In the German language (deutsch), you can see that many common words are formed following a simple pattern:
[Common preposition or prefix] + [basic verb] = [specialised verb]
For example:
ver- + sprechen (to speak) = versprechen (to promise).
ver- + sagen (to say) = versagen (to fail).
ver- + tragen (to carry) = vertragen (to tolerate).
Common nouns are often produced from these verbs.
For example:
das Versprechen (the promise).
der Versager (the loser, the failure).
der Vertrag (the agreement, contract).
Unfortunately, you cannot always deduce the meaning of the verb formed from the union of these two words. I have found that some of these words are very old, even going back to Proto-Germanic ancestors. It is possible that these old Germanic words changed to look like a modern German compound verb, and therefore the prefixes were not chosen for their common meaning.
The verbs I want to analyse in this series include:
Thank you for reading and I hope you are enjoying this project.
[Common preposition or prefix] + [basic verb] = [specialised verb]
For example:
ver- + sprechen (to speak) = versprechen (to promise).
ver- + sagen (to say) = versagen (to fail).
ver- + tragen (to carry) = vertragen (to tolerate).
Common nouns are often produced from these verbs.
For example:
das Versprechen (the promise).
der Versager (the loser, the failure).
der Vertrag (the agreement, contract).
Unfortunately, you cannot always deduce the meaning of the verb formed from the union of these two words. I have found that some of these words are very old, even going back to Proto-Germanic ancestors. It is possible that these old Germanic words changed to look like a modern German compound verb, and therefore the prefixes were not chosen for their common meaning.
The verbs I want to analyse in this series include:
- haben (to have) (8)
- sagen (to say) (7)
- machen (to make, to do) (13)
- geben (to give) (15)
- kommen (to come) (10)
- gehen (to go) (24)
- sehen (to see) (10)
- stehen (to stand) (1)
- finden (to find) (3)
- liegen (to lie) (1)
- denken (to think) (6)
- nehmen (to take) (7)
- halten (to hold) (1)
- führen (to lead) (1)
- sprechen (to speak) (7)
- bringen (to bring) (6)
- leben (to live) (4)
- fragen (to ask) (5)
- kennen (to know) (5)
- stellen (to pose, to position) (17)
- setzen (to set) (1)
- sitzen (to sit) (1)
- ziehen (to pull, to move) (1)
- scheinen (to shine, seem, appear) (1)
- fallen (to fall) (1)
- treffen (to meet) (1)
- suchen (to search, to look for) (1)
- legen (to lay) (1)
- tragen (to carry) (11)
- schaffen (to manage, to create) (2)
- fangen (to catch) (1)
- warten (to wait) (1)
- binden (to bind together) (3)
- schlagen (to beat) (1)
- passen (to fit) (3)
Thank you for reading and I hope you are enjoying this project.
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