Versuchen vs. Probieren?
Hallo, Leute!
These two verbs mean to try, yes?
But is probieren used exclusively for food? That point has always confused me a bit!
Vielen Dank!
6 Comments
Hey Azure, these words are interchangeable in my opinion. Also i would say that "probieren" is more common in connection with food and "versuchen" is more common with most other things and actions.
I thought about it again. "Probieren" is also often used in connection with consumables like hygiene products. "Ich probiere die neue Handcreme."
True. You can probieren a noun but you can't (generally) versuchen a noun. (Maybe with the exception of a noun derived from a verb.)
With a verb, you can use either.
Perhaps you can compare it with "try" versus "attempt". You can try the cake and you can try to run quickly; you can also attempt to run quickly but you can't attempt the cake. But you can attempt a high jump, as that's a noun related to an action.
So attempt is versuchen, and try is probieren, and the second verb shares with English the double meaning "see what something is like" and "attempt to do something".
That makes totally sense. :D never thought about it that way. Things you don't really recognize as a native german speaker.
