There are basically two types of unpleasant realities that everyone has to accept at some points in life: involuntary and voluntary.

The involuntary realities are things that have happened outside of your control, whose necessity is undeniable—anything from your car needing to be repaired to having to undergo a medical procedure for the sake of your health.

The voluntary realities are when you actively choose to accept something you don't like because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. For example, you take a new job because it pays well, even though you don't like the boss.

German has an idiomatic phrase for having to accept something that can fit either of the above realities: etwas in Kauf nehmen.

Das ist es nicht wert, dass wir dafür so viele Verschlechterungen dann in Kauf nehmen müssen.

That's not worth having to accept so many changes for the worse.

Caption 9, Deutsche-Welle-Nachrichten: Massenprotest gegen TTIP

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DWDS defines etwas in Kauf nehmen in both senses:

1. Having to put up with something (a difficulty or the like); having to put up with something unpleasant or uncomfortable by necessity.

2. Someone voluntarily accepts something negative (a disadvantage or unpleasant side effect) if the positive incentive outweighs the negative overall.

Zurzeit muss man entweder eine stundenlange Zugfahrt in Kauf nehmen oder man fliegt.

Currently, you either have to put up with an hours-long train ride, or you fly.

Captions 22-23, DW-Nachrichten: Der Traum vom Hyperloop

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... dass die einem normalen Risiko, wie man's zum Beispiel auch beim Straßenverkehr in Kauf nimmt, entsprechen.

... so that they correspond to a normal risk, as one would also have to accept in road traffic, for example.

Captions 50-51, Abenteuer und Sport: Fallschirmspringen

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According to Redensarten, the idiom originated historically with etwas mit in den Kauf nehmen. A buyer would sometimes get some additional goods with the purchase if the trader did not have enough small change on hand to give back to the buyer.

Also, lenders sometimes charged interest by asking borrowers for goods that the lenders didn't really need, but which they accepted in order to do business at all. This led to the meaning "to accept an unwelcome addition to something that is otherwise advantageous."

Further Learning
Watch the full-length videos above on Yabla German to see the phrase used in different contexts. You can additionally write some some sentences with "We had to accept that..." or "I had to accept that..." and practice translating them into German using in Kauf nehmen. 

Two weeks ago, we looked at verbs that express growth or increase. Now we'll explore the opposite and have a look at transitive and intransitive verbs that express something that's becoming less in number, capacity, or extent. 

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The three following verbs can refer to numbers or amounts. For temperature, sinken is the verb you will generally hear people use. 

Die Bestände der Elefanten sind in den letzten Jahrzehnten weltweit stark geschrumpft.

In recent decades, elephant populations have shrunk sharply worldwide.

Captions 33-34, Evolution: An Land

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Allerdings... die Arbeitslosenzahlen werden wohl nicht in gleichem Maße zurückgehen.

However... the unemployment numbers will certainly not decrease to the same extent.

Caption 26, Rheinmain im Blick: Mehr Beschäftigung in Rhein-Main

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Bevor die Temperaturen wieder sinken und das Wetter wechselhaft wird.

Before temperatures fall again and the weather becomes changeable.

Caption 25, Rheinmain im Blick: Der Frühling ist da

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However, not everything can be quantified, and there are many verbs that can refer to lessening, minimizing, and downsizing.

Und die mindert sich erst, nachdem Charlie zusammen mit seinem Bruder eine Glückssträhne erwischt hat.

And it lessens only after Charlie, together with his brother, goes on a winning streak.

Captions 78-79, Theater: Rain Man

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Die Risiken, die natürlich vorhanden sind, die kann man aber durch, äh, entsprechende Schulung und Ausbildung so weit verringern.

Those risks, which naturally exist... you can minimize them, uh, through appropriate training and education.

Captions 48-49, Abenteuer und Sport: Fallschirmspringen

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Er sagte jedenfalls was von „sich verkleinern wollen“.

At least he said something about "wanting to downsize."

Caption 71, Wendy: Pferde sind ihr Leben Pferdeklau

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When it comes to wanting to take action to reduce something, there are a number of relevant verbs (etwas mindern) but the easiest is very simple: reduzieren. 

Ich würde gerne aus privaten Gründen meine Stunden reduzieren.

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

Caption 10, Berufsleben: Probleme mit Mitarbeitern

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Further Learning

An online dictionary can help you find many different translations for each of these verbs, which will help you to understand their nuances. For example, sinken can be translated with "to drop" or "to decline," but not "to lessen" or "to minimize." This tells you that it's an intransitive verb, as are schrumpfen and zurückgehen. 

Let's take a break this week from the downward spiral of dismal news reports and have a look at something that's, like, totally whatever. The English interjection "whatever" can be rendered as the German phrase wie auch immer, which directly translates to the rather clumsy sounding "as always too."

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Ganz ehrlich, oder?​ Na ja, gut, wie auch immer.

Quite honestly, or? Well, good, whatever.

Wie auch immer.

Whatever.

Captions 17-18, Warten auf - Rihanna

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If the interjection "whatever" is used in a disparaging way, however, to mean "I don't care" or "it doesn't matter," then there is a somewhat less than entirely polite solution: 

... mit oder ohne Bindestrich, scheißegal!

... with or without the dash, whatever!

Caption 82, Frankfurter Oktoberfest - Dirndl und Lederhosen

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The English pronoun "whatever" is usually simply rendered with the German was: 

Man kann machen und tun, was man will.

You can make and do whatever you want.

Caption 20, Abenteuer und Sport - Fallschirmspringen

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The English adjective "whatever" has several possible translations in German: 

In welchen Höhen und welchen Tiefen wir gemeinsam waren...

In whatever ups and whatever downs we were in together...

Caption 11, Die Toten Hosen - Altes Fieber

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Egal, wo ich hingekommen bin, in irgendein Auto eingestiegen bin, lief immer FFH.

No matter where I went, or whatever car I got inside of, FFH was always playing.

Caption 8, Formel-1-Rennfahrer - Timo Glock

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The more common translation of welche is "which," and irgendein is usually rendered as "any" or "some," but those would not have worked very well in the examples above. As always with translations, the most important consideration is the context.

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Further Learning
Do a search for the word "whatever" on Yabla German and see the many examples of how this word is used in German in a real world context!