Collocations and Natural Word Combinations

1.Quick reference

A collocation is a typical, recurring word combination. It lies between a completely free combination and a highly fixed expression.

free combination
→ typical collocation
→ strongly restricted combination
→ idiom / fixed expression

Examples:

eine Entscheidung treffen
Kritik üben
starker Regen
hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit
Interesse an + Dativ

The key learning idea:

NOT: Entscheidung = decision
BUT: Entscheidung + treffen + über + Akk. + typical example

Reference principle: A word is not fully active until its typical partners, grammatical patterns, and register are learned with it.

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2.1. Collocation as a basic unit

A collocation is a recurring, conventional word combination. The words usually retain their own meanings, but occur together much more often than many theoretically possible alternatives.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen
• starker Regen
• großes Interesse
• eine Rolle spielen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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3.2. Why isolated translations are not enough

A dictionary entry explains meaning but does not automatically show which words naturally combine with it. Active vocabulary therefore includes the typical environment of a word.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Frage stellen, nicht nur Frage = question
• Interesse wecken, Interesse zeigen, Interesse haben

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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4.3. Free combination

In free combinations, many words can be exchanged relatively easily. The combination is semantically transparent but not strongly lexically fixed.

Typical German combinations:

• ein rotes Auto
• ein kleines Auto
• ein altes Auto

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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5.4. Collocation

In a collocation, the choice of one partner is more restricted. Other words may be grammatical but sound less idiomatic or change the meaning.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen
• Verantwortung übernehmen
• Kritik üben

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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6.5. Idiom

An idiom is more lexicalised than a typical collocation: its overall meaning often cannot be fully derived from the individual words.

Typical German combinations:

• ins Auge fallen
• den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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7.6. Noun-verb combination

Many noun-verb combinations are also collocations. Some function as fairly fixed light-verb constructions, while others remain more semantically transparent.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen
• in Betracht ziehen
• zur Verfügung stehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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8.7. Multi-word lexical item and fixed expression

There is a continuum between free combinations, collocations, and idioms. For learners, the exact theoretical label matters less than how fixed the combination is and how it is actually used.

Typical German combinations:

• freie Verbindung → Kollokation → feste Wendung / Idiom

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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9.8. Base and collocator

In many descriptions, the base is the semantic centre and the collocator provides the conventional lexical choice. In eine Entscheidung treffen, Entscheidung is the base and treffen is the collocator.

Typical German combinations:

• Entscheidung + treffen
• Interesse + wecken
• Kritik + üben

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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10.9. Verb + noun

Verb-noun collocations are among the most important German patterns. The verb is often not predictable from a direct translation.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Frage stellen
• einen Antrag stellen
• Verantwortung übernehmen
• Maßnahmen ergreifen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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11.10. Noun + verb with noun as subject

The typical verb chosen with a noun as subject is also collocationally constrained.

Typical German combinations:

• die Nachfrage steigt
• die Kosten sinken
• ein Problem entsteht
• ein Verdacht besteht

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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12.11. Adjective + noun

Adjectives do not combine freely with nouns. Some pairings are especially typical and often carry technical or register-specific precision.

Typical German combinations:

• starker Regen
• hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit
• große Bedeutung
• schwerer Fehler

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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13.12. Adverb + adjective

Intensifiers and degree adverbs also show typical combination patterns.

Typical German combinations:

• äußerst wichtig
• stark umstritten
• tief enttäuscht
• hoch relevant

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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14.13. Adverb + verb

With verbs, a typical adverb can specify manner in an idiomatic way.

Typical German combinations:

• heftig kritisieren
• dringend empfehlen
• ausdrücklich betonen
• nachdrücklich fordern

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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15.14. Noun + noun

Nouns can form typical lexical relations through genitive constructions, prepositions, or compounding.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Reihe von Maßnahmen
• Mangel an Personal
• Zugang zu Bildung

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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16.15. Prepositional patterns

Vocabulary includes not only words but also their prepositions and case patterns. These combinations should be learned as units.

Typical German combinations:

• Interesse an + Dativ
• abhängig von + Dativ
• sich beziehen auf + Akkusativ

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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17.16. Verb + preposition

Prepositional government is a particularly important type of lexical combination. The preposition often cannot be predicted from meaning alone.

Typical German combinations:

• warten auf + Akk.
• teilnehmen an + Dat.
• bestehen aus + Dat.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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18.17. Noun + preposition

Many nouns have stable prepositional patterns that may correspond to related verbs or adjectives.

Typical German combinations:

• Interesse an + Dat.
• Angst vor + Dat.
• Einfluss auf + Akk.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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19.18. Adjective + preposition

Adjectives also often need to be learned together with their prepositions.

Typical German combinations:

• interessiert an + Dat.
• stolz auf + Akk.
• abhängig von + Dat.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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20.19. Word families as collocational networks

Related words do not automatically share the same partners. A word-family network should therefore be learned together with each member’s collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• entscheiden → eine Entscheidung treffen
• entschlossen → fest entschlossen sein

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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21.20. Semantic preference

A word may prefer not only specific partners but whole semantic fields. schwer, for example, often combines with problems, errors, consequences, or illnesses.

Typical German combinations:

• schwerer Fehler
• schwere Folgen
• schwere Erkrankung

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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22.21. Collocational preference

Not every plausible combination is equally typical. Naturalness often comes from frequency and convention.

Typical German combinations:

• starker Regen, aber starker Wind
• hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit, aber große Chance

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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23.22. Strength of collocations

Collocations can be more or less restricted. großes Haus is relatively free, große Bedeutung more conventional, and in Betracht ziehen more strongly lexicalised.

Typical German combinations:

• frei → typisch → stark gebunden

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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24.23. Productivity

Some patterns allow many new combinations, others only a few. Productivity is a continuum and part of understanding an expression.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Frage stellen / einen Antrag stellen / einen Antrag einreichen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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25.24. Register

Collocations often carry register information. A combination may be neutral, colloquial, technical, journalistic, or administrative.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen – neutral
• eine Maßnahme ergreifen – formeller

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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26.25. Technical language

Typical word combinations are especially important in technical texts because they express precise categories and established procedures.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Diagnose stellen
• Daten erheben
• eine Hypothese prüfen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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27.26. Academic language

Academic collocations structure argumentation, evidence, and methodology. Many are productive across disciplines.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Annahme zugrunde legen
• eine Schlussfolgerung ziehen
• Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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28.27. Administrative language

Administrative texts prefer certain standardised combinations that often sound more formal in everyday contexts.

Typical German combinations:

• einen Antrag stellen
• eine Genehmigung erteilen
• eine Frist einhalten

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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29.28. Journalistic language

Journalistic collocations help describe events concisely and recognisably.

Typical German combinations:

• Kritik üben
• Druck ausüben
• Gespräche aufnehmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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30.29. Spoken language

Spontaneous speech often uses short, high-frequency collocations. Overly formal combinations may sound unnecessarily heavy in everyday situations.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Idee haben
• Bescheid sagen
• Spaß machen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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31.30. Written language

Written registers often allow denser and more nominal collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• Maßnahmen ergreifen
• Berücksichtigung finden
• zur Anwendung kommen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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32.31. Positive connotation

A collocational partner can help shape the typical evaluation associated with an expression.

Typical German combinations:

• großer Erfolg
• wertvolle Erfahrung
• berechtigte Hoffnung

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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33.32. Negative connotation

Some words occur especially often in negative contexts and attract typical partners.

Typical German combinations:

• schwerwiegende Folgen
• heftige Kritik
• ernste Bedenken

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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34.33. Near-synonyms are not interchangeable

Near-synonyms can have different collocations. This is exactly why word-for-word translation is risky.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen, aber einen Entschluss fassen
• Kritik üben, aber Zweifel äußern

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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35.34. Overusing machen

Learners often fall back on machen even when German prefers a more specific collocator. The result is often understandable but less idiomatic.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen, nicht *eine Entscheidung machen
• einen Fehler machen – dagegen korrekt

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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36.35. Overusing haben

haben can also be semantically possible but collocationally too general. Typical alternatives often carry more precise meanings.

Typical German combinations:

• Interesse haben
• aber Interesse zeigen / wecken / verlieren

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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37.36. geben as a light verb

geben is completely natural in some collocations and should not be replaced automatically.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Antwort geben
• einen Hinweis geben
• Unterstützung geben – je nach Kontext möglich

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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38.37. treffen

treffen is a productive collocator with certain abstract nouns, but not with arbitrary decisions or actions.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen
• eine Auswahl treffen
• Vorbereitungen treffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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39.38. stellen

stellen forms many established noun-verb combinations. Their shared meaning is often only partly literal.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Frage stellen
• einen Antrag stellen
• eine Diagnose stellen
• Ansprüche stellen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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40.39. führen

führen combines with nouns related to conversations, processes, and effects and is especially productive in formal registers.

Typical German combinations:

• ein Gespräch führen
• Verhandlungen führen
• zu Problemen führen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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41.40. leisten

leisten is common in abstract collocations and can express contribution, assistance, or resistance.

Typical German combinations:

• einen Beitrag leisten
• Hilfe leisten
• Widerstand leisten

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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42.41. ziehen

ziehen is strongly lexicalised in several abstract combinations.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Schlussfolgerung ziehen
• in Betracht ziehen
• Konsequenzen ziehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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43.42. üben

üben occurs in more formal collocations expressing influence, criticism, or pressure.

Typical German combinations:

• Kritik üben
• Druck ausüben
• Einfluss ausüben

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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44.43. erheben

erheben is typical with data, accusations, claims, and formal demands.

Typical German combinations:

• Daten erheben
• Vorwürfe erheben
• Anspruch erheben

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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45.44. ergreifen

ergreifen is a formal collocator for measures, initiatives, or opportunities.

Typical German combinations:

• Maßnahmen ergreifen
• die Initiative ergreifen
• eine Chance ergreifen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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46.45. wahrnehmen

wahrnehmen has several lexical patterns and register values. It can mean perceive, perform a function, or take advantage of an opportunity.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Aufgabe wahrnehmen
• eine Chance wahrnehmen
• Interessen wahrnehmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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47.46. nehmen

nehmen is productive in many fixed and semi-free combinations.

Typical German combinations:

• Rücksicht nehmen
• Einfluss nehmen
• in Anspruch nehmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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48.47. bringen

bringen often forms causative or resultative collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• in Gefahr bringen
• zum Ausdruck bringen
• in Zusammenhang bringen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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49.48. kommen

kommen is central in light-verb constructions expressing a state, onset, or realisation.

Typical German combinations:

• zur Anwendung kommen
• zum Einsatz kommen
• in Frage kommen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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50.49. stehen

stehen frequently forms state and availability collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• zur Verfügung stehen
• unter Druck stehen
• in Verbindung stehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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51.50. setzen

setzen combines with nouns related to goals, priorities, and processes.

Typical German combinations:

• Prioritäten setzen
• Ziele setzen
• in Gang setzen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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52.51. geraten

geraten is typical for unwanted changes of state and fixed prepositional constructions.

Typical German combinations:

• unter Druck geraten
• in Schwierigkeiten geraten
• in Vergessenheit geraten

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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53.52. wecken

wecken often combines with attention, interest, hope, or expectations.

Typical German combinations:

• Interesse wecken
• Hoffnung wecken
• Erwartungen wecken

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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54.53. äußern

äußern is an important collocator for opinions, criticism, doubts, and concerns.

Typical German combinations:

• Kritik äußern
• Zweifel äußern
• Bedenken äußern

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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55.54. begründen

Even semantically transparent combinations can form typical patterns, especially in argumentation.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung begründen
• eine Position begründen
• eine Forderung begründen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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56.55. stark

stark is a common intensifier but not universal. Its partners depend heavily on semantic field.

Typical German combinations:

• starker Regen
• starke Nachfrage
• starker Anstieg
• stark betroffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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57.56. hoch

hoch occurs especially with abstract scales, probabilities, costs, and demands.

Typical German combinations:

• hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit
• hohe Kosten
• hohe Anforderungen
• hohes Risiko

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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58.57. groß

groß combines with many abstract nouns, but the choice is not unrestricted.

Typical German combinations:

• große Bedeutung
• großes Interesse
• großer Einfluss
• große Sorge

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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59.58. schwer

schwer can express physical weight, difficulty, or seriousness; collocations show which reading is intended.

Typical German combinations:

• schwere Aufgabe
• schwerer Fehler
• schwere Folgen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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60.59. tief

tief is often used metaphorically in emotional and evaluative collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• tief enttäuscht
• tief besorgt
• tiefe Überzeugung

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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61.60. heftig

heftig combines with intensity, conflict, or reaction.

Typical German combinations:

• heftig kritisieren
• heftige Debatte
• heftiger Widerstand

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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62.61. dringend

dringend marks high urgency and is common in recommendations and demands.

Typical German combinations:

• dringend empfehlen
• dringend benötigen
• dringender Handlungsbedarf

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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63.62. ausdrücklich

ausdrücklich marks that something is stated explicitly and deliberately.

Typical German combinations:

• ausdrücklich betonen
• ausdrücklich erlauben
• ausdrücklich widersprechen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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64.63. nachdrücklich

nachdrücklich describes strong, repeated, or emphatic communicative actions.

Typical German combinations:

• nachdrücklich fordern
• nachdrücklich warnen
• nachdrücklich widersprechen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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65.64. Collocations and case

A collocation often includes case government. Learning the words without the grammatical pattern means the combination has not been fully learned.

Typical German combinations:

• jemandem Hilfe leisten
• einen Antrag stellen
• an einer Sitzung teilnehmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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66.65. Collocations and articles

Some fixed patterns prefer a certain article type or frequently occur without an article.

Typical German combinations:

• in Betracht ziehen
• zur Verfügung stehen
• unter Druck stehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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67.66. Collocations and number

Singular and plural can affect the naturalness or meaning of a pattern.

Typical German combinations:

• Maßnahmen ergreifen
• eine Maßnahme treffen – untypisch

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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68.67. Collocations and compounds

Some semantic relations may appear as a phrase or a compound. The choice is lexically conventional.

Typical German combinations:

• Datenschutzproblem
• Problem des Datenschutzes
• Zugangskontrolle

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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69.68. Collocations and word order

Multi-word combinations are not rigid blocks. Inflection, the sentence bracket, and information structure can separate their components.

Typical German combinations:

• Wir treffen morgen eine Entscheidung.
• Die Entscheidung wurde gestern getroffen.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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70.69. Passive voice

Many verb-noun collocations can be put into the passive. The collocation remains, but information structure changes.

Typical German combinations:

• Die Entscheidung wurde getroffen.
• Die Maßnahmen wurden ergriffen.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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71.70. Nominal style

Formal texts often compress collocations nominally, creating new typical combinations.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Entscheidung treffen → die Entscheidungsfindung
• Maßnahmen ergreifen → die Ergreifung von Maßnahmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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72.71. Verbalisation

Conversely, dense nominal style can be made more readable through verbal collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• die Durchführung der Analyse → die Analyse durchführen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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73.72. Collocations in dictionaries

Good dictionaries show typical partners, examples, register, and government patterns. For active use, this information is often more valuable than a long list of translations.

Typical German combinations:

• Bedeutung + Partner + Grammatik + Register

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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74.73. Corpus evidence

Corpora show real frequencies and contexts. They are especially useful when several grammatically possible combinations compete.

Typical German combinations:

• Welche Variante kommt tatsächlich häufiger vor?

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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75.74. Frequency is not everything

A frequent combination is not automatically suitable in every register. Frequency must be interpreted together with meaning, genre, and region.

Typical German combinations:

• häufig ≠ immer passend

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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76.75. Regional variation

Collocations can also vary regionally. Across the DACH region, different verbs, prepositions, or fixed expressions may be established in standard varieties.

Typical German combinations:

• regionale Standardvariation beachten

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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77.76. Diachronic variation

Collocations can change over time: some become more productive, while others sound dated or survive only in certain genres.

Typical German combinations:

• Sprachgebrauch ist dynamisch

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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78.77. No one-to-one correspondence

A collocation in the source language often has no structurally identical counterpart in German. The whole combination must be translated.

Typical German combinations:

• to make a decision → eine Entscheidung treffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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79.78. Interference

Many unnatural combinations arise from direct transfer from another language. Grammar can be correct even when lexical choice sounds collocationally foreign.

Typical German combinations:

• *eine Entscheidung machen → eine Entscheidung treffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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80.79. Error vs. unusualness

Not every rare combination is grammatically wrong. It may be creative, technically specialised, or simply unusual. Collocational knowledge concerns probability and convention, not only right versus wrong.

Typical German combinations:

• grammatisch möglich ≠ idiomatisch typisch

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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81.80. Creative deviation

Literature, advertising, and journalism may deliberately break typical collocations. Such effects work precisely because the normal combination is known.

Typical German combinations:

• Erwartung brechen setzt Erwartung voraus

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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82.81. Receptive competence

In reading and listening, collocations help identify word groups as units more quickly, reducing processing load.

Typical German combinations:

• zur Verfügung stehen als Einheit erkennen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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83.82. Productive competence

In speaking and writing, secure collocations improve fluency, precision, and naturalness because less has to be constructed word by word.

Typical German combinations:

• Chunks beschleunigen Produktion

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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84.83. Chunks

Many collocations are mentally processed as partly prefabricated units. This helps explain why frequent word groups can be produced more fluently.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Rolle spielen
• zur Verfügung stehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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85.84. Collocations instead of word lists

A list of isolated translations stores too little information. A more useful entry includes form, partner, example, and register.

Typical German combinations:

• Entscheidung → treffen → eine wichtige Entscheidung treffen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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86.85. Minimal learning entry

For a new word, at least one typical partner and one complete example should be stored.

Typical German combinations:

• Kritik – Kritik üben – Die Opposition übt Kritik.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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87.86. Extended learning entry

At higher levels, it is useful to store several collocators, government, register, contrasts, and word-family information.

Typical German combinations:

• Interesse: haben / zeigen / wecken / verlieren; Interesse an + Dat.

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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88.87. Collocational profile of a noun

A noun can be learned with typical verbs, adjectives, and prepositions, creating a small lexical network.

Typical German combinations:

• Entscheidung: treffen / begründen / schwierige / politische / Entscheidung über

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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89.88. Collocational profile of a verb

A verb should also be stored with typical objects, adverbs, and prepositions.

Typical German combinations:

• äußern: Kritik / Zweifel / Bedenken / sich zu + Dat. äußern

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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90.89. Collocational profile of an adjective

With adjectives, typical nouns and degree adverbs are especially relevant.

Typical German combinations:

• hohe Kosten / hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit / äußerst hoch

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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91.90. Synonym network with collocations

Synonyms should be compared not only by meaning but also by their partners.

Typical German combinations:

• Entscheidung treffen ↔ Entschluss fassen
• Fehler machen ↔ Irrtum begehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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92.91. Collocations and genre

A typical combination can be strongly tied to particular genres. Academic articles, applications, news, and conversation activate different collocational fields.

Typical German combinations:

• Bewerbung: Erfahrung sammeln / Verantwortung übernehmen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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93.92. Collocations and topic

Topic vocabulary becomes more natural when typical combinations, not just individual words, are collected.

Typical German combinations:

• Umwelt: Emissionen senken / Ressourcen schonen / Maßnahmen ergreifen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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94.93. Collocations and argumentation

Argumentative texts use recurring combinations for stance, evidence, and conclusions.

Typical German combinations:

• ein Argument anführen
• eine Position vertreten
• eine Schlussfolgerung ziehen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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95.94. Collocations and presentations

In presentations, fixed word combinations help structure content fluently and retrieve language spontaneously.

Typical German combinations:

• einen Überblick geben
• auf einen Punkt eingehen
• eine Frage aufgreifen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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96.95. Collocations and summaries

Summaries benefit from neutral, reusable reporting collocations.

Typical German combinations:

• eine These vertreten
• einen Aspekt hervorheben
• zu dem Schluss kommen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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97.96. Collocations and chart description

Language for data description also relies on recurring combinations.

Typical German combinations:

• deutlich ansteigen
• leicht zurückgehen
• einen Höchststand erreichen

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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98.97. Collocations and evaluation

Evaluations become more idiomatic when typical intensity and evaluative combinations are used.

Typical German combinations:

• äußerst problematisch
• von großer Bedeutung
• ernste Bedenken

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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99.98. Collocations and politeness

Polite communication often uses prefabricated combinations whose effect goes beyond the individual words.

Typical German combinations:

• eine Bitte äußern
• Verständnis zeigen
• um Rückmeldung bitten

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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100.99. Lexical precision

Advanced language competence often means not using rarer individual words, but combining familiar words more precisely.

Typical German combinations:

• bekanntes Wort + passender Kollokator = präzisere Sprache

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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101.100. Naturalness

Naturalness arises from many small conventional choices. Collocations are therefore a core area between grammar and vocabulary.

Typical German combinations:

• grammatisch korrekt + kollokational typisch

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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102.101. Overall mental model

Vocabulary should be learned as a network: word form → meaning → typical partners → grammar → register → example → contrast. Collocations connect these levels.

Typical German combinations:

• Wort → Partner → Muster → Kontext

Reference note: meaning, partner choice, grammar, and register should be considered together.

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103.Master table: collocation types

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104.Collocational profiles of common nouns

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105.Frequent collocators

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106.Register map

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107.Typical vs. merely literally plausible

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108.Template for a collocation entry

BASIS: Entscheidung
BEDEUTUNG: choice / решение
TYPISCHE VERBEN: treffen, begründen, revidieren
TYPISCHE ADJEKTIVE: wichtig, schwierig, politisch
REKTION: Entscheidung über + Akk.
REGISTER: neutral
KONTRAST: Entschluss fassen
BEISPIEL: Die Regierung hat eine schwierige Entscheidung getroffen.

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109.Topic-based collocation banks

Work

• Verantwortung übernehmen
• Erfahrung sammeln
• eine Aufgabe übernehmen
• eine Frist einhalten
• ein Ziel erreichen

Study and academia

• Daten erheben
• eine Hypothese prüfen
• eine Quelle auswerten
• eine Schlussfolgerung ziehen
• eine Annahme zugrunde legen

Argumentation

• ein Argument anführen
• eine Position vertreten
• Kritik üben
• Zweifel äußern
• einen Einwand entkräften

Society and politics

• Maßnahmen ergreifen
• Druck ausüben
• Verantwortung tragen
• eine Debatte führen
• eine Reform umsetzen

Data and trends

• deutlich ansteigen
• leicht zurückgehen
• einen Höchststand erreichen
• stabil bleiben
• einen Trend erkennen

Communication

• eine Frage stellen
• eine Antwort geben
• Verständnis zeigen
• um Rückmeldung bitten
• ein Gespräch führen

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110.Typical learning and usage errors

F1. Wort-für-Wort-Übersetzung

Problem: eine fremdsprachliche Kombination strukturell kopieren.

Better: die gesamte Verbindung im Deutschen prüfen.

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F2. nur das Basiswort lernen

Problem: Entscheidung ohne treffen / begründen / über.

Better: mindestens Partner + Beispiel speichern.

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F3. machen überverwenden

Problem: für viele abstrakte Nomen machen wählen.

Better: spezifischen Kollokator lernen.

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F4. Synonyme austauschen

Problem: nahe Synonyme mit denselben Partnern verwenden.

Better: Partner jedes Synonyms separat lernen.

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F5. Präposition vergessen

Problem: Interesse lernen, aber nicht Interesse an + Dat..

Better: Rektion als Teil der Kollokation speichern.

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F6. Kasus vergessen

Problem: teilnehmen an ohne Dativ lernen.

Better: Kasus im Lerneintrag markieren.

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F7. Register ignorieren

Problem: formelle Kollokation im lockeren Gespräch übernutzen.

Better: Register mitlernen.

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F8. seltene Kombination als falsch behandeln

Problem: ungewöhnlich = ungrammatisch setzen.

Better: zwischen Grammatik, Häufigkeit und Norm unterscheiden.

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F9. nur Produktion trainieren

Problem: eine Variante selbst sagen können, andere aber nicht erkennen.

Better: auch rezeptive Variantenkenntnis aufbauen.

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F10. Beispiel ohne Kontext

Problem: isolierte Zweiwortliste speichern.

Better: vollständigen Beispielsatz ergänzen.

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111.15-second lookup algorithm

1. What is the base word?
2. Which partners are typical?
3. Which grammar belongs to the combination?
4. Is there a fixed preposition or case?
5. What register does it belong to?
6. What close alternative exists?
7. Do I have a complete example sentence?

112.Compact summary

word
→ meaning
→ typical partners
→ grammatical pattern
→ register
→ example
→ contrast

Especially important patterns:

Verb + noun         → eine Entscheidung treffen
Adjective + noun    → hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit
Adverb + verb       → ausdrücklich betonen
Verb + preposition  → warten auf + Akk.
Noun + preposition  → Interesse an + Dat.
Adjective + prep.   → abhängig von + Dat.

Key principle: Natural vocabulary is not a collection of isolated words but words together with their typical partners.