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treffen and sich treffen

Today, we'll look at the distinction between treffen and sich treffen

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You may know that the verb treffen means "to meet," but not in the sense of "to make the acquaintance of," which is (sich) kennenlernen. The reflexive verb sich treffen is used when the meet-up is planned, expected, or predictable.

 

Beim Engadin Snow treffen sich die Weltbesten. 

The world's best meet at the Engadin Snow. 

Caption 13, Wintersport: Engadin Snow 2009

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Anne hat sich mit ihrer Freundin im Café getroffen.

Anne met with her friend at the café.

Caption 15, Deutsch mit Eylin: Das Perfekt

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Sie darf sich nicht mit mir treffen!

She's not allowed to meet up with me!

Caption 26, Nicos Weg: Meiner Meinung nach

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The non-reflexive verb treffen is used when the meeting was not planned or expected. It can even be translated as "to run into," or "to see."

 

Weißt du, wen ich gestern getroffen habe?

Do you know who I ran into yesterday?

Caption 9, Deutsch mit Eylin: Menschen beschreiben

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Ich hab dir grade erzählt, dass ich Tarik getroffen habe

I just told you that I saw Tarik.

Caption 60, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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Wir haben jetzt hier auch die Frau von dem Herrn Treiber getroffen.

We've met the wife of Mr. Treiber here now too.

Caption 22, Malerei Benno und Ira Treiber

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Further Learning
There are many more examples to be found on Yabla German, but why not see if you can form some sentences of your own? Think of the last 5 people you have seen and write a sentence that describes meeting them using either treffen or sich treffen.

Verbs and Phrases with tun

So many German verbs are constructed with the verb machen, but only a few are constructed with tun. The verbs machen and tun may have overlapping meanings, but the verbs we will look at here use tun exclusively. 

 

One phrase you learned early on was Es tut mir leid ("I'm sorry"). The verb leidtun can literally be translated as "to be sorry (for someone)."

 

Es tut mir leid, ich wusste das nicht!

I'm sorry, I didn't know that!

Caption 30, Nicos Weg - A2 - Folge 71: Meiner Meinung nach

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Frederick tat das leid, dass Piggeldy so schlottern musste.

Frederick was sorry that Piggeldy shivered in such a way.

Caption 19, Piggeldy und Frederick - Die Treppe

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The verbs guttun and wehtun can be seen as opposites, though wehtun is also used to refer to physical pain.

 

Was tut gut, was tut weh?

What does good, what causes pain?

Caption 6, Clueso - Neuanfang

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Oh, meine Hand tut weh!

Oh, my hand hurts!

Caption 21, Felix und Franzi - Das Training

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Der Bauch tut mir weh, der Kopf tut mir weh.

My stomach hurts, my head hurts.

Caption 45, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Verben der 3. Kategorie

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The phrase tun als ob means to act like or to pretend.

 

Schorsch tut so, als wäre er ein Dinosaurier.

Schorsch is pretending to be a dinosaur.

Caption 49, Peppa Wutz - Einkaufen und mehr

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Und ich tue, als täte nichts weh.

And I act as though nothing hurts.

Caption 12, Andreas Bourani - Eisberg

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Und Sie tun hier so, als hätten Sie einen Doktortitel?

And you are pretending to have a doctorate here?

Caption 20, Das Lügenbüro - Die Bewerbung

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Further Learning
In addition to doing a search on Yabla German, write your own sentences to practice using these verbs and phrases in the present and past tense.