how do we get from wohnen to live / and / gewohnen to get used to?
This involves, the meaning of "ge" as a prefix rather than as a marker for "past tense" (gelesen).
ChatGPT said:
Excellent question — and one that goes right to the heart of German word history and morphology.
Let’s unpack it step by step:
🏠 1. The root: wohnen → to live
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wohnen comes from Old High German wonên, which meant “to dwell, to stay, to be accustomed.”
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It’s related to English “to wone” (archaic), and to “won” in the sense of “home” (as in “a well-won place”).
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Its Indo-European root is wen-, meaning to desire, strive for, be satisfied in a place.
So originally, “to live somewhere” already had a sense of being settled, comfortable, at home.
🌀 2. The derived form: sich gewöhnen
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gewöhnen historically meant “to make oneself at home” or “to accustom.”
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The reflexive form sich gewöhnen (an + Akk.) thus literally means:
“to make oneself feel at home with something”
→ to get used to something.
🧩 3. What about the prefix ge-?
Here, ge- is not a past tense marker.
It’s an intensifying or resultative prefix that was very common in Middle High German.
In older German, ge- could add meanings like:
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Collective: bringing things together (e.g., Gebirge “mountain range” from Berg)
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Resultative: marking a completed or achieved state (e.g., gelingen “to succeed,” gefallen “to please”)
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Intensive or perfective: emphasizing that the action produces a settled outcome — like “become accustomed.”
So gewöhnen roughly means “to cause (oneself) to be wonend — settled, used to.”
It’s a causative verb based on wohnen:
wohnen → to live
gewöhnen → to cause to live comfortably → to make oneself at home → to get used to.
🧠 4. So, historically:
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| wohnen | to live, dwell |
| sich gewöhnen | to make oneself feel at home with something |
| sich an etwas gewöhnen | to get used to something |
The ge- here strengthens the sense of settledness or completion, not time or tense.
✏️ 5. Bonus contrast:
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gewohnt (past participle or adjective) = “accustomed”:
Ich bin es gewohnt, früh aufzustehen. → I’m used to getting up early.
Here it describes a state that has resulted from the process of sich gewöhnen.
So in short:
ge- in gewöhnen adds the sense of making something complete, habitual, or settled — not past.
You’re turning “to live” into “to feel at home with.”
Would you like me to show you 3–4 other examples where ge- acts as this kind of “resultative/intensive” prefix rather than a past marker?
###
- Ich muss mich an den neuen job gewohnen, Just a habit.
- Ich gewohne mich das Rauchen an. Bad habit.
ChatGPT said:
Exactly right — nice ear for the nuance.
✅ “Ich muss mich an den neuen Job gewöhnen.”
→ Neutral or positive. It means “I have to get used to the new job.”
Here sich an etwas gewöhnen just means to become accustomed to something.
🚫 “Ich gewöhne mich das Rauchen an.”
→ Negative — “I’m getting myself used to smoking.”
It’s the same grammar, but the object (das Rauchen) is something undesirable. You’re training yourself into a bad habit.
Grammatically, note it should be:
👉 Ich gewöhne mich an das Rauchen.
(or colloquially: Ich gewöhne mich ans Rauchen.)
So the distinction is purely semantic — the reflexive verb is neutral, but the thing you’re getting used to determines whether it’s a good or bad habit.
