Und Piggeldy fühlte, wie er immer kleiner und kleiner wurde und Frederick immer größer.

And Piggeldy felt that he was becoming smaller and smaller and Frederick bigger and bigger.

Captions 28-29, Piggeldy und Frederick: Sprichwörter

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When we talk about the size, number, or extent of something changing, there are a number of verbs we can use in order to not always just say kleiner werden or größer werden. The German verbs we pick often depend on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive. An intransitive verb doesn't require an object; something is simply happening almost as if on its own. The verbs above, and the verbs in the next examples are intransitive, and you can note that no cause is mentioned that is making the growth happen. 

Der Bedarf an Flugreisen wird mit der Zeit immer größer, und die Anzahl der Flugzeuge wird stark zunehmen.

The need for air travel will increase over time, and the number of planes will rise sharply.

Captions 34-35, Die Welt in der Zukunft: Flugzeuge im Jahr 2050

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Der Anteil der Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund in dieser Gruppe wird ansteigen.

the percentage of children with migration backgrounds in this group will rise.

Caption 9, Angela Merkel: beim Nachhaltigkeitsrat

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If you want to describe humans, animals, or objects that are growing in size, wachsen is quite often the appropriate verb to use. It should be noted that the verb for plants growing is wachsen, but this is only intransitive. If you are growing flowers or vegetables, your activity "to grow something" is etwas anbauen or etwas züchten. 

„Du malst die blauen Blumen, die im grünen Wald wachsen“, sagte Frederick.

“You paint the blue flowers that grow in the green forest," Frederick said.

Caption 17, Piggeldy und Frederick: Malen

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Now let's look at some examples with transitive verbs, in which something is being done by someone. In these sentences, that which is increasing or rising is an object:

Dies hat uns dazu genötigt, unsere Preise stark anzuheben.

This has made it necessary for us to increase our prices significantly.

Caption 20, Berufsleben: Probleme mit Mitarbeitern

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Ziel der Aktion: die Attraktivität der Innenstadt erhöhen.

The aim of the campaign: to increase the attractiveness of the city center

Caption 9, Rheinmain im Blick Stadtmomente: Wiesbaden

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Um die Attraktivität der Elektrofahrzeuge zu steigern, wird es ab Mitte zweitausendfünfzehn zwei Dinge geben.

In order to increase the attractiveness of electric vehicles, there will, starting in the middle of two thousand fifteen, be two things.

Captions 5-6, Rhein-Main-TV: Veränderungen für das Autofahrerjahr 2015

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Further Learning

We'll be back soon with a lesson on verbs that describe decreasing, shrinking, and falling. In the meantime, try to make your own sentences with the verbs above or do a search on Yabla. 

One of the challenges in learning a language is making the right choice among words with similar meanings. Tun means “to do.” Simple enough, but another word means “to do” too. Machen basically means “to make,” and is very often used just like in English, but it also means “to do.” So which one do we use, and when? Usage changes from area to area and sometimes from generation to generation, but as a very general guide, if there is no particular object, machen and tun are usually interchangeable.

Piggeldy and Frederick happen to be talking about a sheep.

Es hat eben gesagt, was es den ganzen Tag tut.

It just said what it does the whole day.

Caption 33, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Schaf

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Piggeldy could have said:

Es hat eben gesagt, was es den ganzen Tag macht.

It just said what it does the whole day.

And here, someone is suspected of cheating at German Monopoly:

Was machst du da an der Kasse?

What are you doing there at the cash register?

Caption 26, Monopoly - Geheime Tipps und Tricks

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He could have said:

Was tust du da an der Kasse?

What are you doing there at the cash register?

We've seen how machen and tun can be interchangeable. In practice, though, German speakers will use one over the other in a given situation. So pay attention. Little by little, you will start getting a feel for which one sounds more natural. The important thing is to know when machen and tun cannot replace each other. 

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When you are making an apology, go for tun.

Es tut mir sehr leid, dass ich dich danach gefragt habe.

I am very sorry that I asked you about it.

Caption 36, Piggeldy und Frederick - Sprichwörter

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When you accept an apology, you’ll use machen.

Das macht nichts.

It doesn’t matter.

When you want to explain that you’re busy, tun is the right verb to use:

Was willst du von mir? Ich hab' zu tun.

What do you want from me? I have [things] to do.

Caption 66, Alexander Hauff - Showreel

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And pretending to do something is child’s play, as long as you remember to use tun!

Ich könnt' so tun, als ob ich dir zum Beispiel eine verpasse.

I could pretend, for example, as if I were to sock you one.

Caption 89, Bürger Lars Dietrich - Schlecht Englisch kann ich gut

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Learning tip:



On the Yabla video page, do searches with machen and tun in any or all of their conjugations, and see where they are used. Then go to the video itself to see the context and the translation. 


Another suggestion: Think of a sentence using one or the other, like Was tust du denn so in deiner Freizeit? and Google it to see if and how many times it comes up. If you searched tun where most of the time machen is used, you will find that Google gives results for machen—the more commonly used word.