Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

etw./sich auf etw. (= acc.) vor*bereiten

to prepare sth. or oneself for sth.

Vorbereitung(en) für etwas treffen

to make preparation(s) for sth.

eine Auslese/eine Auswahl treffen (from etw. aus etw. aus*lesen and

etw. aus etw. aus*wählen)

to make a selection

However, not all such phrases can be traced back to a verb:

eine Maßnahme treffen

to introduce a measure, to take action

Vorkehrungen treffen

to take precautions

58.2 Informal style and verb forms

 See also 60.1 (p. 159) on using du and Sie.

(a) In informal (colloquial) speech (see also 116.1), it is quite common for the endings

to be dropped from the verb stem in the first person, present tense:

Ich mache es gleich. > Ich mach es gleich.

I’ll do it straight away.

Ich habe es schon getan. > Ich hab es schon getan.

I have already done it.

It is also quite common in this kind of everyday style of speech to run sounds together,

e.g. Ich hab’s schon getan.

(b) Imperatives in the du form can also be made to sound even more informal by

dropping the final -e from the verb where there is one (see 41.2c):

Sag’s niemandem!

Don’t tell anyone!

 See 59.5c (p. 154).

(c) Casual articulation of du and Sie following the forms of the verb are sometimes a

sign that the speaker is being informal or familiar:

Hast du gebucht? > Haste gebucht? (spoken German only)

Have you booked?

Haben Sie Geschwister? > Haben Se Geschwister?

Do you have any brothers and sisters?

In the latter example, a speaker who has previously been using Sie could be signalling

that he or she finds using Sie a bit too formal and would be happier using du.

58.3 Informal responses

In informal conversation it is quite common to omit the object of the verb or some

other completion when responding to what the other person has just said, where the

context makes the meaning obvious. This leads to sentences in which the finite verb

appears to be in first position (compare 5.1–5.2):

58

Formal/informal style