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TOPIC: GERMAN

bedanken sich vs. danken

Subitus 12 3

Well, I came across these 2 verbs and I am interested is there any difference in usage? Does it
depend on context, "Dialekt", or one is maybe used more in formal expressions etc.?

Thank you!

4 years ago

14 Comments

qfish 20 14 12 9 8 7 5

Now this is a very interesting question because it is a good example of what the prefix "be-" does to
a word. I don't want to go into too much detail because there is a great blog post about that topic
here: http://yourdailygerman.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/german-prefixes-explanation-be/

The short version from the post: "be-something basically means to inflict that something on
something or someone"

So what is the difference between danken and bedanken? "Danken" means to be grateful.
"Bedanken" is the act of showing someone that I am grateful.

So that is the difference: "Ich danke ihm" (I am grateful to him) and "Ich bedanke mich bei ihm" ("I
thank him" as in I go to him and tell him)

Hope that helps :)

4 years ago

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sakasiru
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22 11 9 9

to be grateful means dankbar sein

danken is already and active thing, if I danke someone, I tell them. There is actually little
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difference between

"Ich bedanke mich bei ihm."

and
"Ich danke ihm."

4 years ago

Subitus 12 3

Is any of you two guys native speaker? Or German teacher?

4 years ago

qfish 20 14 12 9 8 7 5

I believe we are both natives. Sakarisu is some kind of lunguist or something similar if I
am not mistaken.

But I would still want to disagree.

"Ich danke ihm so sehr für alles, was er für mich getan hat" means "I am grateful" doesn't
it? At least for me this is not an active act.

But maybe another approach might help. I believe you use "danken" more for yourself
and "bedanken" when you talk about others. So you would rather say "Ich danke dir"
than "Ich bedanke mich bei dir" (both are correct though). And you would rather say
"Bedanke dich bitte bei ihm" than "Danke ihm bitte"

4 years ago

sakasiru 22 11 9 9

If you want to say "I am grateful for everything he has done to me" I would say "Ich
bin ihm dankbar für alles, was er für mich getan hat."
If you say "Ich danke ihm...", it means you actually thank him, even if it's right now
with these words while he is absent (think of Oscar speeches: "Ich danke meiner
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Mutter dafür, dass sie mich immer zur Schauspielschule gekarrt hat...")
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 http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/danken lists sich bedanken as a synonym of danken,
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too, and defines danken as

"(jemandem für etwas) seinen Dank aussprechen, seine Dankbarkeit durch Worte
oder Taten äußern, vergelten, lohnen"

so you have to actually express your thankfulness in some way.

4 years ago

qfish 20 14 12 9 8 7 5

Alright then. :)

For some reason they don't have the same feeling to me. But it seems I am quite
alone with that feeling.

Sorry for the confusion, Subitus

4 years ago

Subitus 12 3

There is no need for apologies, it is always great to hear opinions from different
perspective, and why opinions shouldn't differ?

Thanks to both of you guys for the explanations!

4 years ago

johaquila 16 16 15 15 14 14 12 10 8

The prefix be- also exists in English with the same sense (also in other senses, just like in
German - even bedanken doesn't quite fit the semantics described by qfish) and must have
been somewhat productive not too long ago as my second example shows:

• You are bewitched if you have been inflicted with witchcraft.

• You are bespectacled if you have been inflicted with spectacles (glasses).
• To begetLearn German
a woman means to in just
inflict her5with
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• To bepaper something means to cover (inflict) it with paper.
 Of course in German it's much more common. The literal translations of many German be-
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words don't really exist in English, though I guess many English speakers might see the analogy
with the words above:

• bekochen - becook?
• bewundern (admire) - bewonder?
• belegen - belay (this actually exists, though it's quite rare or special use)
• bedanken - bethank?

Sometimes the meaning in German is still the fundamental one, but in English it has changed a
lot. Etwas besprechen means to speak about something. It can still mean that in English, but the
primary meaning is the more specific one of speaking about it in order to get it: reserve, order.

In German you can still use it to make up new verbs on the spot for funny effect. Extreme real
example from a German internet forum two years ago, in a slightly simplified translation that
preserves the joke:

"In my 'active time' we once had a mobile home to besound and betelevision, it even had a roof
terrace (with hydraulic railing). Spiral stairs, hanger with a VW Golf - not on but in it - obviously."

(This was the only Google hit for "befernsehern". The German also uses "beschallen" in an
unusual sense. Normally it means inflict with noise by making a lot of noise. In this case it's
obviously used in the sense of installing loudspeakers.)

4 years ago

Subitus 12 3

Explanation is more than helpful! I am familiar with this blog, but I didn't know he wrote about
this topic.

Thanks a lot!

4 years ago

johaquila 16 16 15 15 14 14 12 10 8

There is a phenomenon in most languages that a roundabout way of saying the same thing is
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normally used in German
more formal in Injust
speech. 5 minutes
English a day.
that's the case, e.g.,For
with I thanked him and I gave
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him my thanks. free.
Here we have an example showing that the roles can also be reversed.

In order of increasing formality, I would translate roughly as follows:

 • I thanked him. - Ich bedankte mich bei ihm.
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• I gave him my thanks. - Ich dankte ihm.
• I expressed my gratitude to him. - Ich drückte ihm meine Dankbarkeit aus.

Speculation: I guess the first two sentences are swapped in German because thanking someone is
often an occasion for people to become a bit more formal. It would make sense if this had caused
the originally more formal sich bedanken (at least I guess it was more formal a long time ago) to
become the most standard expression. As a result, for those who were looking for a special
expression to render their thanks in a formal way it was natural to use danken - as soon as the
original distinction was forgotten. An alternative explanation is that sich bedanken unduly stresses
the subject rather than the object and therefore is more likely to be avoided in careful speech.

4 years ago

Subitus 12 3

This was really thorough, and just what I needed! I think that be- prefix is much more clearer as
well as danken vs. bedanken issue! Thanks!

P.S. Dude seems like you are really into languages, learning 7 here on duolingo, how many do
you actually know?

4 years ago

johaquila 16 16 15 15 14 14 12 10 8

You are welcome. As to my languages: I am not learning German (my native language) or
English here, as that would be rather pointless. They appear because I have done some
reverse courses. I learned French at school and picked up some Italian via music. (My Italian
level comes mostly from testing out of the initial lessons, my French level from that and the
French course for Spanish speakers.) I have used Duolingo (and Michel Thomas) to learn
Spanish and Dutch essentially from scratch. In both languages I can now read books. While
waiting for Turkish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian (not sure which of them I will end up really
doing - all of them at the same time seems a bit too much), I will try to get to a similar level
in the Scandinavian languages.

4 years ago

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Subitus 12 3
 Really impressive! Do you know if, and if yes, when is "Russian from English" coming to
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duolingo?

4 years ago

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