You can know every word in a sentence, build it with flawless grammar, and still sound foreign. The reason is collocations — the conventional partnerships words form, where one word "expects" a particular companion and any other choice, however logical, lands wrong. A decision in German is not made but met (eine Entscheidung treffen); a question is not asked but placed (eine Frage stellen). Nothing in the grammar forbids the literal translation; it is simply not what Germans say. This page teaches you to store these pairings as single units, which is the difference between speaking German correctly and speaking it like a native.
What a collocation is — and is not
A collocation is a habitual, semi-fixed combination whose meaning is still literal: in eine Entscheidung treffen, "decision" still means decision and the phrase still means "to make a decision." The fixedness is only in the choice of partner. This distinguishes collocations from two neighbours:
- Idioms are non-literal: ins Gras beißen ("to bite the grass") means to die, and you cannot work that out from the words.
- Funktionsverbgefüge (support-verb constructions) are a formal subtype where the verb is semantically nearly empty and the noun carries everything — in Kraft treten, zur Verfügung stellen. They have their own page.
Collocations sit in between: literal in meaning, but conventional in their pairing. The native speaker stores them whole; the learner who assembles them from a dictionary picks the wrong partner.
Wir müssen heute eine Entscheidung treffen.
We have to make a decision today.
Darf ich Ihnen eine Frage stellen?
May I ask you a question?
The treffen-vs-machen trap
The flagship error for English speakers is reaching for machen ("to make/do") wherever English uses "make." English make a decision maps onto the wrong German verb almost irresistibly. But a decision in German is getroffen — "met," as if you encounter it. machen here is not slightly off; it marks you as a non-native at once.
Sie hat eine mutige Entscheidung getroffen, das Unternehmen zu verlassen.
She made a brave decision to leave the company.
High-frequency verb + noun collocations
These are the partnerships that carry the most weight in everyday and formal German. The verb is fixed; substituting the "logical" English equivalent sounds foreign.
| Collocation | Literal verb | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| eine Entscheidung treffen | to meet a decision | to make a decision |
| eine Frage stellen | to place a question | to ask a question |
| Maßnahmen ergreifen / treffen | to grip / meet measures | to take measures |
| Kritik üben (an + dat) | to practise criticism | to criticize |
| einen Termin vereinbaren / ausmachen | to agree / arrange an appointment | to make an appointment |
| Rücksicht nehmen (auf + acc) | to take consideration | to be considerate |
| eine Rolle spielen | to play a role | to matter / play a part |
| einen Fehler machen | to make a mistake | to make a mistake |
| Sport treiben | to drive sport | to do sport / exercise |
| Hoffnung schöpfen | to scoop hope | to take heart |
Die Regierung muss endlich Maßnahmen gegen die Inflation ergreifen.
The government must finally take measures against inflation.
An diesem Plan übe ich scharfe Kritik.
I'm sharply criticizing this plan.
Können wir für nächste Woche einen Termin ausmachen?
Can we make an appointment for next week?
Beim Lernen treibe ich keinen Sport, aber am Wochenende schon.
I don't exercise while studying, but I do at the weekend.
Notice the pattern: einen Fehler machen does use machen — so the trap is not "never use machen," but "the partner is fixed per noun." Some nouns take machen, others treffen, stellen, ergreifen, or üben, and you cannot reason your way to the right one. You learn it.
Adjective + noun collocations
The same fixedness governs which adjective intensifies which noun. English "heavy smoker" becomes starker Raucher — a strong smoker, not a heavy one — and "heavy rain" is likewise starker Regen.
| Collocation | Literal | English |
|---|---|---|
| ein starker Raucher | a strong smoker | a heavy smoker |
| starker Regen | strong rain | heavy rain |
| strenge Regeln | strict rules | strict rules |
| ein eingefleischter Junggeselle | an in-fleshed bachelor | a confirmed bachelor |
| ein blinder Passagier | a blind passenger | a stowaway |
| schütteres Haar | sparse hair | thinning hair |
Mein Onkel war ein starker Raucher und ist trotzdem 90 geworden.
My uncle was a heavy smoker and still lived to 90.
Wegen des starken Regens fiel das Konzert ins Wasser.
Because of the heavy rain, the concert fell through.
Why this matters more than grammar errors
A grammar mistake (a wrong case ending) marks you as a learner who is trying; a collocation mistake marks the speech as not German. Native listeners often cannot say why eine Entscheidung machen is wrong — the rule is not in any paradigm — but they feel it instantly. Because collocations live below the level of conscious rules, the only way in is exposure plus deliberate chunking: read widely, notice which words travel together, and store the partnership rather than the isolated word. Treat the verb or adjective as part of the noun's identity.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich muss eine Entscheidung machen.
Wrong partner — a decision is 'met' (treffen), not 'made' (machen).
✅ Ich muss eine Entscheidung treffen.
I have to make a decision.
❌ Darf ich eine Frage fragen?
Wrong — a question is 'placed' (stellen); 'fragen' doubles the noun's meaning.
✅ Darf ich eine Frage stellen?
May I ask a question?
❌ Er ist ein schwerer Raucher.
Wrong partner — German uses 'strong' (stark), not 'heavy' (schwer).
✅ Er ist ein starker Raucher.
He's a heavy smoker.
❌ Wir machen Maßnahmen gegen den Lärm.
Wrong — measures are 'gripped' (ergreifen) or 'met' (treffen), not 'made'.
✅ Wir ergreifen Maßnahmen gegen den Lärm.
We're taking measures against the noise.
❌ Der Chef machte eine lange Rede.
Wrong partner — a speech is 'held' (eine Rede halten), not 'made'.
✅ Der Chef hielt eine lange Rede.
The boss gave a long speech.
Key Takeaways
- Collocations are literal in meaning but fixed in their partner — the wrong but logical choice sounds non-native even when grammatical.
- The verb is lexically fixed per noun: a decision is getroffen (treffen), a question gestellt (stellen), measures ergriffen (ergreifen), criticism geübt (üben).
- Do not generalise from English: make is not always machen (eine Entscheidung treffen, Sport treiben), and heavy is not always schwer (starker Raucher, starker Regen).
- Adjective + noun is equally fixed: strenge Regeln, eingefleischter Junggeselle, blinder Passagier.
- Learn the partnership as a single chunk; store the noun with its habitual verb and adjective, never alone.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
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- Light-Verb Constructions (Funktionsverbgefüge)C1 — Fixed verb + noun combinations like eine Entscheidung treffen, where the noun carries the meaning and the verb is semantically empty — the backbone of formal German.
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