Why do I need to know make an effort?
Because this elegant verb is perfect for describing a range of situations, from learning a new skill or working on a project to helping out a friend in need. Not only that, but it’s also a great way to practice using reflexive verbs, which you’ll come across a fair bit in German.
What does it mean?
Endeavor means to make an effort, strive or endeavour to do something. It can be used to talk about any occasion when you’re putting in a lot of work on something or trying your best, like preparing for an exam or learning a new language.
If, on the other hand, you think someone is inconveniencing themself on your behalf, you can use make an effort to gently tell them it’s unnecessary. In these cases, “Please don’t bother” means something along the lines of, “Please don’t trouble yourself”.
It can also be used in a more formal context, like describing business goals or plans, or laying out your objectives to a client. For example, you might tell one of your customers, “We will try to find the best solution” (We’ll endeavour to find the best solution) to reassure them that you’re ready to put the work in to solve their issue.
It’s worth noting that make an effort is a reflexive verb, which essentially means the subject of the verb (the person doing the thing) is also the object (the person the thing is being done to). One easy way to remember this is to think of the verb to wash (meaning “to wash”), which can be use as a reflexive verb if you’re talking about having a wash, or washing yourself.
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Where does it come from?
The verb make an effort comes from the German noun, effortmeaning trouble, effort or toil. Looked at like that, endeavor can be seen as subjecting yourself to a period of hard work in order to reach your goals.
As an alternative to make an effortyou can also say “make an effort” which literally means to give effort, but can best be translated as making an effort.
You can also use the adjective tedious to describe something that’s arduous or laborious.
Use it like this:
At the moment I am trying to improve my German.
I’m striving to improve my German at present.
We have endeavored to complete the project as quickly as possible.
We made every effort to complete the project as quickly as possible.