Questions & Answers about Wir treffen uns vor der Musikschule.
What does treffen uns mean? Is treffen a reflexive verb here?
Literally, wir treffen uns is we meet ourselves, but idiomatically it just means we meet or we’re meeting (each other).
With people who arrange to meet, German normally uses sich treffen (reflexive), so you almost always say Wir treffen uns, Wir treffen uns morgen, etc.
You would use plain jemanden treffen (to meet someone) when you randomly run into someone or when you emphasize the other person as an object:
- Ich treffe meinen Freund. – I’m meeting / running into my friend.
- Wir treffen uns. – We’re meeting (each other) / We’re getting together.
Why can’t I just say Wir treffen vor der Musikschule without uns?
treffen almost always needs an object: you meet someone or each other.
So you need either:
- a direct object: Wir treffen Anna vor der Musikschule. – We’re meeting Anna…
- or the reflexive pronoun: Wir treffen uns vor der Musikschule. – We’re meeting (each other)…
Wir treffen vor der Musikschule is incomplete and sounds wrong to a native speaker.
Why is it vor der Musikschule and not something like bevor der Musikschule?