Brief Deutsch geekery

[feuervogel]

I'm watching Bundesliga matches on streaming internet video sites. Even if I find a feed in English, I won't watch it, because it feels wrong to watch in a language other than German. Listening to the commentary reminds me of one of my favorite things about German.

You can take the prefix ver- and put it in front of a verb and make it connote that they fucked up.

schießen (to shoot); verschießen (to miss the shot)
schenken (to give as a gift); verschenken (to give away, as in an opportunity; also used in context of points on an exam: ich hab 10 Punkte verschenkt.)
spielen (to play); verspielen (to miss a play, to play badly)
laufen (to run); verlaufen (to be lost)

Note: not all verbs beginning with ver- carry this connotation. Of course, all the ones I'm thinking of ottomh aren't positive: verlieren (to lose), vergessen (to forget).

Comments

[yhibiki]

Haha, although the words you list as exceptions don't really exist without the "ver" prefix. You can't "gess" or "lier" anything. Same with "verpassen"; "passen" is a completely different meaning from "verpassen" (although maybe the "passen" from "verpassen" is closer related to "passieren," which apparently can double as the English word "pass" and not just "happen" like I'm used to hearing it.)

[feuervogel]

I thought about that, but I forgot to mention it ^^; The other words aren't prefixed per se, because the word without ver- doesn't exist.

Wait, passieren can mean pass as in the ball or exam?

[yhibiki]

Oops, no, "passieren" can mean to "pass" as in.... humm. Okay, I think I confused myself. I keep seeing it in this novel, "Sie passierten die Straße" or something, and for me that sounds like "passing somebody on the street" or something. Pass as a movement verb. I'm so used to "passieren" meaning only "to happen" that when I first read it, I thought it sounded weird and anglicized.

But I guess it's not very much like "pass an exam" or "passing the butter."

[feuervogel]

Oh, yeah, I think that's a different meaning. Could it mean crossing the street? I can't recall ever hearing it used that way.

dict.leo.org lists it as "to pass," but without further elaboration or examples. :P

[acari]

Could it mean crossing the street?

Yep. That's what it means. But it can also mean "passing by somebody/something".

[feuervogel]

How can I have managed never to have heard it used that way? Bizarre.

[acari]

Not bizarre at all. It's not quite an active part of my vocabulary either. It's too stilted and dated for people of my (our?) generation to use in everyday speech. I'm not surprised you've never heard it used before.

[feuervogel]

Oh, it's more altmodisch. I see. I have enough trouble keeping up with current speech, Umgangssprache usw. (And that doesn't even consider the Rechtschreibungsreform!)

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

Off the top, yeah... vertun, versagen...

But after a little bit, there's also verbergen/verstecken (to hide), which might not be bad... and verbringen, my first and most spectacular German-English interference phenomenon, isn't bad...

[feuervogel]

verhindern (which is similar to hindern, so sometimes it intensifies?)

I recall learning that trying to make a pattern for prefixes is a losing proposition.

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's up there with learning the "rules" for noun genders. You have way too many exceptions to memorize for it to be worth it. Still, it's useful when trying to generate new words...

[feuervogel]

There are two rules that are consistent for noun genders: -schaft, -heit, -keit, -ung = feminine; nominalized infinitives = neuter. Everything else you just gotta memorize, including the nominalization of verbs (die Fahrt, der Lauf). It's been so long since I memorized them, you know? I'll be like "der Eule. Wait, is it die? No, I think it's der. *checks* Damn, it's die."

If you ever figure out how be- changes the verb, let me know. I thought it made it intransitive (decken/bedecken, danken/s. bedanken), but that doesn't make sense. (And bedauern bears no relation to dauern, either...)

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

I think, honestly, that the age of the prefixes and verbs matters. It's like Himbeere - the roots have shifted to the point where you can't recognize the connection unless you're told.

[corpsefairy.livejournal.com]

More posts like this, please!

[feuervogel]

You like boring linguistics randomness? I'll see what I can do ;)