German Giving & Taking Vocabulary
This set covers the everyday mechanics of who gets what: geben, nehmen, and bekommen form the backbone, alongside more specific verbs like leihen and tauschen. The biggest trap here is bekommen, which does not mean "become" despite looking like it; it means to get or receive, and mixing it up with werden is one of the most common English-speaker mistakes in German.
Learn these 15 words
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All 15 words
- bekommenA1
get/receive
Haben Sie meinen Brief bekommen? — Did you receive my letter?
- brauchenA1
to need
Brauchst du die Zeitung noch? — Do you still need the newspaper?
- gebenA1
give
Kannst du mir bitte deinen Kugelschreiber geben? — Can you please give me your pen?
- gehörenA1
belong to
Wem gehört das? — Who does that belong to?
- kriegenA1
get, receive
Ich kriege 15 Euro in der Stunde für meine Arbeit. — I get 15 euros an hour for my work.
- nehmenA1
take
Heute gibt es Hähnchen. Das nehme ich. — Today there is chicken. I'll take that.
- leihenA2
borrow/lend
Kannst du mir fünf Euro leihen? — Can you lend me five euros?
- tauschenA2
to swap, exchange
Wir tauschen unsere Plätze im Zug. — We're swapping our seats on the train.
- behaltenB1
keep, retain
Darf ich die Zeitschrift behalten? — May I keep the magazine?
- besorgenB1
obtain, get
Soll ich die Eintrittskarten besorgen? — Should I get the admission tickets?
- spendenB1
to donate
Viele Leute spenden Geld für Kinder. — Many people donate money for children.
to hand over, present
Er überreicht ihr einen Blumenstrauß. — He hands her a bouquet of flowers.
to lend out
Die Bibliothek verleiht viele Bücher. — The library lends out many books.
to distribute, hand out
Der Lehrer verteilt die Arbeitsblätter. — The teacher hands out the worksheets.
to wring from / force
Der Räuber abnötigt ihm sein Geld. — The robber wrenches his money from him.
How to learn this set
Notice that leihen alone is ambiguous between borrowing and lending, but the prefix ver- fixes that: verleihen locks the meaning to lending out, the direction goes from you outward. The same logic shows up with verteilen, where ver- turns the basic idea into something spread out to many people rather than given to one. Drill bekommen and kriegen together as a pair since they overlap almost completely in meaning but differ in register, and keep behalten separate in your head as the odd one out: it means to keep something you already have, not to give or take it at all.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bekommen and kriegen?
They both mean to get or receive and are interchangeable in meaning. Kriegen is more casual and spoken, bekommen is neutral and safe for writing, so use bekommen if you are unsure which fits.
Why doesn't bekommen mean 'become' in German?
This is a classic false friend trap for English speakers. Bekommen means to get or receive, not to become; the German word for become is werden.
What is the difference between leihen and verleihen?
Leihen covers both borrowing and lending depending on the sentence direction, while verleihen only means to lend out, usually in a more formal or commercial sense like a shop that rents out equipment.
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