Two weekends ago I went on a ramble/tramp/hike. As it was led by a German and all of the other participants, as far as I am aware, were German, that was the language of choice. Early on, it was helpful to know German so that when I was struggling with getting my mittens on, my backpack adjusted and my water bottle in place, and I was asked by the woman next to me if she could hold something, I could respond with “yes, please” – „Ja, bitte“. And when she later asked if I could hold her things for a moment, I could reply, “with pleasure” – „Gerne“. The second request also made it clear that we were going to duzen (use the informal) rather than siezen, always a place where I like the native speaker to take the lead.
halten – “to hold something/something [for somebody]”
Würdest du bitte kurz meinen Schirm halten? “Could you hold my umbrella for a second, please?”
In researching this post, I learned that hold is also a word in German:
hold (humorvoll, lieb) – dear, beloved, sweet
jdm/etw hold bleiben/sein – to be kind to somebody/something
I would have to say that everyone on this trip was indeed kind to me!
Earthquake Words/Erdbeben Wörter 