What's the difference between "Beziehung" and "Verhältnis"?
I've noticed that "Beziehung" and "Verhältnis" are both translated as "relationship". What's the difference between the two?
3 Comments
I'd really like to know that too ... I've always thought that Verhältnis was more of a ratio (more or less / in comparison to) relationship between things and that Beziehung was more like a direct connection between people / events (almost like a Verbindung). Maybe a native speaker can help us out?
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German native speaker here - but probably I just suck in explaining or creating in context descriptions ...but I try to give some short examples as I personally see it.
Chooyo I guess you got it right.
Beziehung = could be a real constant partner (true love) relationship
or
could also mean: the correlation / connection between two things, not necessarily persons
Verhältnis could be a temporarily love / sexual partner relationship (e.g if either one is married and additional got a love affair)
or
Verwandtschaftsverhältnis (you usually do not say "Verwandtschaftsbeziehung"; but even that is IMHO not totally wrong) = kindship = connection between near and more far family members
or
Nachbarschaftsverhältnis: relation to neighbors; is it good or is it bad - how profound is it
synonyms Verhältnis (=Beziehung): objectively comparing things like mathematical x/y axis IMHO you usually use the word "Verhältnis" for that too.
Example Verhältnis: relation working hours to personal health/energy: The more you work overtime the more exhausted you will get in the long run and the sooner you could get ill if you do it too often / too long.
I hope there are some teachers around who do have more examples on hand and better descriptions :-)
