A while back, we sent out a lesson about the difference between raten and beraten. Now it's time to expand this to a number of different verbs that contain raten as a root, including erraten, verraten, and geraten. 

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The verb erraten simply means "to guess."

Heute erraten wir Meerestiere.

Today we're going to be guessing sea creatures.

Caption 4, Ratespiel: Meerestiere

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Könnt ihr erraten, in welchen Land ich mich befinde?

Can you guess which country I'm in?

Caption 3, Yabla reist: durch Europa Genua und Portofino

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The verb geraten is a bit more complex. It is often used in phrases such as in Panik geraten, which you can see below. Depending on the phrase you might think of it as "to get into," but not in a physical sense. It's more like "to become" or "to end up" in a certain way. 

Die gute alte Kaffeemaschine ist dabei etwas aus der Mode geraten.

The good old coffee machine has to some extent gone out of style in the process.

Caption 12, Eva zeigt uns: wie man Kaffee kocht

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Wenn Menschen das Wort „Hai“ hören, geraten sie schnell in Panik.

When people hear the word "shark," they quickly panic.

Captions 10-11, Die Top Ten: Die 12 freundlichsten Meerestiere der Welt

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The verb verraten means "to reveal" or "to give away." The phrase jemanden verraten means "to betray someone."

Und sie verraten etwas über die Persönlichkeit eines Menschen.

And they reveal something about the personality of a human being.

Caption 42, Deutsch mit Eylin: Mehr Geheimnisse über Hände

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Warte, Matteo! Warte, warte, warte, nicht gleich alles verraten.

Wait, Matteo! Wait, wait, wait, don't reveal it all now.

Caption 3, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt

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Und wir dürfen den anderen niemals verraten, niemals!

And we must never betray the other, never!

Caption 20, Heidi Freunde: für immer

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Further Learning
On Yabla German, you'll find more phrases with geraten, such as in Schwierigkeiten geraten, außer Kontrolle geraten, and in Schulden geraten. Have a look!

Just as a German word ending with -weise can automatically be identified as an adverb, there are a number of German adjectives ending with -bar. These adjectives contain the root of a verb, not unlike adjectives constructed with "-able" or "-ible" in English. Let's look at some of the more common ones. 

Die meisten der Pilze waren leider nicht essbar.

Most of the mushrooms were unfortunately not edible.

Caption 13, Pilze sammeln: mit Eva

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Wusstest du, dass die Hände eines Menschen genauso unverwechselbar sind wie sein Gesicht?

Did you know that the hands of a human being are just as unmistakable as their face?

Captions 2-3, Deutsch mit Eylin: Mehr Geheimnisse über Hände

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The verb essen means "to eat," and essbar translates to "edible." The verb verwechseln means "to mix up," so unverwechselbar refers to something that can't be mixed up. 

Haptisch begreifbar sind die Angaben.

The details are understandable on a haptic level.

Caption 14, Holocaust-Gedenktag: Gedenkstätte am Michelsberg

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The verb begreifen means "to grasp" or "to comprehend."

Das ist auch hundert Prozent ökologisch abbaubar.

That's also one hundred percent biodegradable.

Caption 26, Lerchenberg: Du bist, was du isst

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The verb abbauen has many translations along the lines of "to disintegrate" or "to dismantle." The adjective abbaubar is related to this, and whether it's preceded by biologisch or not, it generally means "biodegradable." 

Als Erster in eine Welt hineinzugehen, die eigentlich nicht berechenbar ist, die nicht in jedem Detail voraussehbar ist, das ist etwas ganz Spezielles.“

"To be the first to enter a world that is actually not predictable, that is not foreseeable in every detail... That is something very special."

Captions 40-43, extra 3 Öffentlicher Personennahverkehr (ÖPNV)

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Another similar good word to know is vorhersehbar, which also means "predictable."

Als wir mit der Planung des Minihauses angefangen haben, ging es uns eben darum, diese Geschichte des Ortes und des alten Gebäudes, äh, in dem neuen Gebäude lesbar zu lassen und erlebbar zu machen.

When we began planning the Minihaus, it was important to us to make the history of the place and the old building, um, remain visible in the new building and make it tangible for people.

Captions 31-33, Umweltbewusstes Wohnen: Architekturpreis Green Building

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Of course, lesbar can also quite literally mean "legible."

Sie wurde erst nach dem Fall der Mauer wieder begehbar.

It was first accessible again after the fall of the Wall.

Caption 14, Eva zeigt uns: die Berliner Mauer

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Here we see that the adjective begehbar doesn't relate quite as directly to begehen, which means "to commit" or "to perpetrate." 

... dass wir unser Handeln möglichst gut begründen und kommunizieren, damit es nachvollziehbar wird.

... that we justify and communicate our actions as well as possible so that they are comprehensible.

Captions 19-20, Coronavirus: Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel

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And this hopefully also describes this lesson!

Further Learning
You can find many more adjectives like these on Yabla German, such as bezahlbar, dankbar, denkbar, and machbar. Before you look these up, can you guess what they mean?