3

I know that the verb

losgehen

means "to start going somewhere" in German.

But when I was considering the sentence

Los geht's (i.e. Los geht es)

I was wondering why the separable prefix came at the start.

The same consideration I made for this sentence too:

Auf habe ich die Tür gemacht

Why is this the case, and when does this seem normal in German?

vik1245
  • 1,307
  • 7
  • 13

2 Answers2

3

You are mistaken, the verb losgehen simply means to start. But be careful:

… und dann ging das Theater wieder los.

… and then the hassle reran.

But your question was about the fixed phrase

Los geht’s!

Consider

Auf geht’s!

No one would assume this is related to the verb aufgehen, and it's only coincidence Los geht’s! is actually related to losgehen. There's not much grammar in German prefixes. Prefixes are prepositions or adverbs who married a verb but sometimes those tiny words are just what they used to be – prepositions or adverbs.

Was hast du mit der Tür gemacht?

Auf habe ich die Tür gemacht.

Same here. The question isn't about whether you opened or closed the door but what you have done to it. For example, it may be bent by your ill attempt to open a double-winged, locked door. If you wonder, this deadpan style of answering is typical German humor – to overcome an awkward mistake or shortcoming.

That auf isn't a prefix, but an adverb and it is put at the same position as was in the question by purpose: to make it the topic.

Outside of such a situation, everyone would just say:

Ich habe die Tür aufgemacht.

The meaning is the same.

Community
  • 1
Janka
  • 60,148
  • 2
  • 63
  • 119
  • 6
    Losgehen can also mean to start going: Wir gehen jetzt los. – Carsten S May 08 '19 at 20:39
  • 3
    "Und dann ging das Theater wieder los" could more or less literally be translated as: "and then the hassle started going again", which explains why it is loosely translated as something like: "And then the hassle started all over". – Rudy Velthuis May 08 '19 at 22:01
  • Other than "You are mistaken, the verb losgehen simply means to start." the answer is correct. See "Wann gehen wir los?", which refers only to walking, as opposed to "Wann fahren wir los?". Another common example for the use of the prefix: "Ab geht die Post". – Javatasse May 09 '19 at 21:02
0

The easy way to distinguish between Losgehen and Los geht's is simple to look if it refers to people. In Los geht's the 's actually means "it" and the phrase means that something is starting. If poeple do it like

Wir gehen jetzt los.

it means, that we are starting to walk now. It doesn't work with anything else but walking.

Javatasse
  • 1,615
  • 6
  • 9