Trying in German

Hello everyone,

And welcome to our German Word of the Day. Which today is an English word of the day… haha!
Because this time, we’ll do an episode of “How to say in German?“.
That means we’ll take one very common and important English word that has more than one German translation, and explore when to use which and what the differences are.
And the word we’ll look at today is

to try

The most famous translation and the one that most of you probably know is versuchen. But there’s also probieren.
And ausprobieren.
And anprobieren.
And anverprosuchbieren.
Okay no… that’s not a thing.
But kosten. That one does matter.

Today, we’ll learn where they overlap and where they’re different and see when to use which, and we’ll also learn a couple of things about how to use them that are a bit different than they are in English.

So if you’re ready, then let’s jump right in.

And we’ll start with the two most common options.

versuchen vs probieren

versuchen and probieren are the two most common options and the most general, and you can find them used synonymously from time to time.
However, they’re not really the same. At their core, they each have a different “kind” of trying.
versuchen is at its core about you making an attempt. Like trying to sleep or trying to ignore the talking cat I’m babysitting this week for a frie…
“You’ll FAIL, meow, mrrrr, mrrrreow!”
Shush, Sir Kitters, I’m explaining something here.
So yeah, the core of versuchen is that you try something to see if YOU succeed.

• Ich versuche, mich zu konzentrieren.
• I’m trying to concentrate.
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• Heute habe ich versucht, früh aufzustehen. Es war sehr schwer.
• Today, I tried getting up early. It was very hard.
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And this actually makes a lot of sense of you look at the family of the word. versuchen is of course a version of suchen, which itself means to search. And family-wise, it is related to to seek.
And the common theme here is a notion that you want something and you try to get it.

probieren on the other hand is related to probing and its core theme is more about “testing something”, trying it out and seeing how it is.

• “Schalt mal den Router aus und wieder ein.”
  “Das hab ich schon probiert.”
• “Turn the router off and back on.”
  “I already tried that.”
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• Morgen will ich mal probieren, wie es ist, keinen Kaffee zu trinken.
• Tomorrow, I want to try how it is to not drink coffee.
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In the second example, versuchen actually wouldn’t work, because this example is clearly about testing, not about attempting.
I hope you can see the two distinct themes.

That said though, the two words do overlap a lot and especially probieren also does work for the idea of making an attempt.
It just sounds a little tiny bit less about you seeking success and a bit more about you testing something.

• Morgen will ich versuchen früh aufzustehen.
• Morgen will ich probieren früh aufzustehen.

In a sense of making an attempt, these two can work as synonyms. But the second one can also be more about “trying it out to see how it is”.
So probieren is a little unclear actually. A little vague.So if your focus is “attempting”, I’d recommend to go with versuchen, and keep probieren for the testing.
Or one of its prefix versions, which we’ll talk about next.

“ausprobieren” and “anprobieren”

We just learned that probieren is a little vague and can dither between attempting and testing. ausprobieren is not vague at all. It’s 100% about testing or sampling. Just like to try out in English.

• “Haare werden echt schön, wenn man sie mit Bier wäscht.”
  “Oh, dass muss ich mal ausprobieren.”
• “Hair is getting really beautiful if you wash it with beer.”
  “Oh, I really have to try that (out).”
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I feel like, in English, it doesn’t really make a difference here if we use to try or to try out. And you could technically skip the aus in German as well, but it would then shift a bit into this gray area between sampling and attempting. Like… the message would still be clear from context, but ausprobieren sounds much more natural. And a little bit more “upbeat” than probieren.
Like… this is really a nuance, and it might just be my personal perception, but at least to me, ausprobieren has a vibe of “wow, I’m so curious to try it out” while probieren sounds a bit more serious and hesitant. Like, there is always this notion of attempting which brings with it a notion of not succeeding. Like… a certain notion of doubt which just isn’t present in ausprobieren.

But anyway, so if you’re using to try in a sense of testing or sampling. Usually ausprobieren is the most natural sounding choice. Or we could actually say, if you can use to try out instead of to try in English, that’s a great sign that ausprobieren will be the best translation.

• Ich habe verschiedene Diäten ausprobiert und keine hat funktioniert.
• I tried (out) different diets and none of them worked.
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• “Du trinkst Essig am Morgen?!”
  “Ja, meine Haut ist seitdem echt gut. Probier’s mal aus.”
• “You’re drinking vinegar in the morning?!”
  “Yeah, my skin has been really good ever since. Give it a try/Try it (out).”
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Cool.
And what about anprobieren?
Well, that’s pretty much the German counterpart of to try on, so it’s about sampling clothes.

• Kann ich das T-Shirt mal anprobieren?
• Can I try on the shirt?
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• Ich hab bestimmt 20 Hosen anprobiert und keine hat gepasst.
• I tried on what must have been like 20 pants and none of them fit.
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All right.
So now let’s get to the last ty…
“Mrrrrrreow!!”
Oh… Sir Kitters, you’re still here. I didn’t even notice you.
“Mrrr, yeah, I am following the discussion with interest.”
Nice, do you have any questions then?
“Yes, I actually do: when is dinner?”
I meant questions about the topic.
“Oh, my bad, uhm… are there… are there any other prefix versions of probieren besides these two?”
Oh, nice question. Yes, there’s durchprobieren which be about sampling your way through a set of options and rumprobieren, which is “trying around” in a sense of trying different things without a real plan just to see what works. Like that day when you were trying to open the cabinet door.
“Ah great. Everything is clear. Can I get dinner now?”
NO! I’m not done explaining yet, I still have to talk about kosten and give some useful usage advice.
“OMG, I’ll go over to the neighbors and super hungry then. Mreeow.”
Yeah, whatever. I’ll just continue here.

Trying food – “kosten”

So we just learned ausprobieren as a general word for trying out and anprobieren for trying on clothes. And the third type of trying that you need in daily life is kosten because that’s the word for trying food in German. In the sense of trying for the taste, I mean. Not trying a diet or something.

• Ist da genug Salz dran? Ich habe noch nicht gekostet.
• Is there enough salt on it? I haven’t tried yet.
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• “Mein Suppe ist echt lecker.”
  “Kann ich mal kosten?”
• “My soup is really tasty.”
  “Can I try?”
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Which raises some questions, because kosten is also the German word for to cost.

• Die Pho-Suppe kostet 10 Euro.
• The Pho soup costs 12 Dollars.
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What’s going on here? What does trying food have to do with the cost of something.
In this case, the secret is not some crazy 5D mind yoga.
Instead, the reason for the two meanings is simply that we’re looking at two different words that just happened to look the same.
The cost-kosten comes from the Latin costare, which taken literally would have been something like “stand together” (co+stare). The sense of costs came from the moment a scale finds balance. Like when you weigh two eggs against ounces of gold, for example.

The food-kosten on the other hand ties in with the Latin gustus, which meant taste and which is the origin of words like gusto, disgusting and ragout. Oh and by the way… also choose and choice tie in with this family. It kind of makes sense, just think of a cheese stand on a market, for example, and you can sample (kosten) out different cheeses before choosing which to buy.
“Did anyone say cheese?”
Oh my God, you’re so annoying today. Hold on folks, I have to give the cat some to eat, so we can finish this in peace.
“Mrreeow, mreeow, mrrr, mrrr…..”
*opens can
…
All right, I’m back. Apologies for these constant interruptions. I know you’re trying to focus.
Anyway, so now we know all the important words for trying in German.
versuchen with its sense of attempting, probieren which is kind of dithering between attempting and testing, ausprobieren as a curious sounding (and clear) testing-trying and anprobieren for trying on clothes. And last but not least, kosten for “taste-trying” food.
But before we wrap this up, I want to say a few words about usage and phrasings real quick.

“to try” in German – Some usage advice

The first thing I want to note is that versuchen and probieren usually come with some sort of indication of what you’re trying, and it often sounds wrong without it.
In English, it’s no problem to say this:

• “Why didn’t you call me?”
  “I tried.”

In German, this would not work.

• “Ich habe versucht.”

This sounds incomplete.
Yes, the context makes it super duper ultra clear what it is that I tried, but still, the phrasing FEELS incomplete in German.
So in German, you’d add es in such examples.

• Ich habe es versucht.

And in spoken German, this is typically just shortened to “s” after the verb.

• “Warum hast du nicht angerufen?”
  “Ich hab’s versucht.”
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Here’s another example:

• “Sei bitte pünktlich.”
  “Ich versuch‘s.”
• “Be on time please.”
  “I’ll try.”
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These phrasings are really common in daily life and it’s worth putting some work in to get used to them because even though it’s just one letter, it sounds really bad when it’s missing.

Cool.
And the other thing I want to point out real quick also has to with what “form” the direct object of versuchen and probieren usually has… so the thing that we’re trying.
And it’s typically either a zu-construction

• Ich versuche, mich nicht ablenken zu lassen.
• I’m trying to not let myself get distracted.

Or it’s a pronoun like das or es or a generic alles or nichts or something like that.

• Das muss ich irgendwann mal probieren.
• I’ll have to try this some time.

But it doesn’t really work well with random nouns and I feel like English is a little more lenient in that respect.

• Today, I’ll try the new recipe.
• Heute versuche ich das neue Rezept…. MEH!

I mean… I guess native speakers could also say that in the heat of the moment, but it does feel a little odd to me.
The reason is that versuchen in particular, as we’ve learned, is about making an attempt. So it’s about you DOING something and not about a noun. So I would rather say “… das Rezept zu kochen” or something like that.
With probieren, it sounds a bit less weird to connect a noun, but in the recipe example, I think I would then go with ausprobieren. Because that one is about testing, sampling something and so a noun feels much more natural (and the same goes for anprobieren).

But hey, I think I’m on the verge of getting lost in nuance here, and I don’t want y’all to catch nuance-anxiety, so let’s wrap this up for today.

This was our look at the different ways of translating to try in German.
If you want to recap the key points and also do some examples, you can take the little exercise I have prepared for you.
And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time!

further reading:

• Word of the Day – “das Kostehäppchen”