What is the difference between “sinken” and “senken”? Could you also use “senken” here? That was my first guess.
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English Translation
The price of meat will soon come down.
“Sinken” is an intransitive verb, meaning it does not require an object after it. (Sinking is happening to something)
Die Preise sinken = The prices are lowering
Das Schiff sinkt = The ship sinks
“Senken” is transitive, meaning that you can’t use it as in the above examples. Instead, it requires a transitive object for the verb. (Someone is causing sinking to happen to something)
Ich senke meinen Arm = I lower my arm
Sie senken ihre Preise = They’re lowering their prices
Wir müssen die Kosten senken = We have to cut costs
Note that there’s also “versenken”, which I think means means the same as “senken” but specifically for use in a naval context:
Sie haben das Schiff versenkt = They scuttled the ship
All of the above would be represented by the single verb “sink” in English, so the confusion here is perfectly understandable.
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Very good explanation.
Just a small remark:
There are also usages of “versenken” outside the naval context.
“Er war völlig in sein Kreuzworträtsel versenkt.”
(He was completely absorbed in his crossword puzzle.)
“Ich habe die Schraube versenkt.”
(I used a sunken screw.)
“Ich habe all mein Geld in den Aktien dieser Firma versenkt.” (colloq.)
(I’ve lost all my money with shares of this company.)
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That does not sound right to my ears. Probably because “versenken” is transitive, and so the question arises who or what did this to him.
But maybe I just haven’t heard this usage before or it’s a regional thing?
I would say:
Er war völlig in sein Kreuzworträtsel versunken. (acc. stressing the completed process of “sinking” into the puzzle)
or even
Er war völlig in seinem Kreuzworträtsel versunken. (dat. stressing the location of the result)
with “versunken” being the participle of the intransitive “versinken”.
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You are right. That was sloppy “… versunken…” sounds much better.
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