Wir treffen uns am See.

we

Breakdown of Wir treffen uns am See.

• der See: the lake
• treffen: to meet
• uns: each other

Questions & Answers about Wir treffen uns am See.

What does each word in Wir treffen uns am See literally mean?

Word by word:

• Wir = we
• treffen = meet (also can mean to hit, but here it means to meet)
• uns = ourselves / each other (1st person plural reflexive pronoun)
• am = at the / by the (an
  • dem, contracted)
• See = lake (here: masculine noun der See)

So a very literal version would be: We meet ourselves at-the lake, which in natural English is We (will) meet at the lake.

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Why do we need uns here? Why not just Wir treffen am See?

In German, treffen is normally a verb that needs a direct object: you meet someone.

• Wir treffen ihn am See. = We meet him at the lake.
• Wir treffen die Freunde am See. = We meet the friends at the lake.

When the people who are meeting are also the people doing the action (we meet each other), German uses a reflexive pronoun:

• Wir treffen uns am See. = We meet (each other) at the lake.

Without an object (or uns), Wir treffen am See is ungrammatical. The verb feels “incomplete” to a native speaker.

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Does uns mean “ourselves” or “each other” here?