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3.3.1.4: nehmen

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    106304
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    The verb nehmen is irregular in the present tense. Like many other irregular verbs, it changes the stem vowel in the second and third person singular forms (du and er/sie/es).

    nehmen • to take
    ich nehme wir nehmen
    du nimmst ihr nehmt
    er/sie/es nimmt sie nehmen

    This verb also rarely appears in its simple form nehmen and shows up most often with a prefix such as mitnehmen (to take along, bring along) or entnehmen (to take away).

    Das Mädchen steht auf einer Wiese neben einem alten Backofen und nimmt die Brötchen aus dem Backofen. The young girl stands in the meadow near an old-fashioned [clay] oven and takes out the rolls from the oven.
    Die alte Frau Holle sieht, wie brav das Mädchen ist, und sagt: Ich nehme dich bei mir in Lohn und Brot. The old Frau Holle sees how kind the young girl is, and says: I'll take you in to work for me.
    Das Mädchen arbeitet eine Weile bei Frau Holle und dient sehr fleißig. Am Ende nimmt sie viel Gold mit nach Hause. The young girl works at Frau Holle's house for a while and serves her really diligently. At the end she takes lots of gold home with her.
    Ihre faule Stiefschwester, wie böse Stiefschwestern das oft so tun, will auch Gold haben. Sie arbeitet aber nicht, und am Ende nimmt sie nur Pech mit nach Hause. Her lazy stepsister, like evil stepsisters are wont to do, also wants gold. She doesn't work, though, and at the end can take home only tar.

    vi_08_01_gold-and-tar.gif

    Helpful hint: in a dictionary, irregular verbs are marked as irreg. They are usually listed in the back of the dictionary, with their irregular forms (some verbs are irregular in the past tense, but not in the present tense, etc.).

    False cognate warning: in English you take a picture, but in German you make them: Fotos machen. And if you say Fotos nehmen, that just describes that you pick them up and run off with them ... very impolite.

    Related words

    die Ausnahme exception
    ausnahmsweise as an exception
    ausnahmslos without exception, unanimous
    entnehmen take away
    vernehmbar audible
    vernehmlich audibly
    vornehmen (sich ~) to plan; to be busy with
    vornehmlich above all, primarily

    Fun phrases

    er nimmt die Arbeit auf sich he accepted the task
    wenn du dem Teufel den kleinen Finger gibst, so nimmt er deine ganze Hand if you give the devil a little help, he wants all of you
    er nimmt sich zu ernst he takes himself too seriously
    er nimmt seine Lieblingssendung auf he records his favorite show
    wie man es nimmt it depends how you want to see it
    nimm das nicht persönlich! don't take it personally!
    er nimmt dafür Rache he'll avenge that

     


    This page titled 3.3.1.4: nehmen is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Zsuzsanna Abrams and co-workers (Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning) .

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