To get something happen

Question

In English I would commonly use phrases like "I could not get the meeting postponed." I have tried translating it to "Ich konnte den Termin nicht veschoben bekommen/kriegen." but nobody (in Germany) understood what I was trying to say exactly.

Instead of completely changing structure and saying something like "Der Termin konnte leider nicht verschoben werden" or "Der Termin lässt sich nicht verschieben", how could I say this right?

What I am looking for are general suggestions, not just something that works for postponing a meeting. That was only an example :)

Answer 1

"To get X Y" is a construction expressing that you cause or allow some agent or event affect X with result Y. One German verb that can replace the meaning of "get" here is lassen, which can be used similar to a modal verb in at least two meanings: "to allow" (in a milder way, as in "I let her take my pencil"), or to cause to do (ich ließ ihn den Boden putzen "I had him clean the floor").

Using this, you can say Ich konnte den Termin nicht verschieben lassen. This more exactly corresponds something like "I could not let the meeting be postponed", but I think it's as close as it gets.

The reflexive sich nicht Y lassen is closely related to this, but just leaves out the agent part and states the possibility of Y as a fact: you didn't even try to cause Y.

Besides, while ich habe das Meeting nicht verschoben gekriegt might not be good formal German, it is quite understandable in a colloquial context (at least around people that know English, but I can only use introspection here). But it's more connotated as an allowance, not so much a cause (cf. ich habe den Vertrag nicht verlängert gekriegt). (Ditto for bekommen.)

Answer 2

First of all, ich habe den Termin nicht verschoben bekommen is a sentence I might have possibly used as well. Furthermore, the options you gave look fine to me. Additionally, you might also want to consider:

• Ich habe es nicht geschafft, den Termin zu verschieben

• Ich habe es nicht geschafft, den Termin verschieben zu lassen

There's also a very similar expression to the English one, etwas hinbekommen, which is a colloquial form of etwas schaffen, but with a focus on abilities. So

Ich habe es nicht hinbekommen, den Termin [zu verschieben/verschieben zu lassen]

would also be possible, but suggests that it was due to lacking abilities of the speaker.