Let's talk about breaking bad habits and escaping annoyances! In English, we often use prepositions with adjectives to describe our relationship to things ("used to", "sick of", "rid of").
In German, a special group of adjectives skips the preposition entirely. Instead, they demand a direct object in the accusative case.
You will also notice a difference in word order: the accusative object comes before the adjective in the sentence.
gewohnt (used to)
| used to | gewohnt |
To say you are accustomed to something, use gewohnt plus the accusative.
| We are used to this annoying noise. | Wir sind diesen lästigen Lärm gewohnt. |
| Are you really used to the constant noise? | Bist du den ständigen Lärm wirklich gewohnt? |
leid (sick of)
| sick of | leid |
When you have had enough of an annoyance (like constant whining or an argument), use leid.
| I am sick of the colleague and the constant whining. | Ich bin den Kollegen und das ständige Jammern leid. |
| We are finally sick of the unnecessary argument. | Wir sind den unnötigen Streit endgültig leid. |
los (rid of)
| rid of | los |
Finally kicked a bad habit? Use los to say you are "rid of" it.
| He is finally rid of the bad addiction. | Endlich ist er die böse Sucht los. |
| Fortunately, we are finally rid of the whining. | Zum Glück sind wir das Jammern endlich los. |
wert (worth)
| worth | wert |
To declare whether an outcome justifies the effort or cost, use wert. Just like the others, the thing being evaluated takes the accusative case and precedes the adjective.
| The success is not worth this unnecessary agony. | Der Erfolg ist diese unnötige Qual nicht wert. |
| This junk is absolutely not worth the money! | Dieser Schrott ist das Geld auf keinen Fall wert! |