Or as you'd say in German: Lass uns über „lassen“ reden. The verb lassen can be translated in many different ways: "to let," "to leave," or "to have," among others. Let's take a look today at some examples, and see if we can learn how the different contexts affect the meanings and the translations of the word.

Lange klingeln lassen und dann wie gehabt verfahren.

Let it ring for longer and then proceed as usual.

Caption 38, Antilopen Gang: Enkeltrick

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Also lassen Sie mich mal nachsehen, welche Termine noch frei sind.

So let me take a look what appointments are still available.

Captions 41-42, Berufsleben: das Vorstellungsgespräch

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Ich lass dich nicht raus, ich lass dich nicht gehen.

I won't let you out, I won't let you go.

Caption 15, Ab durch die Heimat: 4 Comedians unterwegs im Südwesten

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As you see above, a common translation of lassen is "to let."

Ich kann euch versprechen, dieser Film lässt niemanden kalt.

I can promise you, this movie will leave no one unmoved.

Captions 47-48, Twinfruit: Glaubhaftigkeit in der Werbung

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Du lässt mich niemals allein.

You'll never leave me alone.

Caption 42, Sophia: Niemals Allein

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Sometimes too, lassen is translated as "to leave," but not in the sense of leaving (verlassen) a place.

König Konrad schickte Boten voraus und ließ sie in der Stadt verkünden.

King Conrad sent messengers ahead and had them make an announcement in the city.

Captions 36-37, Deutsche Sagen: Die tapferen Weiber von Weinsberg

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In cases where somebody is following orders, it wouldn't make much sense (as in the example above) to say the King "let" them make an announcement. In cases like this, you'll occasionally understand lassen as "to have."

Auch Natali will sich das nicht entgehen lassen.

Natali doesn't want to let herself miss out on this either.

Caption 50, Abenteuer Nordsee: Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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Often, when lassen is used in a reflexive sense with sich, it's not translated at all. In the example above, it could just as well have been translated as "Natali doesn't want to miss out on this either." In such cases, sich lassen is often redundant in translation.

... um meine neue Adresse in meinen Personalausweis eintragen zu lassen.

... to register my new address on my identity card.

Caption 3, Deutsch mit Eylin: Personalien und Namen

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Wann haben Sie sich scheiden lassen?

When did you get divorced?

Caption 17, Yabla Gerichtshof: Probleme des Zusammenlebens

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The sentences above could have been translated as "... to let my new address be registered on my identity card" and "When did you let yourself get divorced," but this seems pretty clumsy. In these cases, the better translation for sich eintragen lassen is "to register," and for sich scheiden lassen "to get divorced."

Last but not least, I'll "let" you see some example of some common idioms using the verb lassen:

Sie haben meiner Tochter schöne Augen gemacht und sie dann sitzen lassen.

You made eyes at my daughter and then abandoned her.

Caption 20, Oskar; Gehen, wenn es am schönsten ist Loslassen

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Du kannst es ja nicht lassen.

You just can't resist.

Caption 85, Alexander Hauff: Showreel

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ich will niemanden im Stich lassen.

I don't want to let anyone down.

Caption 19, Nicos Weg: Lernen

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Du kannst es nicht lassen is a bit like the English "You just couldn't leave it alone." As der Stich can mean a sting or a stab wound, the saying im Stich lassen, which first appeared in the 1400s, may be related to jousting: if someone left a comrade behind, they risked being stabbed! Luckily, we live in a society today where such violence is socially and legally unacceptable.

Further Learning
Search for lassen in its various conjugations on Yabla German to see the verb used in different contexts. You may also want to read more about it in the previous Yabla lesson "German verbs connected with lassen."

Have you ever seen "Berlin" as the verb berlinern? It means to speak with a Berlin dialect. Now you may not necessarily want to learn to speak like a waschechter Berliner (Berlin native), but it's good to get your ears around hearing it a bit so it's easier to understand! This week we'll go through some sample videos of people speaking Berlinerisch. Here are some of the main features of the dialect. 

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Ick (or icke) instead of ich: 

Ick [ich] hab' die alle manipuliert, ick hab' die alle manipuliert.

I've manipulated them all, I've manipulated them all.

Caption 17, Rapucation - Lernen durch Rapmusik

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Wat instead of was: 

Und Bananen, so wat [so was] fressen bei uns nur die Affen, du Affe.

And bananas, only apes devour stuff like that where we live, you ape.

Caption 60, Die Klasse - Berlin '61

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Keen and weeß instead of kein and weiß; in fact, most standard German "ei" sounds are pronounced as "ee": 

Alle keen [kein] Zuhause oder wat [was]? -[„Die Anstalt“, Regie: Axel Bock]

All of you don't have a home or what? -["The Institution", directed by Axel Bock]

Caption 53, Alexander Hauff - Showreel

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Dett [dass] ick [ich] nicht deine Geliebte bin, weeß [weiß] ick [ich] och [auch].

I do know that I'm not your lover.

Caption 14, Mathieu Carriere - Ein Mann will nach oben

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You probably noticed too that dass in the above is spoken as dett and auch as och: a translation to standard German would be: Dass ich nicht deine Geliebte bin, weiß ich auch.

Another typical feature of Berlinerisch is that the hard German "g" is rendered as a soft German "j": janz jenau!

Sind janz [ganz] schön viele. -Bärbel.

That is a whole lot. -Bärbel.

Caption 12, Die Klasse - Berlin '61

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There are also a number of words that are unique to Berlin, such as der Kiez instead of die Nachbarschaft:

Gitarrist Jürgen Ehle wohnt seit fünfundzwanzig Jahren

Guitarist Jürgen Ehle has lived for twenty-five years

in dem Kiez und schwelgt in Erinnerungen.

in the neighborhood, and luxuriates in memories.

Captions 3-4, Pankow - Rolling Stones des Ostens

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Further Learning
Read the German Wikipedia page about the Berlin dialect and look for some of the unique Berlin words on Yabla German to accustom yourself to understanding it.

In the classic 1930 film Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) by director Josef von Sternberg, the young actress Marlene Dietrich sings a song by Friedrich Hollaender with the lyrics: 

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Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt
Denn das ist meine Welt und sonst gar nichts

This is a good example of the noun der Kopf used in an idiomatic context. Many of the idioms using der Kopf in German are identical — or nearly so — to similar sayings in English.

Die Königin gab sich größte Mühe, ihn zu trösten: „Kopf hoch!“ 

The Queen did her best to comfort him: "Head up [Chin up]!"

Captions 33-34, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse

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In English it's common to say "hold your head up" to help comfort somebody, a British English equivalent being "chin up."  

Hiroshi Kajimoto hat den traditionellen Aufbau des Schirms nun auf den Kopf gestellt.

Hiroshi Kajimoto has now turned ​​the traditional construction of the umbrella on its head.

Captions 6-7, Erfindung aus Japan - Der verkehrte Regenschirm

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Thus the figurative meaning of "turning something on its head" is similar in German.

Ich habe doch Augen im Kopf!

I have indeed got eyes in my head!

Caption 60, Alexander Hauff - Showreel

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Most of us, of course, have eyes in our head, but the figurative meaning here is the same as in English: "I can see that" or "I'm not blind."

But there are some idioms using der Kopf that would sound very odd indeed if translated literally to English:

Ach, mach dir keinen Kopf [Umgangssprache], Lothar.

Oh, don't make yourself a head [slang, don't worry], Lothar.

Caption 36, Großstadtrevier - Neben der Spur

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This is similar to the predominantly British English expression "don't bother your head."

... weil da jeder Spieler schon seinen eigenen Kopf hat.

...because there every player already has their own ideas [literally: head].

Caption 31, Eishockey - Erich Kühnhackl

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While it's obvious that — short of some terrible disaster — everyone "has their own head," it's used here in a context similar to "headstrong" or "willful."

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Further Learning
Watch Marlene sing the song "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt" in this video clip from the original 1930 film, then see if you can accurately translate the lyrics quoted at the start of this lesson. You can also go to Yabla German and find some more examples of der Kopf used in other contexts.

In English there is only one word for “when,” but in German there are three words: wann, wenn, and als. In German, it’s very important to use the correct word, otherwise the whole meaning of the sentence can change.

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Wann is a question word used to ask “at what time” directly as a question, as Diane demonstrates:

Und wann läuft der?

And when does it start [run]?

Caption 40, Diane erklärt - Fragewörter

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When you ask a question about the past, you also need to use wann:

Wann hast du Wiener Kurti zuletzt gesehen?

When did you last see "Wiener Kurti" [a nickname]?

Caption 67, Alexander Hauff - Showreel

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Or when you ask indirectly, as Piggeldy does to Frederick when talking about the arrival of summer:

Dann wollen wir mal den Frühling fragen, wann der Sommer kommt.

Then we want to ask spring when summer is coming.

Caption 17, Piggeldy und Frederick - Sommer

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Wenn is the most common form of “when,” referring to time in the following examples:

Wenn er hinter der Bar steht, gibt er alles,

When he is standing behind the bar, he gives it everything,

wie viele seiner Kollegen.

like many of his colleagues.

Caption 34, Cocktails mixen - So „shaken“ die Besten

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When planning a journey, you would use wenn as shown here:

OK, und wenn ich im Europapark bin,

OK, and when I arrive at Europapark,

wo kann ich dann übernachten?

where can I spend the night [stay]?

Caption 21, Reiseplanung - Anruf bei einem Reisebüro

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Wenn doesn’t just mean “when”; in German it is also used to express “if”:

Wir würden uns freuen, wenn alle Menschen auf PETA de [www.peta.de] unsere Onlinepetition unterstützen.

We would be happy, if all people would support our online petition on PETA de [www.peta.de].

Caption 13, PETA-Aktion - Gegen das Wal-Massaker

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And the third word for “when” is als, which is always used to describe an event that has already happened or a single point in time. Wann or wenn just wouldn’t be correct here. Remember this and you’re halfway there!

Und haben Sie schon mal gedacht irgendwann,

And did you ever think, at some point,

als Sie Ihre Fotos gesehen haben...

when you saw your photos...

Caption 30, Bambi-Verleihung - No-Gos auf dem Roten Teppich

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It's also shown here as Angela Merkel talks about a past atrocity:

Als im Herbst eine rechtsextremistische Terror- und Mörderbande aufgedeckt wurde.

When in the fall a right-wing extremist terrorist [organization] was uncovered.

Caption 58, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache

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So as you see, distinguishing between wann, wenn, and als is not so difficult if you remember the basics outlined above!

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.