Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will take a look at the meaning of
suchen
But not just that.
We will also look at ALL the prefix-versions of suchen that are out there.
Ylläsuchen or öxersuchen are…
…not out there, luckily. They don’t exist. (got you scared, didn’t I ;))
But versuchen does. And besuchen and a few other really really common ones. And the meanings are … well… some are pretty straight forward. Other are more like a free jazz interpretation of a famous song. You really need to have your music theory down to see a connection.
So… are you ready to dig into suchen and see what we can find?
Great.
“suchen” and “search”
Suchen means to search. And suchen is also related to to search. At least, that’s what I thought until one of our interns gave me the results of his research for the show. Hold on, let me read it to you.
Corie’s research for the suchen-show
Search comes from cerchier. This is old French but the real origin is the Latin word circare. It is related to the word circle and it
meant to wander, to go here and there. So the verb to search is
based on the idea of the walking you have to do.
Meh… I guess that makes sense. Let’s see what’s to say for suchen.
Suchen is related to the English to seek. The origin is the Indo-European root
*sag which meant to investigate or to seek out. Probably in sense of
following traces and other hints. It is a rather focused activity, at least in
comparison with the walking back and forth that search is based on. It is also worth mentioning
that all the interns at German is Easy do not receive any
payment or compensation whatsoever, not even lunch money, and some days
we have to work up to fourte…
What the…? This wasn’t in the original script?! Goddamn, this is a live show, man. Everyone just heard that and will now think we’re all slavers here. Look… I know you want to get payed and some perks but … our budget… it’s complicated, okay? And pulling shit like that won’t help. Seriously!
But let’s get back to our topic.
So the history is different but the meaning is pretty much the same. Or actually… the German suchen is a little bit broader and spans from the very basic to look for to … well to seek.
- Thomas sucht nach Liebe.
- Thomas is searching for love.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Maria sucht nach ihrer Brille.
- Maria is looking for her glasses.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe bei meiner besten Freundin Rat gesucht.
- I sought counsel from my best friend.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And German also uses suchen in phrasings like the following.
- I have to find a new flat.
- Ich muss mir eine neue Wohnung suchen.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Finden would be understandable but it sounds a bit odd… at least to me.
Anyway, the noun search is die Suche, the ge-form is also used a lot and in compounds finally, we often see just Such.
- Kellner gesucht.
- Waiter/waitress/staff wanted.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Suche war erfolgreich.
- The search was a success.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Webseite hat keine Suchfunktion.
- The website has no search function.
(well… now it does and it’s AWESOME!) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And that’s pretty much it for the related words. Except for the prefix version, that is.
The prefix versions of “suchen”
First, there is a group of verbs that just uses the search-idea and makes it a little more specific. Absuchen for example means to search a location completely. It’s a bit like scanning, actually… so it is on the surface and often with the eyes.
- Fred die Maus sucht den Himmel nach Falken ab. Superman auch.
- Fred the mouse scans the sky for falcons. Superman too.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
If the search involves opening things, like drawers or doors or folders or even pockets, then it is durchsuchen… “to search through”.
- Ich durchsuche meine Festplatte.
- I search my whole hard drive.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Polizei hat mich durchsucht.
- Police frisked me.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And then, even more intense if you will, there is untersuchen… I don’t really know why it’s unter but it means to investigate, to research or in context of doctors to examine.
- Die Polizei untersucht das Verschwinden von Mona Lisas Lächeln.
- Police is investigating the disappearance of Mona Lisa’s smile.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der Arzt untersucht mich.
- The doctor examines me.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And now it’s time to enter the realm of abstract. The realm of odd.
The realm of twisted.
Where, if you have it, you actually missed it.
Where up is down and left is right.
Where closed eyes will give you sight.
Whence seldom sense ever came
There dwell prefixes, too wild to tame.
I… I tried :).
Hey but speaking of trying. Trying has NOTHING to do with our next verb.
The meaning and (non) use of “besuchen”
Most of you know besuchen as to visit and there are two interesting things to say… why it means that, and why you don’t need it. At least not as much as you think.
So… the “be”-prefix is pretty consistent in what it does… it changes the meaning to “to inflict verbing on something”. (We’e talked about that in detail in the show on the “be-“-prefix. I’ll add a link below). It does the same here. But not to the present day suchen. It adds the idea to the old one… to to seek. So it is kind of “to inflict seeking on something or someone”. And that makes total sense with the meanings it had 1000 years ago… to examine, to question someone…. if you know the word beseech… well it’s the lost twin of besuchen. Basically it was just an intense seeking. Seeking for answers, seeking to do something, and so on. Now, if you want to question someone, or ask for something or if you want to examine a place, you need to go there.
“But wait Emanuel, a king would summon the person to question rather than goi… ”
Yeah yeah whatever. At least sometimes you have to go there and it is abstract anyways.
So, over time, besuchen lost most of the seeking-idea and what remained is … well… the going there. But it’s still more than just going there. There is some looking around and checking things out left in the verb. You wouldn’t really besuchen a supermarket.
Now, let’s get to the usage.
- Ich besuche meinen Opa.
- I visit my grandpa.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich besuche das Museum.
- I visit the museum.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Those are fine…. in theory. But in practice, besuchen sounds a little formal, a little stilted. I think I never actually use the verb because for most day to day visits, people would just say that they GO to the place or the person.
- Morgen fahre ich zu meiner Oma.
- Tomorrow I’ll go to my grandma. (lit.)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Warum ich nicht gerne ins Museum gehe.
- Why I don’t like visiting Museums.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This is especially true for doctors and cities.
- Ich besuche Berlin / einen Arzt.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
To me, this sounds a little funny… like Berlin is a friend of yours. Again, I would just say that I go there or that I am there
- Ich war schon ein paar mal in Berlin.
- I’ve visited Berlin a bunch of times.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Besuchen is not wrong. It just sounds a bit formal. The only situation when I would use it is to visit someone in the hospital. So… besuchen itself isn’t used all that much. The related nouns are, though.
Especially the following phrase is super common.
- Ein Freund aus Australien kommt/ist zu Besuch.
- A friend from Australia is/will be visiting.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Besuch can be a visit, for example a Museumsbesuch, but it can also be a vague term for the visitors.
- Ich habe Besuch.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This doesn’t tell us how many people or what gender or whatever… just that there are visitors.
- Ist dein Besuch noch da?
- Is your “visit” still there?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But there is also a “real” word for visitor.
- Seit sie ihre Webseite neu gemacht haben, hat die Firma jeden Tag Tausende Besucher auf der Seite.
- Ever since they’ve relaunched their website, the company has thousands of visitors on the site.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Mona Lisa ist ein Besuchermagnet.
- The Mona Lisa is a magnet for visitors.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
All right.
So bottom line… besuchen does mean to visit, but in daily life it is often not the best pick. And speaking of pick…. that leads us right to our next word.
The meaning and use of “aussuchen”
Aussuchen is one of those basic everyday words that students of German kind of miss out on. Literally, it means to search out,or, if we go by the word’s history, to seek out. And the real meaning ? Is to pick or to select or to choose.
- “Wo wollen wir uns denn treffen. Bei mir oder im Café?”
“Kannst du dir aussuchen! Mir ist beides recht.” - “Where should we meet? At my place or in a cafe?”
“You can choose! I’m fine with either.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Jeder sucht sich 3 Filme aus und dann lassen wir den Zufall entscheiden.
- Everyone selects/picks 3 movies and then we’ll let chance decide.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
It’s not too crazy, I think. Sure, in the first example there isn’t much searching involved. And there is little to none of the strive we have in to seek. But both, to search and to seek, do have an element for “to go for something” and that’s not too far from to pick in sense of to select.
Now, some may already know the word wählen. But wählen is a bit “bigger”. And more formal. It can mean to select, yes, but it can also mean to elect. Aussuchen is not to elect. We wählen our government. But not candy. Aussuchen is more casual, more down to earth and it has an element of the actual picking as in to pick something up in it. And that’s why it is used more often in daily life than wählen.
All right.
Now, maybe one word on grammar. You will often hear aussuchen with these weird self references
- Ich habe mir etwas ausgesucht.
- I picked something.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So… is it actually sich aussuchen? Like.. a “reflexive verb”?
The answer is no… aussuchen works fine without that self reference.
- DVD Abend… du suchst die Filme aus, ich den Wein.
- Movie night… you pick the movies, I pick the wine. (could I skip “pick” here?)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The mir/dir/sich/… just makes it sound more personal and that’s what aussuchen is often used for… picking stuff for ourselves, based on our “liking”.
- “Wann wollen wir uns treffen… vormittags oder nachmittags?”
“Mir egal… such dir aus.” - “When should we meet… morning or afternoon?”
“Same to me… YOU choose.“ - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The focus is clearly that the person should just pick whatever is best for him or her. And the dir expresses that “ego-ness”, if you will. Without it, the sentence would sound a bit strange, also because orders that just consist of the verb do sound quite blunt.
- “When should we meet?”
“Same to me. Choose!”
And to give you another example, here’s a common phrasing with aussuchen.
- “Das Projekt, an dem du arbeitest, hört sich echt scheiße an.”
“Naja… Ich habe mir das nicht ausgesucht.” - “The project you’re working on sounds like total crap.”
“Well… It wasn’t my choice/I didn’t have much of a choice.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Without the mir, the whole thing would just sound like A choice that you do, but that doesn’t affect you all that much. A bit like “I wasn’t the one who made the choice.”. I hope that makes some sense.
So anyway… aussuchen is a word you’ll definitely hear a lot. You should give it a shot too, and try to use the mir or dir or sich.
And speaking of trying… well… you my bad transitions by now :)
versuchen (and probieren)
Versuchen means to try. Or does it? Dun dunn dunnnnnn.
Let me check with a dictionary… hmmm… it does. No surprises. But it is much more limited than to try.
Let’s see… versuchen is not the right word for trying food. You could use either probieren or kosten and before you ask… I’ll add a link to the WotD “kosten” below.
- Ich habe voll die leckere Suppe gekocht… koste mal!
- I’ve made a super tasty soup… try!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And that’s not all. Kosten only works for food but probieren, is more broad and it (and the prefix versions) are actually the best word for to try in sense of trying out stuff.
- Hast du schon mal Kaffee mit Rotwein getrunken? Solltest du mal probieren. Ist gar nicht so schlecht.
- Have you ever tried coffee with red wine? You should try it.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Entschuldigung, kann ich die Hose mal anprobieren?
- Excuse me, could I try on these pants?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich probiere verschiedene Hipster-Filter auf meiner Foto-App aus.
- I’m trying out different hipster filters on my photo-app.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So probieren is about checking something out. Seeing whether it fits or whether I like it. Versuchen is about making an attempt to successfully do something. Both verbs have quite a different feel, but the good news is that this becomes pretty clear after a look at the origins. Probieren is related to to probe and to prove. You “probe” a pair of pants or those cool filters as in you test them or you sample them. That makes sense.
Now, we’ve learned that suchen comes from to seek. And that still shows in versuchen.It is to seek combined with the for-meaning of the prefix ver. And versuchen definitely has some striving in it. Just like in this example.
- Ich versuche das Projekt heute fertigzukriegen.
- I try (“seek”) to get the project done today.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But there is no strive in trying on a pair of pants. Unless you don’t want to acknowledge that you’ve … well… put on a few pounds. But seriously… trying coffee with wine has no strive and so versuchen sounds quite odd. I mean… sure… both words do overlap a bit but for the most part, they have a different ring to them. Probieren always has this experimental vibe, versuchen is about “see if you can do it.”
- Versuch mal, weniger Salz zu nehmen.
- Try to use less salt (if you can manage).
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Probier mal, weniger Salz zu nehmen.
- Try to use less salt (maybe that’ll do the trick).
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
So… I hope you got an idea, and if you’re still unsure, well… don’t worry too much and just give it a try because
- Probieren geht über studieren.
- The proof is in the pudding.
Trying goes over studying. (lit)
(This makes NO sense to me :D… if someone could explain that that’d be awesome ) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
All right. Now, what now? Maybe a word on grammar. In English, we have all these different structures … to try verbing, to try to verb, to try and verb. .. in German, there is just one: a zu-sentence.
- Jemand versucht zu verben.
- Someone tries to verb.
Here are a bunch of examples
- Ich versuche nicht zu lachen.
- I’m trying not to laugh.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Die Scheiß-App hängt.”
“Starte mal neu.”
“Hab’ ich schon versucht. Geht nicht.” - “The damn app is frozen.”
“Restart.”
“I already tried. Doesn’t work.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich versuche, die Tür zuzuziehen.
- I‘m trying to pull the door shut.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And yes, the last one does exist :). What also exists is of course a noun for versuchen … well, actually there are two nouns, but the common one is der Versuch. And this is a lot closer to probieren in that it can mean of course the try but also test or experiment.
- Es war den Versuch wert.
- It was worth the try.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Guter Versuch.
- Nice try.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Die Kunden sind die Versuchskaninchen.(“experiment-bunnies”)
- The customers are the guinea pigs.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The other noun is die Versuchung and it means…. temptation. This isn’t THAT weird actually. You see… that hot someone at the bar giving you salacious looks is like “You… yeah you. Come on over”and your partner is at home with a flue. Or that chocolate truffle box on the desk… it “strives” for you to eat it. It’s a test (Versuch) and you’re the subject, if that makes sense.
Now, versuchen the verb actually also has this tempting-meaning. One somewhat common example is this.
- Ich bin versucht, dir zu glauben.
- I am tempted/inclined to believe you.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But generally the try-meaning is so strong that versuchen doesn’t give much room for word play.
All right. So this was versuchen. It means to try but only in sense of to try and see if I can do something or not.
We’re almost done, but there are a few other prefix-suchens.
Honorable mentions
They are not all that useful but I guess we should mention them.
Ersuchen is a rather formal word for to ask someone for something… you can use it if you want to confuse your friends with some courtesy parlor :).
- Darf ich dich um ein Bier ersuchen?
- May I respectfully inquire for a beer?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Then, there is aufsuchen, which is an odd, somewhat stilted way of saying that you go somewhere. Again, if you want to use weird vocab with your friends… this is one for you.
- Ich suche die Toilette auf.
- I’m going to the toilet.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Finally, there is heimsuchen. Heim means home so heimsuchen could be something like looking for a home or going home or something. Well… it kind of is. But it’s not your own home :).
- Deutsche Grammatik sucht ihn in seinen Träumen heim.
- German grammar is haunting him in his dreams.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
“Honey!!! Wake up!”
“What?? Wo bin mich?”
“You’re inflecting again.”
“Oh no… damn intensive course.”
Terrifying.
So… that’s all for today. This was our look on suchen and it’s very abstract, yet useful prefixes-versions. If you have any questions or suggestions or if you want to try out some examples for versuchen and probieren just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you nächstes Mal.
related posts:
- die Wahl (wählen)
– das Kostehäppchen
– German Prefixes Explained – “be-”
– German Prefixes Explained – “ver-“
An American saying is, “A bought lesson is better than a taught lesson.” One ‘buys’ everything one experiences, personally, through trying. Lessons learned by trying can be painful and expensive, but it teaches us what not to do.
So, ich hab’ ‘ne Frage über “heimsuchen”.
Ich versuche meine Frakturschriftlesensfähigkeit(!) zu verbessern (komisch, nicht?), und hab’ in eine alter Bibel gelesen:
“Denn also spricht der Herr, Gott: Sehet, ich selbst will nach meinen Schafen sehen und sie heimsuchen. Wie ein Hirt seine Herde heimsucht am Tage, wo er inmitten seiner Schafe, die zerstreut waren, ist, so werde auch ich meine Schafe heimsuchen und sie erretten aus allen den Orten, an die sie versprengt wurden am Tage des Gewölkes und der Finsternis.” (Ezechiel 34:11-12)
Hier scheint “heimsuchen” mehr oder weniger “to watch over” oder “to attend to” zu bedeuten, nicht?
(Sorry for the inevitable mistakes in syntax, vocabulary, and adjective endings – correction is welcome)
Ja, diese Bedeutung ist aber NICHT aktuell.
Man versteht es aus dem Kontext, dass es nicht negativ ist, aber nur weil man weiß, dass der Text sehr alt ist.
Was genau die beste Übersetzung ist kann ich dir nicht sagen, aber guck mal in der Englischen Version nach, vielleicht. In der King James Bible vielleicht :)
Stimmt, keineswegs aktuell!.
Verschiedene deutsche Übersetzungen benutzen “suchen”, “zusammensuchen/zusammenbringen”, “kümmern”, oder sogar “nachfragen”. Englische Übersetzungen benutzen “seek (out)”, “search (out)”, “look (for/after)”, “visit”, usw.
Was ich interessiere mich für jetzt ist, wie genau die Bedeutung sich änderte.
Was erahnst Du?
Well, the meaning a few hundred years ago was simply “visiting someone”, with good or evil intent.
Then it shifted to the evil side and was used for “robbing” also and then it slowly shifted toward haunting.
A ghost or dream “visits” your home, basically, with bad intent.
Macht das Sinn?
Kleine Korrektur:
Und “erahnen” passt nicht. Zu fancy! Keep it simple :)!
Klar!
Statt ‘erahnen’, was soll man nutzen?
Was würdest du in Englisch verwenden?
“to guess” oder “to speculate”
Hmm, “raten” klingt zu “guessy” in Deutsch.
Ich würde einfach “denken” oder “glauben” benutzen.
Oder “vermuten” aber ganz ehrlich, mir gefällt “denken” hier am besten.
Also, “Was mich jetzt interessiert ist, wie genau die Bedeutung sich änderte. Was denkst Du?”
Genau. Und lieber “geändert hat” statt “änderte”.
Good evening –
I read this but this must be a typo:
Mein lokaler Autohaendler hat das Modell, nachdem ich suche, nicht.
Thanks
Margie
Yes, it should be “nach dem” :)
Hi Emanuel, a very belated happy new year :)) .
The following is a description of “Versuchung” ie Temptation from Linguee, can you Please tell me why its der Versuchung and Not die Versuchung.
“Ich konnte der Versuchung nicht widerstehen, die Schokolade zu essen.”
That’s because it’s the object for the verb “widerstehen” and that takes Dative.
– Ich widerstehe dem Bier.
Does that help :)?
Yeah, Thanks Emanuel, (this German will be the death of me :)) )
A suggestion : add spicy examples like those
Der Mann untersucht den Körper der Frau ( The man is Dr.now…)
Another inquiry, How would I say
Try sth on (like some shoes)
Here are some example sentence of the article
Er sucht (nach) ein(em) Geburstaggeshcunk
I besuch Deutschland.
Ich will Versuchen,um die Welt zu reisen
“to try on” for clothes and so is “anprobieren”.
The examples are pretty good, apart from a few small things:
– … Geburtstagsgeschenk.
– Ich besuche…
– Ich will versuchen (small v)…
Suchen Vs Suchen Nach?
Those to are really really close. Maybe “suchen” is a little more goal oriented, as in you know that what you’re looking for exists.
So if you were searching for a nice bar with good cocktails an a neighborhood, but you have no specific one in mind, then I think “suchen nach” sounds more fitting.
BUt that might be just me. I’d recommend not worrying about this too much (or at all).
Thanks for reply. I am not treating too much. Just though, it would be good to know. I think I remember that I read (Suchen nach) could imply a lost item, intensive serch
Love the website. So helpful! Thanks for posting (:
Great blog! One little question – as I’ve been reading Tolkien’s biography, there was a sentence:
Er besuchte nun Gymnasium…
It makes perfect sense to me, as it’s more or less same way to say about going to school in my native Polish language (less sense in English though – he wasn’t visitor, he was visiting school everyday as a schoolboy). My question is – is this an old fashion way to say about going to school? Could not find many clues in dictionaries.
Ps. Polish have more in common with German than one could image :)
Shame on me:
Schule besuchen – attend school.
Nah, that phrasing is pretty standard. It sounds a bit official and I wouldn’t expect a school boy to use it but in newspapers and such it’s standard. Also for university and I think even seminars. Oh and for cultural events like opera or cinema we say besuchen, too. Kinobesuch for example. Great to hear the Polish perspective, by the way. It’s really rare on this blog for some reason.
In the matter of fact there is plenty of nouns that they are the very same or akin like to each other and sharing the meaning and some verbs as well. No doubts about that (we could discuss which language was first with those words though :) My personal opinion is that they somehow related in grammar in general or in particular cases especially as well :)
Well, just by the sound and the looks, polish and German are really different but when you consider that the languages have been neighbors forever, it would be weird if they didn’t share words, actually. The one I know is Gurke, I think we got it from your ogorek (sorry if this is not Polish, I just used what I had in my memory). I’ve heard that Polish is one of the most sophisticated and difficult languages in Europe. I’m curious as to what Polish people think about German… do they also find it as hard as English speakers or people coming from the Romance languages? Or are you less confused by all the grammar :)
Yes, you are absolutely correct – ogorek (ogórek) is Polish version of German Gurke. This one has possibly Sanskrit origin (as we all speak Indo-European). But vegetables and fruits are often shared between languages, especially – those which were introduced to our part of the World later, like potatoes. We do have two words for those – one reminds me of Dutch aardappel – ziemniak – the ground/sole thing (not a ground apple through). Another one is kartofel – that one came for sure from German Kartoffel. But there is more – the true friend from the top of my head is DACH – in both languages meaning ‘roof’. Or – to not get to far from roofing – Deckel – German for blanket or siling. In Polish if you suggest that someone has issues under his ‘dekiel’ – it means er ist eine Spinne. Another example – Schild / Szyld – hanging banner in front of the shop. A few more would be:
Knaipe – knajpa – pub
Kumpel – kumpel – friend
Typ – typ – a guy, a fellow (as in: That guy is crazy)
AND MANY MORE :)
As I learn German I do approach many words having similar meaning and sound (but later forget them). Compare ‘schicken’ to ‘szykowac’ – in German it’s to send a parcel, while in Polish it could mean to prepare a parcel or luggage or yourself before a travel. Somehow I find ‘sein schicken’ as sharing the concept, to get yourself prepared and updated.
I’m not really qualified to answer what Polish people think about German language – we would need to ask all of us :) But as of my friends none of them knows German for real, we all learn English, it’s rare to learn any other language – if you do it it mostly means you’ve been forced to do so at school :) Most common opinion is that German is very difficult. Few consider it’s even impossible to learn. Some complain that German sounds harsh. Like Polish does not sounds crazy? Kind of snake language, to much tschshshshsh sounds we have :)
But I would say – German is not SO difficult. I’ve got a great book for learning – Wort Fur Wort Polnisch – for German people to learn Polish. It always cheers me up that German part is rather simpler :)
Wow, you say “Kumpel”? That is really cool :). And using a text book from your target language teaching your mother tongue… that’s a great idea actually.
Vielen Dank!
Hello Emmanuell,
When do you “suchen” somebody (or something?) and when do “suchen NACH” sb or sth?
Sie sucht einen Partner
Er sucht nach dem alten Mann
I assume transitive suchen with people means searching for the purpose of love or marriage etc but with “nach” it’s not. Am I right and is there more to it? What about objects, can you suchen a car, keys, etc?
Those two are hard to tell apart. They’re synonyms in a lot of situations. You can definitely suchen objects and I think you can also suchen nach a partner. I feel like “suchen nach” has a bit more actual factual searching in it. Like… searching something that got lost. But that might just be me. So I’d say treat them as synonyms.
Perhaps I’m a little fussy, but is there any difference between “etwas suchen” and “nach etwas suchen”? Thanks in advanced!
Not really. One might be more idiomatic than the other in a certain context but I don’t think there’s a “system” or anything. “etwas suchen” is a bit more immediate and focused, maybe.
– Searching for Sugar Man.
Here for example, I’d use “nach Sugar Man suchen”. The other one wouldn’t really do the scope justice.
“Ich habe Besuch.” Is that somewhat like the expression “We have company” or “We’re having company “, meaning we have guests ?
Yeah definitely :)
I loved the instant mental image I got with “your partner is at home with a flue”. She’s having an affair with the chimney!
Whoops, I didn’t know that :)… I guess I’ll leave it, just for fun
“Ich durchsuche meine Festplatte.”
Ich habe die Kommentäre durchgesucht. Aber nicht so fleißig muss ich sagen. Muss es dann abgesucht sein?
Trotzdem kommt meine Frage: ist es durchgesucht oder durchsucht? Also ist durch trennbar oder nicht?
Aha, ich habe die Antwort gefunden. Aber mein Wörterbuch sagt, das beide ‘durch’ möglich sind. Trennbares ‘durch’ soll bei suchen nach etwas benutzt werden und untrennbares ‘durch’ soll bei suchen irgendwo verwendet sein. Also…
Ich habe alles durchsucht, konnte aber mein Portemonnaie nicht finden
und
Ich habe nach mein Portemonnaie durchgesucht.
Was sagst du?
Wo hast du das denn gelesen?
Es stimmt, dass “durch” beides sein kann, also trennbar und nicht trennbar. Mit “suchen” ist es aber immer “nicht trennbar”. Zumindest in Standarddeutsch. “Durchgesucht” klingt für mich falsch.
– Ich habe das Zimmer (nach meinem Portemonaie) durchsucht
lingvopro.abbyyonline.com :)
Ne, “absuchen” und “durchsuchen” ist beides ziemlich gründlich. Etwas weniger gründlich wäre vielleicht
– Ich habe die Kommentare durchgeguckt
und noch weniger
– Ich habe in den KOmmentaren gesucht/geguckt.
Das “durch” impliziert “komplett”… wie bei “durch den Tunnel” vs “in den Tunnel”
It just hit me that versuchen is better translated as “attempt” than “try” in English and that they are both connected to temptation ” – die Versuchung. Thanks for the great blog
Haha … damn… I totally didn’t see that connection :)
Koenntest du etwas fuer mich bitte erklaeren? Ich bemerke immer die zwei Worte “nun” und “jetzt”. Ich verstehe, dass beide (*beides?) “now” bedeuten. Aber ich weiss nicht, ob es einen Unterschied zwischen ihnen gibt.
P.S. Sorry if you can’t understand my terrible German.
P.P.S. Sorry about the lack of umlauts, I don’t have them on my keyboard, and I couldn’t be arsed pasting them :(
Keine Sorge… ich habe alles verstanden und… es war alles richtig !! :). Sehr gut.
Für “nun” und “jetzt” mach ich mal ein WiTD-Special… der Kern ist, dass “jetzt” sehr punktuell ist… mehr so wie “right now”.
Ach und wegen der Umlaute… pff… egal. Ich habe bei Französisch auch nie die Akzente geschrieben.. und du machst ja sogar die Version mit “e” :)
I am curious why is there:
“Die Polizei hat mich durchsucht.
Police frisked me.”
instead of: Die Polizei hat mich durchgesucht ?
I love your blog. Greets :)
Good question… I forgot to mention that in the post. It’s because the “durch” in “durchsuchen” is strongly linked… or non-seperable. Just like “ver” or “be”. So the word has the emphasis on the second syllable… “durchSUUchen”.
“Durch” is one of the few prefixes that can be both seperable and non seperable.
Hope that helps :)
Für um hast du eine tolle Erklärung von Trenn- und Untrennbarkeit gepostet. Gibts so was für durch?
Nee, noch nicht… mach ich aber irgendwann :)
Entspricht -mäßig “wie”/”als ob”?
Sein Benehmen ist nicht präsidentenmäßig.
Dein Hut ist opamäßig.
Terroristenmäßiges Verhalten von russischen Separatisten.
Hey ja… mein Hut is’ voll nich’ opamässig :).
Ja… es ist so wie-mässig… aber definitiv umgangssprachlich.
Wait, doesn’t the “etwas wert sein” construction use the genitive? As in “es ist der Mühe wert”
Nah…the standard case for the measure is accusative
– Das ist einen Euro wert.
Not “eines Euros” … the Genitive has a slightly different meaning
– Das ist nicht der Rede wert.
– It is not worthy of the talk.
– Das ist nicht die Rede wert.
– The talk is worth more than “it”.
The accusative is kind of for the common notion of exchange or trade… one for the other… while the Genitive doesn’t directly compare them. I think the following example makes it more clear:
– Er ist ihrer nicht wert.
This doesn’t mean that he and she have the same value… it means that he is not worthy of her.
– Er ist sie nicht wert.
That could be said on an animal market… like… I want to trade my steer (der Stier – er) against your cow (die Kuh – sie) and you’re like
– No.. your steer is not worth my cow.