In Kauf nehmen

There are basically two types of unpleasant realities that everyone has to accept at some points in life: involuntary and voluntary.

The involuntary realities are things that have happened outside of your control, whose necessity is undeniable—anything from your car needing to be repaired to having to undergo a medical procedure for the sake of your health.

The voluntary realities are when you actively choose to accept something you don't like because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. For example, you take a new job because it pays well, even though you don't like the boss.

German has an idiomatic phrase for having to accept something that can fit either of the above realities: etwas in Kauf nehmen.

Das ist es nicht wert, dass wir dafür so viele Verschlechterungen dann in Kauf nehmen müssen.

That's not worth having to accept so many changes for the worse.

Caption 9, Deutsche-Welle-Nachrichten: Massenprotest gegen TTIP

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DWDS defines etwas in Kauf nehmen in both senses:

1. Having to put up with something (a difficulty or the like); having to put up with something unpleasant or uncomfortable by necessity.

2. Someone voluntarily accepts something negative (a disadvantage or unpleasant side effect) if the positive incentive outweighs the negative overall.

Zurzeit muss man entweder eine stundenlange Zugfahrt in Kauf nehmen oder man fliegt.

Currently, you either have to put up with an hours-long train ride, or you fly.

Captions 22-23, DW-Nachrichten: Der Traum vom Hyperloop

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... dass die einem normalen Risiko, wie man's zum Beispiel auch beim Straßenverkehr in Kauf nimmt, entsprechen.

... so that they correspond to a normal risk, as one would also have to accept in road traffic, for example.

Captions 50-51, Abenteuer und Sport: Fallschirmspringen

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According to Redensarten, the idiom originated historically with etwas mit in den Kauf nehmen. A buyer would sometimes get some additional goods with the purchase if the trader did not have enough small change on hand to give back to the buyer.

Also, lenders sometimes charged interest by asking borrowers for goods that the lenders didn't really need, but which they accepted in order to do business at all. This led to the meaning "to accept an unwelcome addition to something that is otherwise advantageous."

Further Learning
Watch the full-length videos above on Yabla German to see the phrase used in different contexts. You can additionally write some some sentences with "We had to accept that..." or "I had to accept that..." and practice translating them into German using in Kauf nehmen.