Reflexive or Not?

Reflexive verbs have a substantial presence in the German language. There are quite a few verbs that are not reflexive in English, but always reflexive in German, for example, sich beeilen ("to hurry"). It is important to know which verbs require a reflexive pronoun in German, but also that certain verbs may sometimes be reflexive and sometimes not, which then affects their meaning. 

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For example, sich umziehen means "to change clothes," while umziehen means "to move":

 

Dann würde ich sagen, gehe ich mich mal umziehen.

Then, I'd say, I'll go and change.

Hast du Klamotten für mich?

Do you have some clothes for me?

Caption 13, Ultimate Frisbee - Oli erklärt das Spiel

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In wenigen Wochen werden Kato, Scratch und Lina ganz in den Zoo Neuwied umziehen.

In a few weeks, Kato, Scratch and Lina will move full-time into the Neuwied zoo.

Caption 38, Wie süß - Drei Löwen im Wohnzimmer

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Similarly, sich hinlegen means "to lie down" in the sense of going to bed, but hinlegen simply means "to set down" or "to put down." 

 

Ich muss mich beeilen, damit ich mich bald hinlegen kann.

I have to hurry so that I can go to bed soon.

Caption 68, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch

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Hm, ich weiß genau, dass ich die Schwimmer hier irgendwo hingelegt hab'.

Hm, I know for sure that I put the floats down here somewhere.

 

Vorstellen means "to present," whereas sich vorstellen can mean either "to introduce oneself" (with the accusative pronoun) or "to imagine" (with the dative pronoun). 

 

Hallo, heute werde ich dir die Schultern, die Arme und die Hände vorstellen.

Hello, today I'll present the shoulders, the arms and the hands.

Captions 1-2, Der menschliche Körper - die Arme

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Ich könnte mir gar kein Leben ohne Kinder vorstellen.

I couldn't at all imagine a life without children.

Caption 15, Cettina interviewt - Mütter

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Könnten Sie sich uns kurz vorstellen und beschreiben, was Sie hier machen?

Could you quickly introduce yourself to us and describe what you do here?

Caption 6, Feuerwehr Heidelberg - Löschfahrzeug

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Von wegen: more than just "no way!"

A caption in this weeks' latest installment of the Pfefferkörner kid detectives series uses the slang phrase von wegen. Directly translated ("from because of"?), this phrase makes very little sense. Used on its own (Von wegen!), it is a negation to a statement made by somebody else, and means "that is wrong," "not at all," "just the opposite," or just simply "no way!" The Duden dictionary defines von wegen! as auf keinen Fall! Despite some rather crude translations of the phrase on some less than dependable crowd-sourced translation sites, the phrase itself is not vulgar at all, and will only cause offense if the contradiction of a statement is inherently offensive to the person who made it. It's all about context.

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It's a bit trickier to translate von wegen when it is used in a sentence and references something specific. Here too, we have to look at the context in which the phrase is used.

 

Von wegen [umgangssprachlich] Kunstunterricht.

It's not true about art class.

Caption 44, Die Pfefferkörner - Cybermobbing

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In the above scenario, a girl's parents just found out she was lying when she said that her brother was with friends in an art class. Her father confronts her about her lie using von wegen.

 

But von wegen can also be used in a dismissive sense: 

 

Von wegen körperloser Sport,

So much for non-contact sports,

hätt' ich meinen Helm doch gebraucht.

I still could've made use of my helmet after all.

Caption 46, Ultimate Frisbee - Oli erklärt das Spiel

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The speaker above is talking about the fact that frisbee is generally considered to be a non-contact sport, so he is dismissing this belief as being untrue. And here again as an expression casting doubt on a supposition:

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Von wegen Öl geht aus. Die lügen doch, die Ölstaaten.

As if the oil will run out. But they're lying, the oil states.

Caption 29, Culcha Candela - Schöne neue Welt

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There is also, of course, a standard, non-slang use of the phrase von wegen in a sentence: von [genitive noun] wegen means "for [noun] reasons" or "for reasons of [noun]." Some examples: von Amts wegen (for official reasons), von Rechts wegen (for legal reasons), or von Berufs wegen (for professional reasons). 

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Further Learning
Read this lively StackExchange article about von wegen and keep your eyes out for examples used in a real world scenario on Yabla German.

What do you need (brauchen)?

The German verb brauchen can be translated in a number of ways, including "to need," "to be required," "to make use of," "to take," and "to use," and has some additional idiomatic usages. See some of the these subtle differences in context in these Yabla videos:

 

Wir brauchen jetzt zwei Millionäre.

We now need two millionaires.

Caption 11, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz

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Es braucht Erklärungen, um die Brutalität und Banalität des Unrechts zu verstehen.

Explanations are required to grasp the brutality and banality of this injustice.

Caption 19, DDR zum Anfassen - Ganz tief im Westen

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Von wegen körperloser Sport,

So much for non-contact sports,

hätt' ich meinen Helm doch gebraucht.

I still could've made use of my helmet after all.

Caption 46, Ultimate Frisbee - Oli erklärt das Spiel

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Der Teig hat doch eine ganze Stunde gebraucht, um fertig zu werden.

The batter did indeed take a whole hour to be ready.

Caption 17, Weihnachtsplätzchen backen - mit Diane und vielen kleinen Helfern

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Wo werden denn heute noch Katapulte gebraucht?

Where are catapults still used today?

Caption 12, Bretten - Das Peter-und-Paul-Fest

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Here are a couple of examples of idiomatic usage of brauchen too:

 

Du brauchst mir die nächsten zehn Tage nicht unter die Augen [sic: zu] kommen.

For the next ten days, you don't need to come under my eyes [idiom: I don't want to see you].

Caption 12, Fußball und die Frauenwelt - Das Foul

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Alle naslang brauchst du das.

You need that all noses long [idiom: repeatedly in short intervals].

Caption 18, Otto Waalkes - Die verflixte Rechenaufgabe

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Further Learning:

For many more examples of brauchen and details of its conjugation, see the Yabla video Konjugation - Das Verb „brauchen“.

Vocabulary

Versatile Verbs

aufheben: to suspend; to pick up

Have you ever longed to put the pedal to the metal? Car enthusiasts throughout the world dream of hitting the Autobahn in their favorite gas guzzler. In a recent move that has environmentalists upset and speed demons ecstatic, Germany has removed more barriers to high-velocity travel:

 

Das Verkehrsministerium hat einige Tempolimits aufgehoben.

The Ministry of Transport has lifted some of the speed limits.

Caption 2, Deutsche Autobahnen - Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen

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The infinitive of the verb in boldface is aufheben. As with many other German verbs, it has numerous meanings in different contexts. In this case it means to "suspend something", to "declare something as invalid."

Die Geldstrafe wurde aufgehoben.
The fine was cancelled.

Mit dem Ende der Apartheid wurde das Handelsembargo gegen Südafrika aufgehoben.
With the end of apartheid, the trade embargo against South Africa was lifted.

In our video about Karlsruhe's phenomenal ultimate frisbee team, we encounter another meaning of aufheben, "to pick up":

 

... und du würdest ihn einfach aufheben.

... and you'd simply pick it up.

Caption 19, Ultimate Frisbee - Oli erklärt das Spiel

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Have you heard the expression Viel Aufhebens um etwas machen? In the figurative sense, the expression means to "make a fuss about something." It originated from the language of fencers, who, prior to fighting, picked up their swords from the ground, accompanied by elaborate ceremonies and boastful words.

Keep an eye out for these and other uses of aufheben, an extremely versatile German verb!

 

Vocabulary