German Carrying & Moving Things Vocabulary
This set is built around the everyday physical actions of moving things from one place to another: picking something up with heben, hauling it with schleppen, or setting it down with stellen. English speakers usually trip up on legen versus liegen and stellen versus stehen, since English just uses "put" and "stand" for both the action and the resulting state, while German insists on separate verbs for each.
Learn these 18 words
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All 18 words
- bringenA1
to bring, take
Bringen Sie mir bitte noch einen Kaffee! — Please bring me another coffee!
- holenA1
to fetch/get
Ich hole zwei Flaschen Wasser aus der Küche. — I'm fetching two bottles of water from the kitchen.
- legenA1
lay, put, place
Legen Sie das Buch auf den Tisch. — Put the book on the table.
- liegenA1
lie, be located
Um neun Uhr liegt Judith noch im Bett. — At nine o'clock Judith is still lying in bed.
bring along
Ich gehe einkaufen. Soll ich dir was mitbringen? — I'm going shopping. Should I bring you something?
take along
Nehmen wir meine Schwester ins Kino mit? — Should we take my sister to the cinema along?
- stellenA1
put, place
Stell die Tasche rechts in die Ecke! — Put the bag in the corner on the right!
to lug/haul
Er schleppt den schweren Koffer die Treppe hoch. — He lugs the heavy suitcase up the stairs.
- tragenA2
carry/wear
Ich kann den Koffer nicht tragen, er ist zu schwer. — I can't carry the suitcase, it's too heavy.
- wechselnA2
change, exchange
Wir müssen den Reifen wechseln. — We need to change the tire.
- aufhebenB1
lift, pick up
Lassen Sie die Papiere nur auf dem Boden liegen, ich hebe sie schon auf. — Just leave the papers on the floor, I'll pick them up.
- hebenB1
to lift, raise
Kannst du mir helfen? Das Paket kann ich allein nicht heben. — Can you help me? I can't lift the package alone.
- reichenB1
to reach, hand
Ich nehme nur eine Suppe. Das reicht mir. — I'm only having soup. That's enough for me.
to throw down
Kannst du mir bitte den Schlüssel runterwerfen? Ich habe meinen vergessen. — Can you please throw the key down to me? I forgot mine.
- schiebenB1
push
Leider ist mein Fahrrad kaputtgegangen. Ich musste es nach Hause schieben. — Unfortunately my bicycle broke down. I had to push it home.
to transport
Die Firma transportiert die Möbel per Lkw. — The company transports the furniture by truck.
to stow away / load / pile
Wir verstauten die Koffer im Auto. — We stowed the suitcases in the car.
- hievenC1
to heave / manhandle
Wir hieven die schwere Kiste auf den Lastwagen. — We heave the heavy crate onto the truck.
How to learn this set
Group these by the action/state pairs first: legen (lay something down) pairs with liegen (it lies there), and stellen (stand something up) works the same way with stehen. Then notice the mitbringen/mitnehmen pair, both built on the root verb bringen with different prefixes changing the direction, toward you versus away with you. For the heavier physical verbs, drill heben, aufheben, hieven, and schleppen together by picturing increasing effort: heben is a simple lift, aufheben is picking something off the ground, and hieven and schleppen both suggest real strain, like hauling a suitcase or heaving a crate onto a truck.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between legen and liegen?
Legen is the action of laying something down (transitive, takes an object), like legen Sie das Buch auf den Tisch. Liegen describes the resulting state of lying there, like das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. English uses lay/lie the same way but native speakers mix them up too, so you're not alone.
What is the difference between bringen, mitbringen, and mitnehmen?
Bringen just means to bring or take something somewhere. Mitbringen means to bring something along with you, usually as a gift or extra item, as in ich bringe Wein mit. Mitnehmen means to take something along when you leave, as in ich nehme den Regenschirm mit.
What's the difference between tragen and schleppen?
Tragen is the neutral word for carrying, and it also means to wear clothes. Schleppen is informal and implies the thing is heavy or awkward, like lugging suitcases up four flights of stairs. If you're complaining about the weight, use schleppen.
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