I want to know what exactly is different in the verbs "mischen" and "vermischen". Both of them mean to mix.
Is there any example where they can mean a specific thing? Are they interchangeable?
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Depends on context. A generic answer might be that vermischen is rather "to mix up, muddle, and/or confuse" while mischen is more deliberate. However, there certainly quite a many contexts that proves me wrong on that.– Em1Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 12:58
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4 Answers
An example where only one of the options is appropriate: Shuffling a deck of cards is always "mischen", never "vermischen". As a rule of thumb use "mischen" on countable sets and "vermischen" when the result is homogenous.
Beware: "mixing a drink" is neither: the correct translation is "einen Drink mixen".
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Aber: Ich mische zwei (oder mehrere) Substanzen und da erwarte ich sehr wohl eine homogene Mischung (so die Substanzen mischbar sind). Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 17:49
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Zwei Substanzen werden allerdings eher "vermischt". In den meisten Fällen kann man ja beides verwenden, es ging ja eher darum wann eines der beiden vorzuziehen ist.– TwinklesCommented Feb 28, 2018 at 11:25
Maybe its helpful that "vermischen" indicates that there are at least 2 components while "mischen" can be of one substance. Also look for the Noun " das Gemisch" there is no noun of "vermischen".
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I upvoted because the 2-component-point is very pertinent, but I have to contest the last sentence: "Vermischung" and "Vermischtes" exists.– PhiraCommented Apr 24, 2014 at 23:52
According to the german wiktionary the preposition "ver-" has several meanings (well it's an old complicated language) amongst these is the notion of a "prcess that is hard to reverse" like in to fall in love sich ver-lieben. I guess that might be a good explanation. So it wants to emphasize a process of mixing that is irreversible. So if you mix water you sill end up with water. but if you mix water and sugar (so two or more components) and you "vermisch" them then they are really mixed without an easy way to separate them. this is opposed to the deck of cards that would be easy to demix if you shuffled it.
From my feeling as a native these two words can be interchanged quite frequently without a drastic change. So if someone told me "ich vermische die Karten" I would not feel compelled to correct him ;-)
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Very good points about the irreversibility, but "ich vermische die Karten" for a professional act of shuffling feels very wrong.– PhiraCommented Apr 24, 2014 at 23:58
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I agree it is not the really right thing, however if someone would say that I would not feel compelled to correct him in the same way as if he said "ich vermenge die Karten" for example. Also if you say "ich vermische die roten mit den grünen Karten" it would feel right again, wouldn't you say? Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 8:56
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"Kannst du die Karten noch einmal mischen, damit Herz und Treff besser vermischt werden?" would sound alright.– PhiraCommented Apr 25, 2014 at 23:42
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Yes that's sounds exactly right to me. Just note that treff is usually Kreuz in German (I know people playing bridge usually use the French words) Commented Apr 26, 2014 at 11:31
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1Karten vermischen? Nope! Da VERwechselst du wohl etwas. Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 15:14
mischen - shuffle (bring chaos into some order) vermischen - mix together (mix more than one substance together) Gemisch - Mixture - mixture of more than one component (fertig) gemischt - done mixing something (fertig) vermischt - done mixing two or more components
Yes! Der Mischvorgang ist beendet. No! Der Vermischvorgang ist beendet.
mischen --> generally increasing the entropy somewhere
vermischen --> mixing two or more things of different character together
