Verbs with raten

A while back, we sent out a lesson about the difference between raten and beraten. Now it's time to expand this to a number of different verbs that contain raten as a root, including erraten, verraten, and geraten.

The verb erraten simply means "to guess."

Heute erraten wir Meerestiere.

Today we're going to be guessing sea creatures.

Caption 4, Ratespiel: Meerestiere
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Könnt ihr erraten, in welchen Land ich mich befinde?

Can you guess which country I'm in?

Caption 3, Yabla reist: durch Europa Genua und Portofino
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The verb geraten is a bit more complex. It is often used in phrases such as in Panik geraten, which you can see below. Depending on the phrase you might think of it as "to get into," but not in a physical sense. It's more like "to become" or "to end up" in a certain way.

Die gute alte Kaffeemaschine ist dabei etwas aus der Mode geraten.

The good old coffee machine has to some extent gone out of style in the process.

Caption 12, Eva zeigt uns: wie man Kaffee kocht
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Wenn Menschen das Wort „Hai“ hören, geraten sie schnell in Panik.

When people hear the word "shark," they quickly panic.

Captions 10-11, Die Top Ten: Die 12 freundlichsten Meerestiere der Welt
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The verb verraten means "to reveal" or "to give away." The phrase jemanden verraten means "to betray someone."

Und sie verraten etwas über die Persönlichkeit eines Menschen.

And they reveal something about the personality of a human being.

Caption 42, Deutsch mit Eylin: Mehr Geheimnisse über Hände
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Warte, Matteo! Warte, warte, warte, nicht gleich alles verraten.

Wait, Matteo! Wait, wait, wait, don't reveal it all now.

Caption 3, Die Pfefferkörner: Endspurt
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Und wir dürfen den anderen niemals verraten, niemals!

And we must never betray the other, never!

Caption 20, Heidi Freunde: für immer
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Further Learning
On Yabla German, you'll find more phrases with geraten, such as in Schwierigkeiten geraten, außer Kontrolle geraten, and in Schulden geraten. Have a look!