Why do I need to know stöbern?
Because, although this is a very specific verb, it's a great one to have up your sleeve when you're enjoying an afternoon shopping or strolling around the Christmas markets.
What does it mean?
Stöbern (pronounced like this) is a colloquial word that can be well translated as "browsing" or "rummaging around" in English.
Often used in the context of shopping, it denotes searching for something persistently, or sifting through objects while making a bit of a mess. You may do this at home while searching for a cardigan you've mislaid, or while looking for a very specific type of screw in your toolbox.
If you end up in a book shop for over an hour, wandering around and leafing through various tomes, stöbern is also the ideal word to describe what you've been up to. And when it comes to books, the word stöbern can be used to describe scanning through texts - such as catalogues and websites - just like the word "browse" in English. (Incidentally, the construction for this would be stöbern durch.)
READ ALSO: German word of the day - Quatschen
As you might be able to tell, stöbern isn't a word you use for those outings to the shops where you have a target in mind. Instead, it's a word that signifies at least a little bit of aimlessness and spontaneity, like browsing for gifts at your local Christmas market. For this reason, it's pretty common to see the word stöbern on adverts for festive markets during the Advent period.
Use it like this:
Worum stöberst du in meinen Sachen?
Why are you rummaging around in my things?
Ich möchte den ganzen Tag die Weihnachtsmärkte stöbern.
I'd like to browse the Christmas markets all day long.
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