How can a short German three letter word be complicated?
When it has two different pronunciations!
The three letters are w, e and g and I often hear people get the pronunciations mixed up. So I’ve made a video for you:
In case you want to copy all those words, here there are again:
Weg as a noun:
Der Weg – path, alley, pathway, alley, journey
Der Wegbegleiter – companion
der Wegweiser – signpost
Weg as a prefix to a verb:
wegbekommen – remove, get rid of
wegbleiben – stay away
wegbringen – take away
wegdenken – think something away
wegdrücken – push away
wegekeln – drive somebody away by being nasty
wegessen – eat something up, not leaving anything
wegfahren – drive away
wegfegen- sweep away
wegfliegen – fly away
wegführen – lead away
weggeben – give away
weggucken (wegblicken/ wegschauen) – look away
weghören – not listen
wegjagen – chase away
wegkommen – get away
weglassen – leave out
weglaufen (wegrennen) – run away
wegmachen – remove something
wegnehmen – remove, take
wegoperieren – remove something in an operation
wegpusten – blow away
wegradieren – rub something out
wegräumen – tidy away
wegrollen – roll away
wegrutschen – slide away
wegschicken – send away
wegschließen – secure, look away
wegschneiden – prune something, cut off
wegtragen – carry away
wegwerfen – throw away
wegwischen – wipe away/ off
wegziehen – move away
And those quick warnings:
Hände weg! – Hands off!
Finger weg! – Hands off!
Geh weg! – Go away!
Kopf weg! – Mind your head!
Weg damit! – Get rid of it!
To put it into one sentence: if Weg means the WAY you pronounce it with a long ‘e’. If it means AWAY you pronounce it with a short ‘e’!
Right, I’m off – ich geh’ jetzt weg ☺
PS. If you’d like to know more about German pronunciation, check out my online course The German ABC – a complete guide to German pronunciation
