Breakdown of Meine Kollegin besorgt die Tickets, und ich besorge das Abendessen.
Questions & Answers about Meine Kollegin besorgt die Tickets, und ich besorge das Abendessen.
besorgen means “to get/obtain” in the sense of taking care of procuring something. It’s a neutral, everyday verb for arranging or fetching what’s needed.
- kaufen = to buy (focus on paying for it)
- holen = to fetch/go and get (focus on going somewhere and bringing it back)
- organisieren = to organize/arrange (focus on planning and coordination)
- besorgen sits in the middle: you might buy it, pick it up, or otherwise make sure it’s there.
That’s regular present-tense conjugation of besorgen:
- ich besorge
- du besorgst
- er/sie/es besorgt
- wir besorgen
- ihr besorgt
- sie/Sie besorgen
So with Meine Kollegin (she), you need besorgt; with ich, you need besorge.
With und connecting two main clauses, the comma is optional in modern German. It’s often added if clauses have different subjects (as here) or to improve readability:
- With comma: … Tickets, und ich … (as in the example)
- Without comma: … Tickets und ich … (also correct)
Both are direct objects in the accusative:
- die Tickets = accusative plural (for all genders, the nominative/accusative plural article is die)
- das Abendessen = accusative singular (neuter)
The subject is Meine Kollegin (nominative) in clause 1 and ich (nominative) in clause 2.
Not necessarily. besorgen means you will “take care of” dinner—buy it, pick it up, arrange it, or otherwise make sure it’s there. If you specifically mean cooking, say Ich koche das Abendessen. Other options:
- Ich hole das Abendessen ab (pick it up)
- Ich bestelle das Abendessen (order it)
- Ich kümmere mich ums Abendessen (I’ll handle dinner, broad)
Often, yes—especially for events:
- die Karten / Eintrittskarten = tickets (admission) For transport you’ll also hear Fahrkarte/Fahrschein. Ticket is very common in everyday speech for concerts, travel, etc. You can say Karten besorgen or Tickets besorgen.
Use a dative person with für or a double-object construction:
- Meine Kollegin besorgt uns die Tickets. (dative pronoun before an accusative noun)
- Ich besorge ihm ein Ticket. If both objects are pronouns, the usual order is accusative before dative:
- Ich besorge sie dir. (“them” for “the tickets”)
To negate the action in a simple clause with a direct object, place nicht near the end:
- Ich besorge das Abendessen nicht. (I’m not going to get dinner.) To negate the object itself (“no …”), use kein:
- Ich besorge kein Abendessen. (I won’t get any dinner at all.)
No, because the subject changes. You must state the new subject:
- Correct: … und ich besorge das Abendessen. If the subject stayed the same, you could omit the repetition:
- Meine Kollegin besorgt die Tickets und das Abendessen.
Subordinate clauses send the finite verb to the end:
- Meine Kollegin besorgt die Tickets, weil ich das Abendessen besorge. Or front the subordinate clause:
- Weil ich das Abendessen besorge, besorgt meine Kollegin die Tickets.
- Kollegin: stress on the second syllable: ko-LEH-gin; the g is a hard [g].
- besorgt: be-ZORGT (the final t is crisp).
- Tickets: TIK-ets (Germanized vowels; both syllables audible).
- Abendessen: AH-bend-ESS-en; the d in Abend tends toward a t sound in compounds.
Yes:
- Abendbrot (common in northern/central regions, often a cold meal)
- Vesper or Brotzeit (southern regions) Abendessen is standard and understood everywhere.
- Masculine/mixed plural: Kollegen
- Feminine plural: Kolleginnen For inclusive address: Kolleginnen und Kollegen (you’ll also see forms like Kolleg:innen in inclusive writing).
Yes, German allows topicalization while keeping verb-second:
- Das Abendessen besorge ich.
- Die Tickets besorgt meine Kollegin. This emphasizes the fronted element (what each person is responsible for).