sich etwas vornehmen

Frohes neues Jahr! Now that we're a week into 2025, there is one phrase related to the new year that we would like to review. This is sich etwas vornehmen, and it means "to undertake something," "to take something on," or "to resolve to do something." It is often used in relation with—you guessed it—New Year's resolutions!

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The verb vornehmen without the reflexive sich has other meanings, so it's important to include it. You'll notice the phrase translated in even more ways to address the context of each sentence:

... und in der wir uns auch vornehmen, andere Möglichkeiten auszuschöpfen.

... and in which we also intend to exhaust other options.

Caption 54, Coronavirus: Kommentar zu Angela Merkels Rede
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Nehmt ihr euch bitte den Bereich vor, dann kucken wir hier.

You please attend to that area, and we'll look over here.

Caption 9, Großstadtrevier Nicht mit mir - Part 3
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You can see that sich vornehmen is a separable verb. It's also a strong verb with a participle ending in -en.

Der Blue Fire, die spektakulärste Achterbahn im Europa-Park, da habe ich mir ja was vorgenommen.

The Blue Fire, the most spectacular roller coaster at Europa-Park, I really took something on there.

Captions 1-2, Deutsche Welle: Hin und weg Best of Europa-Park!
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Ja, natürlich. Wir haben uns heute eigentlich vorgenommen zu siegen.

Yes, of course. We actually set out to win today.

Caption 49, Fußball: U21-Nationalmannschaft
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Da hast du dir aber was vorgenommen! -Da hast... hast dir was vorgenommen.

You have indeed taken something on here! -You have... have taken something on here.

Caption 19, Dieter Kränzlein Bildhauer - Part 2
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