to owe
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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.
'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
'danken' and 'verdanken' both have to do with gratitude or responsibility for an outcome. Use 'danken' when you directly thank a person. Use 'verdanken' when you want to express that you received something good through a person or thing. So you say 'Ich danke dir für deine Hilfe' (I thank you for your help), but 'Ich verdanke dir meinen Erfolg' (I owe you my success). Learners may confuse the words because both are often connected to a helpful person. The important point is: 'danken' is the act of giving thanks, while 'verdanken' describes the cause of an outcome. Ironically, 'verdanken' can also be used for something negative.
Seine gute Note verdankt Tom vor allem dem ruhigen Lernen am Wochenende.
Tom owes his good grade mainly to studying calmly over the weekend.
Nach dem Umzug dankt Anna ihren Freunden für die Hilfe.
After the move, Anna thanks her friends for their help.