The verbs kündigen, ankündigen, erkunden, and sich erkundigen

In this week's edition, we'll examine these easily confused words: The verbs kündigen, ankündigen, erkunden, and sich erkundigen.

The verb kündigen refers to terminating an agreement or contract. When it comes to employment, it can describe action taken by either the employer or employee to end a professional relationship. Kündigen is also used when cancelling an account or contract (for example, a cell phone contract, a magazine subscription, or a fitness studio membership). Therefore, it can be translated as "to cancel," "to terminate," "to give notice," "to quit," "to resign," "to fire," or "to dismiss," depending on who is carrying out the action and for what purpose.

Ich träume davon, meinen Job im Büro zu kündigen.

I dream of giving notice on my job in the office.

Caption 44, Konjugation - Das Verb „brauchen“
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Schöller hat uns beiden gekündigt.

Schöller has fired both of us.

Caption 45, Marga Engel schlägt zurück - Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall
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Sie haben ihm hoffentlich nicht erzählt, dass Sie Ihre Lebensversicherung gekündigt haben.

I hope you didn't tell him you cancelled your life insurance.

Caption 53, Oskar - Gehen, wenn es am schönsten ist - Der Panther
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The verb ankündigen has the essentially unrelated meaning of "to announce." You will notice below that it is a separable verb.

Eines Tages kündigte der Zauberer an, dass er ausgehen würde.

One day, the Sorcerer announced that he would be going out.

Caption 21, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Der Zauberlehrling
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Ja, Ihr Anruf wurde bereits angekündigt.

Yes, your call has already been announced.

Caption 29, Marga Engel schlägt zurück - Auf der Suche nach Beweisen
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The verb sich erkundigen means "to inquire," "to find out," or "to look into." Note that this is a reflexive verb, and there is no umlaut!

Ich würde gerne aus privaten Gründen meine Stunden reduzieren

I would like to reduce my hours, for personal reasons,

und wollte mich erkundigen, ob das möglich wäre.

and wanted to find out whether that would be possible.

Captions 10-11, Berufsleben - Probleme mit Mitarbeitern
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Ich habe mich erkundigt. Sie darf nicht in unseren Taschen kramen.

I looked into it. She's not allowed to dig around in our bags.

Caption 14, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche
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The verb erkunden can be translated as "to discover" or "to explore."

Man kann also einfach reinspringen und die Höhlen beim Tauchen erkunden.

You can, therefore, simply jump in and explore the caves while diving.

Caption 46, Der Blautopf - Ein sagenumwobener See
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Dann lass uns gemeinsam die Yabla-Spiele erkunden.

Then let's discover the Yabla games together.

Caption 36, German Intro - Cettina
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Further Learning
Write out sentences using these verbs in both the present and past tense. If you need guidance, search for them on Yabla German.