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To me, it seems like it could be something like "zusammenbringen" or "zusammenhalten" or utilizing "gleich" in a way. "Vereinigen" sounds more like something is united/combined to me which is why I don't think it fits according to the english meaning. Or maybe, something along the lines of "etwas zu Paar bringen"?

In English, "to pair up" would mean something along the lines of "2 independent entities working together for a common theme, while still being separate." With that in mind, that is why I think "zusammenbringen" is the closest, but it still sounds a little off.

Examples I'm thinking of:

"Lets pair up together for the group project."

"I would pair both of those words up to make it sound more natural."

"We are going to pair everyone up with a shovel to start working."

In essence, "pair together", "group up". "Versammeln" could work, but in German, that sounds more like "gather up", whereas I'm looking for something more like "pairing" together

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  • Looking at all the examples in Merriam-Webster, the English language seems to use that verb for a very wide variety of contexts. That is unlike German, where the word used would depend on the nature of the pair: persons, in a professional, relationship or sexual context, physical objects, organisations, abstract concepts... What usage are you referring to?
    – ccprog
    Commented Jun 15 at 1:37
  • @ccprog I added some examples to explain a bit further.
    – user54080
    Commented Jun 15 at 1:45

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In some contexts, different expressions would be more idiomatic, but the most general ways to express the concept would use one of the following:

  • "Paare bilden"
  • "paarweise <verb that describes combination>"

I think the former implies that the elements of the pair are of the same kind, whereas the latter seems to allow for a bit more flexibility, but that is just my spontaneous impression.

Let's try to apply it to your examples:

"Lets pair up together for the group project."

"Bilden wir Paare fürs Teamprojekt!"

"I would pair both of those words up to make it sound more natural."

Here, I'm not sure about the intended meaning. If there are only two words in total that need to be combined, you wouldn't mention the aspect that it's a "pair" in German (what else could it be, if you have just two elements?) and just focus on the action of combining them, e.g.:

"Ich würde die zwei Worte kombinieren, damit es natürlicher klingt."

"We are going to pair everyone up with a shovel to start working."

"Jeder bildet ein Paar mit einer Schaufel und macht sich an die Arbeit."

This sounds a bit silly, but may well be said in a humorous way. That's because the person and the shovel are quite different things and their level of individual contribution to the mutual goal of the "pair" will be very different.

If the elements are more similar, there is, however, no issue with applying "Paar" to inanimate things, for example:

  • "Bildet Wortpaare."
  • "Ordnet die Schutzhandschuhe paarweise ein."
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  • I don't know if it's very common elsewhere, but I'm from the Midwest of the US, and oftentimes people are extremely casual with speech so that "pair up with a shovel" sounds perfectly normal to me. My example given would most likely be said at some sort of function/event, likely for community service.
    – user54080
    Commented Jun 17 at 3:45
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Your expectation to translate all the different contexts in which "pair up" is used in English with just one German expression is unrealistic. The word used would depend on the nature of the pair: persons in a professional, relationship or sexual context, physical objects, organisations, abstract concepts...

I fed your three examples to AI translation with DeepL, and I agree with the different expressions returned for each of them:

Lasst uns für das Gruppenprojekt ein Paar bilden.

Ich würde diese beiden Wörter zusammensetzen, damit es natürlicher klingt.

Other words for other contexts might include "paaren", "zusammenfügen", "verbinden", and more.

The last usage you quoted would never be translated directly. The concept of "joining together for a purpose" (the Merriam-Webster definition) a person and a tool sounds absolutely inappropriate in German. They do not work together, but one uses the other. What your example instead wants to express is that shovels are handed out to everyone:

Jeder bekommt eine Schaufel, um mit der Arbeit zu beginnen.

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    The idea of "pairing up" people with shovels seems a bit sketchy in English too (in my opinion). They're just going to dig with it, not dance with it. I'm not really sure that any of the examples given really give the most natural use of the expression. The main part of "to pair up" is "pair", so the most common usage would be to form couples: "All my friends from school have paired up, gotten married, and now have kids." There is a subtle difference between "to pair up" and "to pair", and I don't know if it can be captured in German.
    – RDBury
    Commented Jun 15 at 8:36
  • @RDBury Is it any less odd than saying "to take arms" or "to play it by ear"? :) But your last sentence is sort of the rabbit hole I started down when this is why I started questioning how I would try to convey the same message.
    – user54080
    Commented Jun 16 at 0:52

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