to rob / deprive
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to rob
To take someone's property by force or through threats.
Die maskierten Täter beraubten die Bank um eine große Summe Bargeld.
The masked perpetrators robbed the bank of a large amount of cash.
'Berauben' (to rob / deprive) is an inseparable verb with the prefix 'be-'. The prefix remains firmly attached to the base verb 'rauben' (to rob) in all tenses and sentence constructions.
Er wurde auf offener Straße beraubt.
He was robbed in the middle of the street.
The verb 'berauben' (to rob / deprive) is classically used with two objects: the person in the accusative and the thing that is taken away in the genitive. This pattern is: jemanden (accusative) einer Sache (genitive) berauben.
Der Skandal hat den Politiker seines guten Rufs beraubt.
The scandal deprived the politician of his good reputation.
Especially when concrete property such as money is involved, the genitive is often replaced by the preposition 'um' with the accusative. This variant is very common in colloquial speech.
Die Diebe beraubten ihn um seine gesamten Ersparnisse.
The thieves robbed him of all his savings.
In the figurative meaning, the genitive is preferred. Typical phrases are jemanden 'seiner Hoffnung berauben' (to deprive someone of their hope), 'seiner Illusionen berauben' (to deprive someone of their illusions), or 'einer Chance berauben' (to deprive someone of an opportunity).
Die Verletzung hat den Sportler der Möglichkeit beraubt, an der Meisterschaft teilzunehmen.
The injury deprived the athlete of the opportunity to take part in the championship.
to take
'nehmen' and 'berauben' both have to do with someone getting something or something being taken away from someone else. But 'nehmen' is neutral and very general: you can simply take something with your hand without it being wrong. 'berauben' is much stronger. It means that something is taken from someone by force, through threats, or, in a figurative sense, in a very negative way. Learners may confuse the words because in both cases something is taken away. The important difference is: 'nehmen' can be completely normal, while 'berauben' describes a serious loss or a crime.
Der Mann wurde auf dem Heimweg beraubt und verlor seine Tasche.
The man was robbed on his way home and lost his bag.
Am Abend nehme ich mir ein Buch aus dem Regal und lese im Bett.
In the evening, I take a book from the shelf and read in bed.