How to talk about removing something in German
There are two main verbs in German for “to remove”, to take something from its position. Those are “entfernen” (from “fern”, meaning “far”) and “beseitigen” (from “Seite” (f.), meaning “side”). In the sense of “to delete” or “to erase”, the word is “löschen”. To express “to take out”, the German word is “herausnehmen”. The noun “removal” is “Entfernung” (f.) (but note: this word also means “distance”) or “Beseitigung” (f.):
– “Die Zahnpasta entfernt Zahnstein.” – “The toothpaste removes tartar.”
– “Der Stein ist nicht zu beseitigen.” – “The rock is irremovable.”
– “Ich habe aus versehen den ganzen Text gelöscht.” – “I accidentally deleted the entire text.”
– “Du musst unbedingt das dritte Wort herausnehmen.” – “You absolutely have to take the third word out.”
– “We have to organize the trash removal.” – “Wir müssen die Abfallbeseitigung organisieren.”
Listen up, lurkers!
We filmed an entire beginner German course!
More cool stuff from Expath