Hello everyone, and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time, with a look a close look at the meanings and mechanics of the great word : nachdenken And in this case a picture really says more than a thousand words. Because nachdenken is exactly what this Rodin statue called “The Puncher” does: to punch oneself in the face. Nah, kidding… nachdenken is of course about thinking. Although too much of it can be a bit like punching yourself. Now, most of you know that denken means to think, but nach is a little more confusing. When you look in a dictionary, you can find that it can translate to to, after, for, according to and past. That’s quite… broad. And that is the idea of pursuit. We’ve actually talked about nach in detail in a separate article, though, so I’ll leave you the link below. So let’s look at a little more at how denken and nachdenken are used in daily life, to get a feel for the difference.
Denken is also used in sense of having an opinion or an idea:
And then, German denken an is also very often used in the sense of to remember something.
Nachdenken on the other hand is as we said the pursuit of a thought. In more practical terms, it is thinking about one certain question, in order to find a solution. Suppose it is Friday night and your best friends ask you if you want go to the bar with them. Naturally this is a tough call and it sure is not something you could decide immediately as you also have lots of German to study, the kitchen sink is filled with sponge-hungry dishes and there’s also this Corona thing… or is that even a thing still? Anyway, so in that scenario, you might answer by saying:
Technically, what you do is “ponder” the question, but pondering sounds just too epic or lofty. Nachdenken however is perfect. A
And just to make sure… the word denken alone does NOT not work here. Denken über is only used in the sense of opinion.
But nachdenken doesn’t always have to be think about. It’s also used for to think in the sense of trying to recall something.
And actually, it doesn’t always have to be one specific question. It can also be loosely following a train of thoughts.
People might ask, what you were thinking about but you don’t have to say it. And in case your partner is German, you can also use that phrase to give them a real good scare. Just put on a serious face, use a neutral voice and slowly say: “Du (meaningful break) … Ich habe nachgedacht.... … …” Because that sounds a little bit like “I… we need to talk.”. And of course, if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment. I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time.
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