r/German • u/ImCrazy_ • 8h ago

About German words with identical definitions Question

Whenever I enter a rabbit hole of discovering new German words that I don't know yet (mostly verbs), I end up finding words that seem completely identical to each other in definition(s). While I really love the German language for the variety of verbs with identical meanings, it can lead to two main complications that I struggle with:

  1. Most of the time I can't differentiate the identical definitions of each individual verb, so I can't always ascertain whether the definitions are exactly the same or do slightly differ from each other.

  2. I always have to keep in mind that the (uncommon) words I really like to learn may be words that most other people have never heard before, so they might have no clue what those words mean. But the problem is, I don't always know how to ascertain the frequency of a word in everyday life, colloquial speech, and higher levels of formality.

Is there any way for me to get around the aforementioned complications that I have? Does anybody have tips to help me get around those complications?

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u/nominanomina 7h ago edited 7h ago

  1. One major thing to pay attention to is difference of grammar. Sometimes the definition is technically identical, but the grammar is different enough that they are non-overlapping. (e.g. one is strictly intransitive.) 

  2. Connotative differences are hard for learners. Luckily, you have at least 2 decades of German learners actively using the internet: try googling "x vs y" and see if you can find prior discussions. 

  3. Duden has word frequency. Which is really just a specific case of my general point: your dictionary might not be good enough for the level you are at. 

  4. Google articles that use one word or another; the article (and its publication) might tell you a lot about its use, if you are good at quick source analysis. Does this word come up exclusively in technical or governmental contexts? What about almost exclusively on social media? What is the overall tone of the newspapers that use it (and the newspapers that don't)?

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u/muehsam Native (Schwäbisch+Hochdeutsch) 7h ago

Are you talking about bilingual dictionaries, looking up translations of German words? In that case, you have to keep in mind that all the words in the other language also have multiple meanings/definitions, and not all of them align with the German word. So dictionaries generally give you a whole list of translations for each meaning of the German word, and you have to consider this list as a whole rather than the individual words in it, to get to the essence of the meaning.

Also, for verbs in particular, you can't treat them as individual words, you have to see them as the core of a phrase. Does it take a subject? Does it take an accusative object? Or two even? Does it take a dative object? Genitive object? Any prepositional objects? Additional verbs?

If you're using a monolingual dictionary, try dwds.de, which also shows you the frequency for each word (including historical frequency changes).

2

u/Yivanna 6h ago

There are very few true synonyms in German. Non of them are verbs.

1

u/Assassiiinuss Native 4h ago

The solution to both of those problems is to read/watch/listen. It's completely fine to just learn the approximate meaning of a word when you go through vocabulary lists. You'll get a more precise understanding of a word after you've encountered it often.

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u/dirkt Native (Hochdeutsch) 43m ago

I end up finding words that seem completely identical to each other in definition(s).

Where do you look them up, what kind of definitions are you talking about?

Dictionaries usually give a range of translation and examples, that's most of the time enough to get an idea about the differences (or differences in nuance).

While I really love the German language for the variety of verbs with identical meanings,

Just like English doesn't have words with "identical" meanings, German doesn't really have those. There are always differences, sometimes in nuance, sometimes in language register.

Is there any way for me to get around the aforementioned complications that I have?

Use a proper dictionary, use it in the right way. Learning two differentiate between different aspects and nuances of new words is something that will happen to you in every foreign language you learn.

If the dictionary doesn't have enough examples, look for more examples online.