Prefixes 1. BE [YourDailyGerman]

Question 1

I advertise a coke

Answer 1

Ich bewerbe eine Cola

using be- turns a thing that was connected by a preposition into a direct object

(Ich werbe für eine Cola)

Question 2

I envy you

Answer 2

Ich beneide dich

Der Neid = Envy

Question 3

I had to entertain my parents the last 3 days. They were visiting.

Answer 3

Ich musste die letzten 3 Tage meine Eltern bespaßen. Die waren zu Besuch.

What’s so great about bespaßen is that it has a slight negative touch to it. It is not simply to entertain. It is more to entertain with a subtext of that it is exhausting and hard work for you to do that.

Question 4

Ich muss mich beeilen

Answer 4

I have to hurry

Die Eile = the hurry

So sich beeilen is inflicting hurry on oneself… or simply… to hurry.

Question 5

Ich begreife nicht, wieso du dir schon wieder ein neues Auto gekauft hast.

Answer 5

I really don’t understand, why you got yourself a new car once again.

Greifen = to grab smth

Begreifen = to comprehen to grasp ['’to fetch for onself’’]

Question 6

I am excited /enthusiastic/amazed.

Answer 6

Ich bin begeistert.

Der Geist = spirt/ghost

we could maybe say to really positively impress and inspire someone. You inflict spirit on that person :). Begeistern is more often used as an adjective.

Question 7

To complain

Answer 7

Sich beschweren.

at the core of beschweren there is the word schwer, which means heavy. So beschweren is to inflict heavy on something or someone. There is actually an object in the world which serves this very purpose.

Deutsche beschweren sich immer über das Wetter.

Question 8

The double meaning makes some sense to me – in the unseperable ones the um is being applied to the verb and in the separable ones the um is being applied to the noun/thing being acted upon.
So – in “ich umfahre den Zaun” the “um” applies to the verb and we drive around.
But in “ich fahre den Zaun um” the “um” applies to the fence and the fence moves around (is knocked over).

Answer 8

um