas vor.
- Etwas schwebt mir vor.
(I am picturing something. )
For vorschweben, the thing I am picturing is actually the subject, while it’s the object for sich vorstellen.
As far as their meaning goes, the two verbs are really similar, though, and we could use sich vorstellen in both of these examples. Vorschweben sounds a little less active and a bit more vague. Like … you’re just sitting there watching mental images. So you don’t really NEED vorschweben. But it’s one of those little colloquial words that make you sound REALLY native for a second if you use them correctly. Like… try it with your friends. I’m sure they’ll notice and be really impressed.
All right.
So now we know what schweben means and how to use it. What we don’t know yet is where it comes from and if there are any relatives in English.
Well, ultimately schweben belongs to the same big family as swipe and wischen (check my article about that for more, link below) but the closest relative in English is probably the word swivel. Yup, swivel. Swivel has this notion of moving left and right and that’s exactly what schweben used to be. Like… a few centuries (or more centuries) ago, you could actually “sweven” your sheep across the pasture. That just meant you made them move hither and yonder. Schweben eventually shifted toward stuff in the air, and became the word for to hover. But it has a cousin that kind of stayed closer to the original meaning… the verb schweifen. It has the core idea of roaming, wandering and it’s actually not all that common by itself, apart from a few specific contexts or phrasings.
- Warum in die Ferne schweifen, wenn das Gute liegt so nah. (proverb, based on Goethe’s stuff)
- Why seek far afield, when the good is so near.
Lit.: Why “wander” far…
- Das Klo ist der perfekte Ort, um seine Gedanken schweifen zu lassen.
- The toilet is the perfect place to let your thoughts roam/wander.
But what is kind of useful is the prefix version abschweifen – because that’s the word for the context of getting off topic, either with your thoughts or with a presentation or something. Speaking of something… I have recently realized that soy products give me gas. I was at this Asian Tapas place where you can order several small bowls of stuff and they all contained soy, fried or cooked or whatever, and man…. my tummy was a balloon after that.
Anyway, examples….
- Emanuel schweift öfter mal ab.
- Emanuel often goes off on a tangent.
- Ich habe versucht, das Kapitel zu lesen, aber meine Gedanken sind immer abgeschweift.
- I tried to read the chapter, but my thoughts kept wandering/going off topic.
There also the phrasing ohne Umschweife which is about the idea of directly, without sugar coating and the noun der Schweif, which is basically the fancy brother of der Schwanz – a long nice, bushy tail. Like the ones horses have, and especially comets.
And last but not least there’s the verb schwafeln. Schwafeln is a colloquial term for blabbering stuff no one is interested in. Yup… I’m sure you just thought “Wow, that’s useful :)”.
Technically, schwafeln doesn’t belong to the same family as schweifen but it looks similar and it fits perfectly with the idea of abschweifen and going off topic so yeah… they’re not related in history, but they’re related in our minds :).
- Die Influenzerin hat irgendwas von “Authenticity”, “Self Love” und “Minimalism” geschwafelt, aber ich hab nicht zugehört.
- The influencer was blabbering something about authenticity, self love and minimalism, but I wasn’t listening.
- “Sorry, aber ich kann das Geschwafel bei diesen Meetings nicht mehr hören.”
“Thanks-Giving Dinner ist KEIN MEETING und das ist KEIN GESCHWAFEL.” - “Sorry, but I can’t listen to the drivel/vaporing at these meetings anymore.”
“Thanks Giving Dinner is NOT A MEETING and it’s NOT DRIVEL/VAPORING.”
And that’s it for today.
This was our quick look at schweben and its family and I hope you had fun and learned a little. As usual, I recommend you test yourself with the little quiz my assistant, who has sore muscles because she had leg day yesterday, has prepared for you.
And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions or you want to just schwafeln a bit in German, just leave me a comment.
I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time.
** vocab **
schweben = to hover, to levitate, to float
das Schweben = levitation
in Gefahr schweben = to be in danger
jemandem vorschweben = to have an expectation or vision, to imagine something, to picture something
etwas schwebt mir vor = I am picturing something
schweifen = to roam, to wander
abschweifen = getting off topic
phrase: ohne Umschweife = directly, without sugar coating
der Schweif = a long nice, bushy tail (horses,comets)
schwafeln = a colloquial term for blabbering stuff no one is interested in
Das war interessanter, als ich es mir vorgeschwebt habe: Gleich als vorgestellt oder?
Fast richtig… aber das Hilfverb war falsch.
– …, als es ,mir vorgeschwebt hat.
Aber in diesem Kontext klingt “vorstellen” besser.
Danke Sie hat mir viel geholfen! Und ich habe noch 3 verben. So helfen Sie mir mal oder jemanden wer weis :
fliegen mit prefixe – es gibt uber 30 prefixe, was ist wichtig? Laufen mit prefixe . Richten mit prefixe.
Also: fliegen, laufen und richten. danke im Voraus
“fliegen” is a tough one to judge. I feel like none of them REALLY stand out in terms of usefulness.
Der Abflug is useful and wegfliegen and hinfliegen. The rest… not all that intresting.
“richten” is a good one… I’ll make that a word of the day actually.
berichten, einrichten, aufrichten, anrichten
Those are the ones that came to my mind first :)
Ps.: Sorry für Englisch. Ich habe die Sprachen verwechselt!
Meiner Meinung nach sind wirklich wichtig:
“abfahren, umfahren, überfahren, wegfahren”
und “erfahren”.
Hoffe, das hilft :)
Thanks to all of you Im from a very distressed country and I cant really pay for this, so I want to thank you people for your help.
Wie geht es dir Lehrer? Du bist mein liblingslehrer :) Ich habe eine Frage an Sie, und zwar kannst du mir schreiben welche verben mit fahren sind wichtig? es gibt zu viele prefixe, ich weis es nicht was oder nicht wichtig ist. Danke im Voraus
also, fahren mit prefixe :)
Meiner Meinung nach sind wirklich wichtig:
“abfahren, umfahren, überfahren, wegfahren”
und “erfahren”.
Hoffe, das hilft :)
Thank you so much for the information!
Gerne :)
Does “cloud 7″ in German” mean the same as “cloud 9” in English ?
Yup, the phrasing in German is “Wolke 7”.
Hi Emanuel welcome back from your travels. Thanks for sharing your experiences of Ljubljana a few weeks back. I’m going there for a few days next month so I’ll be looking out for the scandi chic, table cloths in every restaurant and fancy thoroughbred dogs. Schwafeln and Geschwafel will be quite easy for speakers of British English to remember as it is very similar to (and must surely be related?) to the English word “waffle”, which is a word beloved of teachers when they put a big red wavy line through whole essay paragraphs and the word “waffle” alongside it. I see that “to waffle on” is listed on dict.cc as a translation for schwafeln.
Oh please please let me know how you liked it :).
You have kids, right? Are you going with them? If so, and if they’re not too old… there is Minicity in Ljubljana, at BTC Center. You could drop them of there and do all the shopping. BTC is a shopping district, with only stores on like 4 square kilometers. And minicity is a playground for children with doctors office, supermarket, fire brigade, and so on. They can play like they’re working adults there and it’s awesome.
There’s a mini Aldi for instance, and they can play cashier and actually scan mini food items and print out a receipt with freaking tax number on it. It’s really really lovely.
Thanks for the heads up! They probably would have been well into it a few years ago but they’re well into teenage life now. Too cool for school, the pair of them. I’ll definitely let you know how the trip goes!
Interesting – that’s another BE/AE difference. “Waffling” in AE really only means speaking equivocally, not committing to saying something clear. The British meaning seems to be older (and you can see how they’re related); it’s funny that the later sense became the standard meaning in America, as it’s apparently not attested until after U.S. independence, but originates in N. England and/or Scotland.
Well I suppose that’s only a small divergence in usage! You’ve made me wonder how I would say “equivocate” colloquially now. I have no idea.
Equivocate could be… Talk out of both sides of your mouth, play both sides. But yeah, it’s usually “waffle” as in the classic waffling politician, who promises to cut taxes but then turns around and propses newer, higher ones.
Your posts are always interesting and this is no exception! I just hope some of it sticks…
I hope so, too :)
Ok you got me, what is “leg day”?
“leg day” is fitness jargon for a day on which you train your legs.
Often, people who “pump” divide their training by body part, so one day they do arms, another day legs and so on :)
Thanks for another great blogpost.
And speaking of Wolke 7, check out Philipp Dittberner & Marv’s “Wolke 4”.
https://hooktube.com/watch?v=C9HL-2IhZKg
Tchüss!
Oh, I actually know that… but I didn’t know the title. Is that a cover? Like… is there an English version of this song? In my head I feel like I have heard that with English lyrics.
Das weiß ich leider nicht! Habe keine Erinnerung daran, dass es eine englische Version gibt. Dachte das Lied ist ein deutsches Original.
Hello,
Hope you had a nice holiday!!!!
Thanks for your article about arguing in German; I found it extremely useful as I’m currently trying to compile a list of idioms and other expressions in German and I took loads out of your video, so thank you!! Oh, and “auf Wolke 7” as well as some other expressions in this article are also going on that list!
Typos now:
“But there are a few nice colloquialism here” (colloquiallisms)
“I have to sit on an some giant bio-tech hover-mouse that and I’m like” (I have to sit on some giant bio-tech hover-mouse and I’m like)
And things (or people) float on water, not in water (that would not mean floating but diving or being otherwise immersed)
Anyway, I’m not going to schwafeln anymore, but I’ll say that yes, that verb is also going on my list :)
Bis bald!
I’m puzzled by the view that things only float on water, not in it. Lots of (especially living) things, including plankton, neither float on the surface nor sink to the bottom. They can be described as being “neutrally buoyant”, but I’m struggling to think of a colloquial description of that state with no active movement other than “floating in water”. For me “immersed” suggests that the object is not usually in water.
Thanks for an interesting little post, Emanuel. I hadn’t thought before of horses and comets having similar tails.
Agreed. Things can float “in” water just as other things can float “in” the air. The only equivalent phrasing I can think of is “to be suspended in” but that’s definitely not colloquial and it also has a sense of fixed location.
In German we have the word “Schwebstoffe”, which are little particles in a liquid that neither rise nor sink. I just checked and they are called “suspended matter”.
Could I use “suspended” for plankton, though, considering it is alive?
Probably not for zooplankton, as it is mobile but certainly you could say phytoplankton is suspended in water.
“naturally buoyant” … I like that :). Could I use that figuratively for a worker who does just enough to not attract any attention? Like… never gets promoted but never gets fired either?
Nice one. The technical term is actually “neutrally” not “naturally”, but I think “naturally’ works better in that context.
Google reveals that “suspended in water” is sometimes used of plankton, but “floating” seems to be more common – sometimes as “free-floating.”
Thank you for “Schwebstoffe”. An image search for it brings up a couple of nice ones of das Deutsches Eck – der Rhein muddy with Schwebstoffe, die Mosel clear.
Thanks as usual for the corrections :)!! About the floating though… which word would you use for what plankton does then?
I’d probably use suspended or just say that plankton live in water and are unable to move, so it drifts… I’d say zooplankton just lives in water, as fish do… saying that, I can’t say plankton has crossed my mind a lot…
I think jellyfish float IN or float through it, so I did not think that was necessarily wrong. The others are points well taken.
Ugh… jellyfish. I hate them!!
But they are surprisingly delicious
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/241346/sesame-jellyfish-salad/
Offf… it’s about as hard for me to eat as larva. Does it taste fishy?
No, actually it tastes and feels as if it were some kind of firm, crisp vegetable or mushroom. It’s neither jellylike NOR fishy, that is just the worst name ever.