There are many German verbs that consist of a rather common or basic verb combined with a prefix. Their meaning may then be somewhat or completely different from the verb they contain. You may have read our lessons about verbs related to gehen and verbs with holen. We also have overviews for sprechen and kaufen. Today, let's have a look at some verbs that stem from the verb laufen. 

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By itself, the verb laufen is sometimes synonymous with the translation of gehen as "to walk." However, it also means "to run," and can be used to describe a human or animal running, but also a machine that is "running." It is often used to describe something that is in progress, happening, in operation, or proceeding. Take a look at how the following sentences are translated:

Wir laufen durch die Straßen.

We walk through the streets.

Caption 39, Christina Stürmer: Wir leben den Moment

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Ja, und wie läuft's bei dir so in der Wache? Nein, sag bloß!

Yes, and how is it going with you at the station? No way!

Caption 46, Großstadtrevier: Von Monstern und Mördern

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Und das sind die drei Kriterien, wenn die gut laufen, dann läuft auch der Blindenfußball gut.

And these are the three criteria, if they go well, then blind football also goes well.

Caption 22, Blindenfußball Treffen nach Ton

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Die meisten kennen mich wahrscheinlich aus der Sendung „Der Bachelor“, die sehr erfolgreich auf RTL läuft.

Most of you probably know me from the series "Der Bachelor," which is having a very successful run on RTL.

Captions 11-12, Anja Polzer: Interview

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Sorry, das läuft auf meinem alten Laptop nicht. Da müssen wir zu dir.

Sorry, this won't run on my old laptop. We'll have to go to your place.

Caption 35, Die Pfefferkörner: Gerüchteküche

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And now for some related verbs. Let's begin with ablaufen, which can mean "to go," "to proceed," "to lapse," or "to expire." 

Bei manchen Leuten läuft's sogar komplett ohne Symptome ab.

For some people, it even runs its course completely without symptoms.

Caption 23, Coronavirus: Schutzmasken zum Selbermachen

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Jetzt werde ich euch erzählen, wie ein Tag in meinem Leben abläuft.

Now I will tell you how a day in my life goes.

Caption 16, Jenny erklärt: Zeitintervalle

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Deine Zeit ist gleich abgelaufen.

Your time will be up soon.

Caption 21, Küss mich, Frosch: Für immer Frosch?

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Among its many meanings, verb auslaufen can mean "to spill" or "to leak," but also "to run out" or "to peter out."

Die Ostalgie-Welle ist auch langsam ausgelaufen.

The wave of "Ostalgie" has also slowly petered out.

Caption 2, Der Trabi: Das Kultauto aus dem Osten

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Then there are the verbs verlaufen and sich verlaufen. As you can see, these have very different meanings!

Bis jetzt ist alles wirklich gut verlaufen.

Up until now, everything has really gone well.

Caption 7, Berufsleben: Probleme mit Mitarbeitern

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Du sagst, wir haben uns nie verlaufen.

You say we've never gotten lost.

Caption 21, Philipp Dittberner: Das ist dein Leben

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Further Learning
You can find many other verbs in this list, some of which are more common than others. You will find many of these on Yabla German as well. Try to make your own examples with the following verbs: davonlaufen, fortlaufen, entlaufen, and herumlaufen.

In English, one way of saying that an event is finished or done with is to say that it's "over." In German, the word über, though usually meaning "about,"  is sometimes translated as "over" when it is referring to the physical placement of something: 

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Ganz zum Schluss verteile ich meinen Zuckerguss über den Kuchen.

Right at the end, I spread my sugar frosting over the cake.

Caption 36, Apfelkuchen - mit Eva

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But in German, if you want to say that an event is over, the word über turns out to be a kind of false friend: the correct term here is vorbei: 

Doch diese Zeiten sind vorbei

But those times are over

Caption 12, Christina Stürmer - Wir leben den Moment

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Meine Stunden bei der Gepäckverladung der Bodenverkehrsdienste sind vorbei.

My hours at the baggage loading area of the ground traffic services are over.

Caption 45, Selbst versucht - Gepäckabfertigung bei Fraport

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Es ist jetzt vorbei, ich starte neu

It's over now, I'm starting anew

Caption 7, Beatrice Egli - Irgendwann

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Depending upon the context, vorbei can also be translated as "passed," or "gone," or "past," to name a few possibilities:

Vier Jahre sind vorbei und unser Team ist mit dabei

Four years have passed and our team is in

Caption 9, Die gestiefelten Zwerge - Am Kap der Hoffnung steht der Cup

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... denn dann ist der Zauber vorbei.

... because then the magic is gone.

Caption 57, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Aschenputtel

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Der Winter ist vorbei.

The winter is past.

Caption 2, Jahreszeiten - Der Frühling

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Another possibility for expressing that something is over or has passed by is the adverb vorüber: 

So, jetzt ist der Haxen fertig, die drei Stunden sind vorüber.

So now the knuckle is finished, the three hours have passed by.

Caption 45, Kochen mit Cettina - Schweinshaxe

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Ein Jahr weht vorüber...

A year flies past...

Caption 24, rheinmain Szene - Selig

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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German and see the many other examples of vorbei and vorüber in a real world context. See too if you can correctly translate the title of this week's lesson: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei. Hint: the direct translation "fat years" isn't quite right! 

The German imperative mood, or command form, can be very difficult or very easy depending on whom you are addressing. This week, we'll look at some various examples from Yabla German to highlight what you'll need to keep in mind. 

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For a person or group of people that you would address as Sie, the command form is quite easy. You will simply say the root of the verb with -en added (in most cases this will be identical to the infinitive) followed by Sie:

Nehmen Sie bitte Platz, Frau Sonntag.

Please have a seat, Ms. Sonntag.

Caption 35, Das Lügenbüro - Die Bewerbung

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Bitte, seien Sie jetzt ganz still.

Please, be completely silent now.

Caption 60, Magie - Die Zaubershow

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For a group of people you would address as ihr, you will simply use the present tense conjugation. The subject ihr, however, is no longer included in the sentence. 

Gebt mir die schönen Sätze. Jacob beginnt.

Give me the [your] nice sentences. Jacob will begin.

Caption 20, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Relativsätze mit Präpositionen

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The most difficult imperative sentences to form are those for people you would refer to as du, because there are several different patterns they can follow depending on the characteristics of the verb. For weak verbs, the form will be the verb's stem, although an "e" is added to the end with certain consonants. For strong verbs, the imperative will take into account any changes to the root that occur. In any case, du does not usually appear in the sentence. 

Atme ganz tief ein

Breathe in very deeply

Caption 43, Christina Stürmer - Wir leben den Moment

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Aber schau mal hier.

But look here.

Caption 23, Bubble Beatz - Supertalente vom Schrottplatz

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„Vergiss es! Das wird nicht passieren.“

"Forget it! It won't happen."

Caption 74, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Hans mein Igel

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Sei ruhig, Findus, ich bin ja noch gar nicht aufgestanden.

Be quiet, Findus, I indeed haven't gotten up yet at all.

Komm, bleib kurz stehen, nimm meine Hand

Come, stand still for a brief moment, take my hand

Caption 5, Michelle - Paris

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Further Learning

For more information on the du imperative, look at this website or this website. If you wish to make flashcards, use the second column of the table on this page, which shows the du imperative for a number of common strong verbs. 

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When we describe events in the past, we often use temporal adverbs to give a more specific sense of what exact time period we are talking about. Are we talking about events of yesterday or something that happened thirty years ago? In the German language, both the present perfect and the preterite tenses indicate a finished action or state, but more information is often required for clarity's sake.

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Generally, when we see in der Vergangenheit ("in the past") we know that it is not a matter of something that occurred in the recent past, but rather a long time ago.

Aus meiner Sicht: Ich fühle mich nicht schuldig für das, was in der Vergangenheit geschehen ist.

From my point of view, I don't feel guilty for that which happened in the past.

Caption 10, Konstantin - ein Freiwilliger in Israel

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We can also use damals and früher to indicate that something happened in the past. Both of these temporal adverbs indicate an action or state that has been concluded for a while. They can be translated as "back then" or "previously." 

Früher haben hier die amerikanischen Soldaten gewohnt.

Previously, the American soldiers lived here.

Caption 6, Berlin - der alte amerikanische Sektor

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Damals schwor ich mir, dass mir das nicht wieder passieren sollte.

Back then I swore that something like that wouldn't happen to me again.

Caption 49, TEDx - Der Supermarkt der Zukunft

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Internet? Was ist das? Das kannten wir damals gar nicht.

Internet? What is that? We didn't know that at all back then.

Caption 35, Mittelalterlicher Markt - Mäuseroulette

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Sometimes, we want to emphasize that a state was constant or an action was repeated multiple times in the past. For this, we often use the phrase "used to" in English. Below, you can see how the word früher can function in a similar way in various contexts:

Weißt du noch, wie's früher war?

Do you still remember how it used to be?

Caption 8, Christina Stürmer - Wir leben den Moment

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Und du tanzt nich' mehr wie früher

And you don't dance like you used to anymore

Caption 4, AnnenMayKantereit - 21, 22, 23

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Ich ging früher im Urlaub immer reiten.

I used to always go horseback riding during vacation.

Caption 16, Konjugation - Das Verb „gehen“

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Further Learning
You can search for more examples with früher and damals on Yabla German or take a look at this website for a more extensive list of different types of adverbs.