Hau bloß ab, und lass dich hier nicht mehr sehn!

Is “sehn” just a casual contraction of “sehen” meaning basically the same thing?

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English Translation

Hit the road and don’t you come back no more!

Looks like it’s an actual verb conjugation in Plattdeutsch: Plattdeutsch-Hochdeutsches Wörterbuch für Ostfriesland

Though it’s entirely possible that it’s also a fairly commonly used contraction of “sehen” even in Hochdeutsch: dict.cc | seh'n | English Dictionary - I’ve definitely heard it in song lyrics when the singer is trying to hit a certain number of syllables in a verse. Example: Euch zum Geleit by Schandmaul:

Es ist schön, euch alle hier zu seh’n,
durch dieses Ereignis geeint.
Ich weiß, ihr wolltet diesen Weg nicht geh’n,
ich sehe, dass der ein oder andere weint.

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Practically noone pronounces it as two syllables.
“Sehn/seh’n” ([ze:n]) is how everyone pronounces it, even in formal contexts. So it’s just explicitly written how it’s pronounced. Especially for song lyrics it makes sense in order to show the metrics.

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In the spoken language, sure, but the original question was related to how it’s written. I’m not sure how common “sehn” or “seh’n” is in the written language compared to “sehen”.

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So the answer to cazort’s question is “yes”, it’s a contraction of “sehen” that means the same.

It’s not common in written language, and it’s officially wrong, but it can be used as a stylistic means, or in song lyrics as we can see.
As for the difference between “seh’n” and “sehn” - “seh’n” is more “correct” or “formal” as it marks the omission with the apostrophe, and it has more of a quoting character than “sehn”, i.e. the writer does not adopt the level of speech.

PS: Re: Schandmaul: I see you have good taste :wink:

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I would link the video of me singing Schandmaul songs, but I’m too horribly embarrassed by it :smiley:

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