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. 

With all of the genders available today, it's kind of amazing that German still has only three to choose from: feminine, masculine, and neuter (respectively die, der, and das in the nominative case). In German, there are two different ways to say "one of the" followed by a plural noun, such as "one of the cats," one of the dogs," or "one of the guinea pigs."

What makes this expression a bit difficult in German is that the gender in the "one" (in "one of") has to correspond to the gender of the plural noun you are using. This is a typical example of needing to know in German exactly what you're going to say before you say the first word of the sentence.

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Imagine you're at an animal shelter trying to decide between adopting a cat or a dog or a guinea pig, and are looking at one pen full of kitties, next to one full of puppies, and another full of guinea pigs. When they ask what kind of pet you are looking for, in English you could start saying "One of the..." and then finish the sentence once you'd decided. But not in German, because the "one" (einer/eine/eines) in German has to agree with the gender of animal you're about to pick: "cat" is die Katze, a feminine noun; "dog" is der Hund, a masculine noun; and "guinea pig" is das Meerschweinchen, a neuter noun.  So you'd have to make your decision before you open your mouth to say either:

Eine von den Katzen, bitte. (dative)
Eine der Katzen, bitte. (genitive)
One of the cats, please.

Einen von den Hunden, bitte. (dative)
Einen der Hunde, bitte. (genitive)
One of the dogs, please.

Eines von den Meerschweinchen, bitte. (dative)
Eines der Meerschweinchen, bitte. (genitive)
One of the guinea pigs, please.

Note that in the accusative case, the masculine einer becomes einen. As you can see, there is both a dative and a genitive way to say this. In spoken German, using the dative case is most common, whereas in formal written German, it's better to use the genitive. It's particularly tricky in that you need to know the gender of what you're discussing beforehand, and of course the definite articles are different in dative and genitive. But at least the plural definite article in dative is always den, and the plural definite article in genitive is always der.

Eines der letzten Spiele war dann von 1906 gegen 1860.

One of the last games was 1906 versus 1860.

Captions 15-16, Ball des Weines: Franz Beckenbauer

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The following example uses the adjective viel instead of the definite article:

Einer von vielen Punkten, die auch zwischen den Verhandlungspartnern hoch umstritten sind.

One of many points that are highly disputed between the negotiating parties.

Caption 34, Deutsche-Welle-Nachrichten: Massenprotest gegen TTIP

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When you use plural pronouns such as uns (us) or ihnen ("them") in a gender non-specific way, you always use the masculine form einer:

Einer von ihnen ist jüdisch, er geht jetzt hier zur Armee und so.

One of them is Jewish, he's going into the army here now and such.

Caption 28, Konstantin: ein Freiwilliger in Israel

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But if you are talking about women (die Frau, plural die Frauen) or children (das Kind, plural die Kinder), the genders must agree:

Es gibt 20 Frauen. Eine von ihnen...
Es gibt 20 Kinder. Eines von ihnen

Further Learning
Make a list of 20 or so nouns including their definite articles, such as die Frau, der Mann, das Kind. Then go through the list include each noun in a "one of the..." sentences, being sure to get the plural right. Don't forget too that many plural nouns in dative get an extra -n at the end: Einer von den Männern. Then go to Yabla German and watch the full videos above to see the context in which they have been used.

We had a Yabla lesson some time back about false friends in large numbers, where we discussed how a million is eine Million in German, but that bigger numbers get confusing, since a billion is eine Milliarde but a trillion is eine Billion. 

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Smaller numbers like a hundred or a thousand are treated like standard adjectives in German: they are written in the lower case, and the plural nouns they modify remain the subjects of the sentence: 

Über hundert Leute der Bundesregierung dürfen sie einsehen.

Over one hundred people in the Federal Government are allowed to see them.

Caption 15, Deutsche-Welle-Nachrichten - Massenprotest gegen TTIP

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Also, beim Finale waren halt auch tausend Leute.

So, a thousand people were at the finale.

Caption 29, Eva Croissant - Interview - Part 1

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As you see in the two examples above, hundert Leute dürfen and tausend Leute waren, the adjectives hundert and tausend modify the subjects of the sentence, which remain plural and require the plural conjugation of the verbs. 

However, larger numbers are treated differently in standard German. If you have a million of something, the core of the subject remains the term "a million" and the verb is conjugated for a singular subject, even if the subject appears plural.

Rund eine Million Menschen wird in der Stadt erwartet.

Around one million people are expected in the city.

Captions 23-24, Rhein-Main-TV - Feier zur deutschen Einheit in Frankfurt wird gigantisch

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Note that in the above, the verb werden is conjugated for a singular subject as wird, rather than the plural werden that you might have expected. That's because the core subject of the sentence is the singular eine Million, not the plural die Menschen. 

As a rule, it's just good German to use eine Million and larger numbers in the singular as that is standard usage, but an article on the topic of the German Duden dictionary states that der Plural wird aber auch akzeptiert. So at least if you say eine Million Menschen sind instead of the standard eine Million Menschen ist, then it's not really a mistake, it's just an accepted variation of the standard German. 

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Further Learning
Look for more examples of eine Million and other larger numbers on Yabla German and re-read the original Yabla lesson on large German numbers.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a constitutional democracy, I'd like to remind those of you who are eligible voters to be sure and make your voices heard. If you are too young to vote, please encourage your friends and family to make their votes count! Here are some examples of references to democracy in Yabla videos.

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In einer Demokratie ist eine Funktion von regelmäßigen Wahlen...

In a democracy a function of regular elections is...

nach dem Willen der Wählermehrheit den Wechsel der Regierung zu ermöglichen.

to allow the change of the government according to the will of the majority of voters.

Captions 10-11, Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Einbürgerungstest - Part 6

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Weil es geht hier um Freiheit und Demokratie [weil es hier um Freiheit und Demokratie geht],

Because it is about freedom and democracy here,

die tagtäglich gefährdet ist [sic, sind], und wir müssen dafür kämpfen,

which are in danger on a daily basis, and we have to fight to ensure

dass Freiheit und Demokratie uns erhalten bleiben.

that freedom and democracy are preserved for us.

Captions 17-19, 25 Jahre Wiedervereinigung - Ampelmännchen wird Einheitsmännchen

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Es hat uns über ein halbes Jahrhundert Frieden, Freiheit,

It has brought us more than a half century of peace,

Gerechtigkeit, Menschenrechte und Demokratie gebracht.

freedom, justice, human rights and democracy.

Captions 15-16, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache

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Ein Ort lebendiger Demokratie soll es werden,

It should become a place of living democracy,

ein Haus für jeden, der Politik hautnah erleben will.

a building for everyone who wants to experience politics next to their skin [idiom, up close].

Captions 16-17, Berlin - Hauptstadt des vereinten Deutschland

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Was ist kein Merkmal unserer Demokratie?

What is not a characteristic of our democracy?

Pressezensur.

Censorship of the press.

Captions 3-4, Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Einbürgerungstest - Part 3

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Warum gibt es in einer Demokratie mehr als eine Partei? [Wahlen]

Why is there more than one party in a democracy? [Elections]

Weil dadurch die unterschiedlichen Meinungen der Bürger und Bürgerinnen vertreten werden.

Because the various opinions of the citizens [male] and citizens [female] are thus represented.

Captions 18-19, Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Einbürgerungstest - Part 3

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Ja, das ist ein  krasser Einschnitt in unsere Demokratie,

Yes, this is a crass break in our democracy,

Marktdiktatur kann entstehen,

a market dictatorship can arise,

ganz viele Sachen, die einfach sehr negativ sind für uns.

quite a lot of things that are just very negative for us.

Captions 10-11, Deutsche-Welle-Nachrichten - Massenprotest gegen TTIP

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Further Learning
Watch the above videos in their entirety on Yabla German and learn more German words related to politics. And don't forget to vote in upcoming elections and to remind your friends and family to do so too!