Is there a difference between treffen and treffen auf in the meaning of to meet sb/sth? The dictionary simply translates both as to meet in this meaning.
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4 Answers
In addition to Ingmar's answer: you will find "treffen auf" used with people mainly in sports news to tell who plays against who:
Ivan Lendl trifft im Finale auf den Weltranglistenersten Boris Becker.
and in politics news:
In the second example the author could have used "treffen" (without "auf") as well. He would then have stressed the sheer fact that the Emir met the Chancellor. With "treffen auf" he focusses on how the Chancellor acted in their meeting. Without "auf", i.e.
Emir trifft vertrauensvolle Kanzlerin
the meaning would slightly change: the Chancellor would be "vertrauensvoll" in general, not specifically in that meeting.
Treffen usually refers to meeting people. Treffen auf refers to a chance encounter and doesn't have to be used with people:
Ich treffe mich mit Hans. Die Geschäftspartner trafen sich zu einem Gespräch.
Der Jäger traf auf eine frische Spur. Am Abend traf der Wirbelsturm auf Land. In der zweiten Runde des Turniers treffen die Gewinner der ersten Runde auf einander. Die Soldaten trafen auf heftigen Widerstand.
In addition to Ingmar and Matthias answer: treffen auf can also indicate that you meet primarily for the reason of eating or drinking something.
Wir treffen uns auf ein Bier / einen Burger / ein Glas Wein
siehe Linguee
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We have first to device the following expression: to meet sb/sth into (1) to meet sb and (2) to meet sth.
In Case of (1) to meet sb with translation treffen:
is used in the German language, for the case if a person has been met, without this was expected.
a colleague by chance, on the road, meet on the street
einen Kollegen zufällig, unterwegs, auf der Straße treffen
In Case of (2) to meet sth with translation treffen:
is used in the German language, for the case if an object like projectile, bullet or a blow hits an person and this person is injured by this object.
is used in the German language, for the case if an object like projectile, bullet or a blow hits an other object and which gets damaged because of this meet.
the shot hit him in the back
der Schuss traf ihn in den Rücken
In Case of (1) to meet sb with translation treffen auf:
is used in the German language, for the case if a person has been shoved and falls against another person.
-> In this case the Person falls and meet the other person because of his falling movement.
When you fall to another person incident.
Beim Sturz auf eine andere Person auftreffen.
In Case of (2) to meet sth with translation treffen auf:
is used in the German language, for the case if a person has been shoved and falls to floor.
-> In this case the Person falls and meet on a surface.
When falling on a sharp edge incident.
Beim Sturz auf eine scharfe Kante auftreffen.
I think for clarify with the information that "treffen auf" is more precisely translated back to "to carom" in english and "to carom" is translated in german to "auftreffen".
