01
verbrennen
to burn
To be destroyed by fire or to destroy something by fire.
example
Er verbrannte alle alten Liebesbriefe im Kamin.
He burned all the old love letters in the fireplace.
verbrennen
to burn
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Meanings
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Usage tips
Inseparable verb
'Verbrennen' (to burn) is an inseparable verb. The prefix 'ver-' remains firmly attached to the verb stem 'brennen' (to burn) in all tenses and sentence constructions.
EXAMPLE
Das Feuer hat das ganze Haus verbrannt.
The fire burned the whole house.
Auxiliary verb: haben or sein?
The perfect tense is formed with 'haben' (to have) when it describes an active action with an accusative object. It is formed with 'sein' (to be) when it describes a process or a change of state of the subject.
EXAMPLE
Ich habe die alten Zeitungen verbrannt.
I burned the old newspapers.
Reflexive with dative
When someone injures a specific body part, the reflexive form 'sich verbrennen' (to burn oneself) is often used with a dative object for the body part: 'sich die Hand verbrennen' (to burn one's hand).
EXAMPLE
Vorsicht, du verbrennst dir die Finger an der Kerze!
Careful, you’ll burn your fingers on the candle!
Typical collocations
In the sense of 'using up energy', 'verbrennen' (to burn) is frequently combined with 'Kalorien' (calories), 'Fett' (fat), or a type of fuel such as 'Benzin' (gasoline) or 'Diesel' (diesel).
EXAMPLE
Beim Joggen verbrennt man viele Kalorien.
You burn a lot of calories while jogging.
Compare with
verbrennen vs löschen
to extinguish / delete
'löschen' and 'verbrennen' are opposites when it comes to fire. 'löschen' means to stop a fire or blaze. 'verbrennen' means that something is destroyed by fire, or that someone destroys something with fire. If an object is burning, it can 'verbrennen'; if someone stops the fire, they 'löschen' it. So the difference is: 'verbrennen' describes the effect of the fire, while 'löschen' ends the fire.
verbrennen
Wegen der starken Hitze verbrennen die alten Papiere im Ofen sehr schnell.
Because of the intense heat, the old papers burn very quickly in the oven.
löschen
Der Nachbar löscht die Flammen mit einem Eimer Wasser.
The neighbor puts out the flames with a bucket of water.
In real life
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