schaffen

Borrowed from German schaffen. Doublet of scheppen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsxɑfə(n)/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ɑfən

schaffen

1. (transitive) to procure

   Synonym: versieren

2. (transitive) to serve up

   Eten wat de pot schaft.

   To eat whatever is served.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃafən/, [ˈʃa.fɱ̍], [-fn̩], [-fən]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Audio:

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• Audio (Austria):

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• Hyphenation: schaf‧fen
• Rhymes: -afn̩

From Middle High German schaffen (strong verb), from Old High German scafan, scaffen, byform of skephen, from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan. The form with -f- was chiefly backformed from the past participle giscaffan, but was also influenced by the regular present conjugations du skeffis, er skeffit, and by the weak verb in etymology 2 below. The form skephen survives in the (now archaic) variant schöpfen. Cognate with Dutch scheppen, English shape.

schaffen (class 6 strong, third-person singular present schafft, past tense schuf, past participle geschaffen, auxiliary haben) (usually transitive)

1. (of God etc.) to create, to call into being

   Synonym: erschaffen

   Warum hat Gott die Welt geschaffen? ― Why did God create the world?

2. (of an artist, inventor etc.) to create, make, form, shape

   Synonyms: gestalten, formen, hervorbringen, kreieren

   Wer schuf die Mona Lisa? ― Who created the Mona Lisa?

3. (by extension) to create, produce, bring about, establish

   Synonyms: bewirken, hervorbringen

   Durch diese Maßnahmen haben wir die Voraussetzungen für weitere Fortschritte geschaffen.

   By these measures we have created the conditions for further progress.

   • 1919, Rudolf Steiner, Allgemeine Menschenkunde als Grundlage der Pädagogik, Dornach, published 1992, page 143:

     Es kann aber nur Abhilfe geschaffen werden, wenn der Lehrer, der Unterrichtende, sich selbst fortwährend herausheben will aus dem Hausbackenen, Pedantischen, Philiströsen.

     This can only be solved if the teacher constantly releases himself from -- or lifts himself out of -- what is unadventurous, pedantic, narrow-minded.

• schöpfen (archaic)

From Middle High German schaffen (weak verb), from Old High German skaffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *skapōn, from the same root as etymology 1 above. The semantic distinction between both conjugations only established itself clearly in Modern German.

schaffen (weak, third-person singular present schafft, past tense schaffte, past participle geschafft, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to get done, to accomplish, achieve, to succeed with

   Synonyms: hinkriegen, hinbekommen

   Wir haben heute wieder viel geschafft. ― We got a lot done again today.

   Sie hat die Prüfung geschafft. ― She passed the exam.

2. (transitive, with es) to manage, to make it

   Kannst du es um 9 Uhr schaffen? ― Can you make it at 9 a.m.?

   Du hast es geschafft! ― You did it! / You made it!

3. (transitive) to get, take, carry (something somewhere)

   Er schaffte die Kisten in den Keller. ― He moved the boxes to the basement.

   ein Missverständnis aus der Welt schaffen ― to clear up / remove a misunderstanding (literally, “to get it out of the world”)

4. (chiefly with haben and machen) to do, to busy oneself

   Du hast hier nichts zu schaffen!

   You have no business being here!

   (literally, “You have nothing to do here!”)

   Die alte Geschichte macht mir noch zu schaffen.

   That old story still troubles me.

   (literally, “That old story still gives me to busy myself [with].”)

5. (intransitive, Southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria) to work

   Synonyms: arbeiten, (informal also) ackern, malochen

   Ich schaffe in einer Fabrik. ― I work in a factory.

   Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue. (Swabian proverb; the verb forms are dialectal infinitives)

   (literally, “Work, work, build a house.”)

   Frohes Schaffen! (This (sometimes jocular) phrase is also heard in the north as it can be read with sense 1)

   Keep up the good work! / Have a productive day!

   (literally, “Merry working!”)

   • 1893, Paul Heyse, “F. V. R. I. A.”, in Gesammelte Werke, page 286:

     Als hätte sie meine Gedanken errathen, setzte sie hinzu: Mein Mann schafft den ganzen Tag in der Werkstatt, und da wir kein Kind haben, sitz' ich oft mit den Händen im Schooß. Ich bin ihm angelegen, ein Häuschen unten am Rhein zu kaufen, wo es lustiger wäre und man die Schiffe vorübersegeln sähe.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• → Danish: skaffe
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skaffe
  • → Faroese: skaffa
• → Dutch: schaffen
  • Afrikaans: skaf
• → Low German: schaffen
  • → Saterland Frisian: skafje, schafje
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: skaffe, skaffa
• → Swedish: skaffa

• “schaffen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schaffen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schaffen” in Duden online
• “schaffen” in OpenThesaurus.de

From Middle High German schaffen, from Old High German scaffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *skapōn. Cognate with German schaffen (etymology 2 above). The regular Luxembourgish form is schafen, which see. The form with a short vowel may have been borrowed, along with the sense “to work”, from Rhine Franconian dialects, because this sense is clearly of more southeastern origin, being found throughout Switzerland and the German Southwest (here often displacing Middle High German arbeiten entirely), but neither in Ripuarian nor northern Hessian.

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃɑfən]

schaffen (third-person singular present schafft, past participle geschafft, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (intransitive) to work

   Synonym: (archaic) aarbechten

   Ech schaffen als Nuetswiechter.

   I work as a night watchman.

2. (transitive, chiefly with pronominal objects) to do (something, especially something productive)

   Synonym: maachen

   Wat hues de haut geschafft?

   What did you do today?

3. (intransitive) to work, function

   Synonym: lafen

   De Motor schafft op vollen Touren.

   The motor is working at full throttle.