Things that I find annoying about German
Hi! So I am fluent in German, somewhere between the C1 and C2 level. German is a complicated language. The grammar makes you like yoda talk, there are three genders for every noun and there is a thing called noun cases that are not even used exactly like in my native language, Romanian, even if they have the same names.
Anyway, that is not what I am going to complain about. I am going to complain about vocabulary. I bet you are thinking that I am going to complain about Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung oder Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, but nope, since I wrote those words myself in a matter of a few seconds. I am going to complain about German's tendency to have similar words that mean the same thing, but in different situations or nuances.
I am obviously exaggerating here and it is quite weird how German just developed these nuances for such random words, so here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
normal vs benormal verbs
nutzen vs benutzen (to use)
Both mean "to use" and you can kind use them interchangeably. It is really all just nuance in certain cases when to use which. I don't remember what the context was and I may add it in the future, but yes. This is annoying.
What do I do? I mostly use benutzen and verwenden.
zahlen vs bezahlen (to pay)
Again... what on earth is the difference? I know bezahlen kind of requires an object and it is what you also use when you want to pay someone. But there are cases when these are interchangeable and that is very annoying
What do I do? I use zahlen when there is no object like "I would like to pay" and bezahlen otherwise and hope for the best.
other categories
locken vs verlocken vs anlocken (to tempt, to entice, to lure)
This one I googled recently since I wasn't sure anymore either. Something locks you, but something verlocks you to do something and somthing locks you an as in towards it. Like why... just pick one and eradicate the other verbs. Please.
What do I do? nothing. Lol.
messen vs vermessen vs abmessen vs ausmessen (to measure)
Here I am actually going to be useful and point towards this video by Deutsch mit Rieke. Have fun... but also why.
What do I do? I watch this video whenever I don't know which one to pick.
backen vs ausbacken (to bake)
Like ausbacken means to "bake until finished" but not just use backen? Zu Ende backen?
What do I do? when I mean "bake it until done" I use ausbacken.
rühren vs verrühren vs anrühren vs einrühren (to stir, to mix)
Just no. Pick one and stick with it.
What do I do? I kinda just use verrühren and only use rühren when I mean the movement of mixing / stiring.