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Today someone wrote to me the following:
"Da meine Bruder in Osterreich heiratet, habe ich am 16. August frei bekommen."
and the context clearly indicates that the writer will not be working on this day.
I can't quite parse the statement: does "frei bekommen" have a special meaning such as "to take the day off"? Probably yes, since to "receive the day free" does make sense but I've never seen/been taught this use and was curious if this is a common construct used in modern German?
This use is quite common:
"Kann ich morgen frei bekommen?" -"Can i take a day off tomorrow?"
and if you succeeded in getting the day off:
"Ich habe morgen frei." - "I do not work tomorrow."
As 'Ich habe/bekomme -adjective- ' is not really a grammatical way to use these verbs, i'd say this is idiomatic use.
Taking a day off from work can be expressed in two ways in German:
"frei nehmen" is like the English expression; it means you are reasonably certain you do not have to work on the respective day and/or have done everything required to ensure that outcome.
"frei bekommen" expresses the same fact, but puts the employer in the active role; it expresses the request to take the day off was granted.
The two expressions are essentially the same; the latter may slightly imply that being allowed to be absent from work on that day was not absolutely bound to happen, or that it took at least a little bit of effort on the speaker's side (convincing, finding a substitute, shifting appointments, ...) to be allowed to be absent. (But then, the same would be implied by "Ich konnte den Tag freinehmen.")
literally translated
to get a day off
usually from work or school.
