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What is the correct translation of "let's meet up"?

Lass uns uns treffen

Or

Lass uns treffen

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  • You shouldn't try and translate English 1st person plural imperatives (which are adhortatives) to German literally. That sounds clumsy. – tofro Aug 31 '19 at 14:40
10

Lass uns uns treffen.

is correct. As Hauser pointed out, it is not good style, though.

You can easily see, that it is correct if you replace the Akkusativ object:

Lass uns Martin treffen.

You cannot omit the Akkusativ object, so you cannot drop the second "uns".

In this case (for the "better" style) I would use:

Treffen wir uns.

(Treffen wir Martin.)

(See your other question for details ;)

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  • 2
    Thank you for your answer, Is it also correct to say "lass uns einander treffen" meaning "let's meet each other"? – user508 Nov 29 '11 at 14:41
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    @Gigili: That sounds good to me. Why did not I have that idea? – John Smithers Nov 29 '11 at 14:53
  • We dodge this bullet in Yiddish by using "sich" for all the reflexives: "lomir sich treffen (=lass wir sich treffen) or even "ich hab' sich die haendt gewascht". – Marty Green Nov 29 '11 at 17:35
  • +1 for "Treffen wir uns!". Note that the meaning will change with the intonation, this could also be a question if you raise your voice at the end of the sentence. – 0x6d64 Nov 30 '11 at 11:18
  • ?Treffen wir uns. As a proposal that sounds impossible to me (Ruhr region in NRW). That may be different in other German areas. It seems that the use of 'Aufforderungssätze mit wir' is restricted. Acceptable for me: Sollen/Können wir uns nicht besser treffen? / Wir können uns doch (auch) (irgendwo) treffen. / Warum treffen wir uns nicht einfach? / Was hältst du von einem Treffen? I don't know why, but 'Treffen wir uns doch einfach um 4 im Kranzler!' would be possible, but without any complement I would perceive it as wrong. Best solution for me, though 'incorrect': Lass uns treffen. – Ralf Joerres Sep 1 '19 at 13:57
7

I don't like the doubled uns (matter of personal style), I would rather use a rhetorical question

Wollen wir uns nicht treffen(?)

It matches -imho- the meaning of "Lasst uns" in colloquial German, which basically is a question/request, as the other persons still have to agree with your suggestion.

Wollen wir uns treffen?

Would be a real question and request to discuss the point of a meeting.

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  • +1 This is spot-on. It's much more common to phrase it as a question than to use "lass" or "lasst". – Mac Nov 29 '11 at 14:51
  • @Mac: I think Hauser's idea is more related to my other question about forms of "let's ..." in German, but I prefer the "lass uns" version because this way shows some kind of eagerness which I don't like. – user508 Nov 29 '11 at 15:08
  • @Gigili: Hmmm, to me, there's actually more eagerness in the "lass uns" version, since it would be marked usage here in Bavaria. – Mac Nov 30 '11 at 14:39
4

Lass uns uns treffen

is the correct one. "Lass uns" ist the correct (albeit literal) translation of "let's", "sich treffen" is reflexive and needs the reflexive pronoun. If that becomes "uns" for grammatical reasons as it happens here, and meets the "uns" in "Lass uns", then you need both instances of "uns".

In reality you will probably also hear "Lass uns treffen", but this version is grammatically incorrect.

edit: As bernd_k points out, when you are addressing several people, you indeed need to use the imperative plural, "lasst".

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3

I think it is correct, when you address a single other person. In case you address a group of people, better to say:

Lasst uns uns treffen

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3

"Lass uns einander treffen" is both correct and good style (though might be viewed as overly sublime in day-to-day spoken language).

"Lass uns uns treffen" is correct, but obviously not very good style.

"Lass uns treffen" is often used informally, even though it is formally incorrect.

EDIT: I'd like to point out that the "Lass uns..." wording is also a bit colloquial.

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  • You can skip "Edit" within the first 5 minutes. We don't see a difference in that time window anyway. Referring to "a bit colloquial": What is "a bit" colloquial? Even if you say it is colloquial: [citation needed] – John Smithers Nov 29 '11 at 15:50
  • I won't start looking up citations for every answer I post here, especially not regarding matters of style. I don't see any citations in any of the other answers to this question, as well (and I don't think we need any). You yourself haven't cited any sources for saying that "Lass uns uns treffen" is poor style. – fzwo Nov 29 '11 at 16:05
  • You state it is (a bit?) colloquial. Go to the link in my answer. There you find two people (me included) who don't think "lass uns" is colloquial. Ok, we could play democracy, but I think it is more productive if we can prove it. I haven't found any source. That's why I say it isn't. I doubt you want to make things up, just because you are lazy ;) – John Smithers Nov 29 '11 at 16:12
  • I don't see a link in your answer where people are discussing whether "lass uns" is colloquial. I say "a bit" to signify it is not highly formal, but acceptable in most contexts. And regardless of you calling me lazy or whatever, I don't make this up. Questions of style are always subjective. I can say I don't like yours in this exchange, for instance, but you might have a different view. – fzwo Nov 29 '11 at 16:29
  • Why isn't it good style? What is obvious (I can't see it)? I like the double-uns very, very much. – user unknown Nov 30 '11 at 16:41

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