to owe
Loading your saved state.
to owe
To be grateful to someone or something for a positive situation or success; to have received something good through someone or something.
Seinen schnellen Aufstieg in der Firma verdankt er seinem außergewöhnlichen Engagement.
He owes his rapid rise in the company to his exceptional dedication.
to owe
To hold someone or something responsible for a negative situation. This use is often meant ironically or sarcastically.
Dass wir jetzt im Stau stehen, verdanken wir nur deiner Idee, eine Abkürzung zu nehmen.
We owe the fact that we're now stuck in traffic entirely to your idea of taking a shortcut.
'Verdanken' is an inseparable verb. The prefix 'ver-' remains firmly attached to the stem 'danken' in all sentence forms and is not placed at the end of the sentence.
Ihm verdanke ich meine Rettung.
I owe my rescue to him.
This verb requires a fixed sentence structure: The person you thank or hold responsible is in the dative. The thing in question is in the accusative. So the pattern is: subject + verdankt + person (dative) + thing (accusative).
Wir verdanken unserem Lehrer (Dativ) sehr viel (Akkusativ).
We owe our teacher (dative) a great deal (accusative).
You can tell from the context whether 'verdanken' is meant positively (to be grateful) or negatively (to hold responsible). If the circumstance is negative, such as a mistake or a problem, the word has an ironic or accusatory meaning.
Meine guten Noten verdanke ich dem Nachhilfelehrer.
I owe my good grades to the tutor.
In its positive meaning, 'verdanken' is often combined with big, important things. Typical phrases are: 'jemandem sein Leben verdanken' (to owe someone one's life), 'den Erfolg verdanken' (to owe one's success), 'eine Chance verdanken' (to owe an opportunity), or 'die Karriere verdanken' (to owe one's career).
Der Patient verdankt dem schnellen Handeln der Ärzte sein Leben.
The patient owes his life to the doctors' quick action.
to thank
Both verbs can express thanks in connection with help. „Danken“ refers to thanking a person directly, while „verdanken“ attributes a positive success or circumstance to that person or thing. In other words, you say whom you thank, but what you owe to someone.
Den schnellen Umzug verdanke ich deiner guten Planung.
I owe the quick move to your good planning.
Ich danke dir für deine Hilfe beim Umzug.
I thank you for your help with the move.
