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Meagan opens her car door and gets in.

Meagan macht die Wagentür auf und steigt ein.


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A (theoretical) literal translation of "aufmachen" would be to make open or to render open. So the difference in German is comparable to to go away and to leave. –  user6191 Dec 16 '14 at 8:36
Regarding 'the difference between aufmachen and öffnen' the following forum was very helpful for me. So I recommend you too. Sometimes it's really complicated, but once you realize the differences, you know where to use what. One of my favorite forum for german language: bestgermanforum! –  Marija Tolovic Apr 24 at 15:07

5 Answers 5

up vote 20 down vote accepted



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Just to add to the other answers:



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And Ali Baba had to say "Sesam-öffne-Dich" in order to get into the cavern. –  Pierre Arnaud May 5 '14 at 4:34


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I agree with "Geschenk aufmachen" but not with your hypothesis about the amount of work to produce the vowel "ö". I grew up in the south-east of Austria (Oststeiermark), and people there use a dialect who is characterized by very limited mouth-movement and this leads to a shift of vowels where a becomes o and e becomes ö (with a few exceptions) (Jahr -> Joa; Geld -> Göd). Even my name is a product of this shift. Previously it was "Schellenast" (a branch carrying bells). This would not have happened, if producing of ö was hard work. –  Hubert Schölnast Dec 16 '14 at 7:54

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