A fun look at the meaning of the prefix verb "ansprechen" and its various related words that range from being picky to eye candy.
Words we'll learn:
ansprechen, die Ansprache, ansprechend, ansprechbar, sich angesprochen fühlen, anspruchsvoll,...
By: Emanuel|37 Comments| Updated:
January 16, 2026
Hello everyone,
and welcome to episode number 152.167 of Prefix Verbs Explained. That’s how it feels anyway, and feeling is much more accurate than counting because it’s from the heart and the heart always knows. I mean… except when it comes to grammar. And meanings. Then the heart is nowhere to be found. “Hey heart, do I need Dative or Accusative here?” *crickets Anyway, today, in the 152.167th episode of prefix verbs explained, we’ll take a look at the meaning of
ansprechen
Which is not only useful if you want to bring up an issue in a meeting (#businessGerman$$), it’s also what you should do when you’re single find someone interesting and attractive (#datingadvice♥ #absolutealpha). “Erm… Emanuel, we wanted to bring up the issue of those hashtags you started using recently? “ Oh, that. I learned that it’s what you gotta do in 2021 if you want to appeal to a young, cool audience. Pretty cutting edge, right? “No bro, it’s pretty stupid.” Oh… #sad #realitycheck. “… and also, Emanuel, even though not all of us are exactly young, we’re already the coolest audience on the planet, Emanuel.” Oh… you’re actually right! #truth Ha… if you’re new here, you’re probably REALLY confused now :) But the content is usually pretty good. So let’s jump right in…
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German Prefix Verbs Explained – “ansprechen” - Key Questions
The core idea is starting to speak. It can mean to bring up an issue or start a conversation with someone, and also more figuratively, appeal to someone (in the sense of liking), or for a system to react (respond) to a stimulus.
Use "etwas ansprechen" to bring a topic into a discussion or meeting. It sounds a bit formal so it's perfect for work context.
·Äh... ich würde gerne noch die Kaffeequalität ansprechen. ·Erm... I would like to bring up the coffee quality.
Yes. "Jemanden ansprechen" means to start talking to someone, often used for approaching a stranger or flirting. If you talk to someone about a specific topic you add "auf" and say "jemanden auf etwas ansprechen".
·Er hat mich nach einem Workshop angesprochen. ·He approached me after a workshop.
Yes. It can mean to attract or appeal to someone, like a poster or style speaks to you. Use it when something makes a positive impression.
·Das Plakat hat mich angesprochen. ·The poster appealed to me.
Learn "Ansprache" which is a short speech, "Anspruch" which means a demand or entitlement and also high standards, "ansprechend" which means appealing, and "anspruchsvoll" which means demanding or challenging.
It means to feel addressed or to feel like someone is talking about you. People use it a lot in casual speech.
·Immer wenn Thomas "hot" hört, fühlt er sich angesprochen. ·Whenever Thomas hears "hot" he feels addressed.
“Gesundheitssystem” würde man sagen. In welchem Kontext würdest du das denn verwenden? Grammatisch alles top, aber ein bisschen komisch als Statement.
Adityapa
I recently heard the word Ansprechbar in a German thriller show. A police officer was asking her colleague, whether a patient who was unconscious till now, Ansprechbar. In English subtitles it said ‘conscious’. I think the this translation was done because of lack of an English equivalent.
“ansprechbar” basically means that you can talk to someone and they’re receptive and able to reply.
It’s a bit broader than “conscious”. Someone who is super drunk for instance may still be “conscious” (eyes open, moving by themselves) but they might not respond to you anymore. Same for someone in an accute shock state.
And you can find “ansprechbar” in the context of work, if you see someone is busy and you want to tell them something.
– Bist du grad ansprechbar?
That basically means “Do you have capacity for me right now?”.
Nasrin
Thanks so much. That was a big help.
P
Ansprechpartner ist auch super üblich, besonders auf berufsbezogenes Deutsch!
Mein Mitbewohner hält eine Ansprache über Sauberkeit und Respekt, aber niemand hört zu. My flat mates gives a speech about cleanliness and respect, but no one is listening.
It sounds off, did you mean my flatmate (one guy) or several flatmates? If it is the latter, then it would be better to say: “My flat mates GIVE speeches about cleanliness…” (They give). Thank you for this post – it was INCREDIBLY useful (even though I am not single ). Also, it helped me from crying Conditional German tears of shame, so that I could feel better about understanding something again
Oh, that’s a typo :). I meant flatmate. Thanks for the correction. Oh and if you need help with conditional, just let me know what you’re struggling with :)
az_p
Hey Emanuel, thanks for another great post! One thing I think might be a typo: in the vocab section should it not be “ansprechenD – appealing (nice)”, i.e. the Partizip I rather than the Infinitiv?
Dankeschön Emmanuel! Das ist echt hilfreich! :) Das ist der erste Beitrag, den ich auf deinem Blog gelesen habe. Ich hatte vor langer Zeit abonniert, aber die E-mails gingen leider in meinen Spam! Ab jetzt werde ich jeden Beitrag gerne lesen!
I’m going with AE in most spelling disputes, so I’ll stay the course and use “paid”. Danke für die Korrektur :)
berlingrabers
I’d add “etwas in Anspruch nehmen” as a good phrase to know, meaning “take advantage of” or “take someone up on” an offer.
Just as a quick note on “Ansprache” (which I don’t think I’d ever heard), English also uses “address” (in AE, pronounced “ad-DRESS”) as a synonym for “speech,” probably most famously known in American history through Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” I don’t think you can distinguish it from “speech” in the same way you can with “Ansprache” and “Rede,” but I thought it might be helpful to mention, since “to address” is a good basic translation for “ansprechen.”
It’s interesting that you see the “turn on/begin” sense of “an” as the core idea for “ansprechen” – I’ve always thought of it in the more directional/positional sense, like “speaking at/toward someone.” (Like maybe “jmdm. etwas antun”?)
Ha, that distinction I made between “Rede” and “Ansprache” is purely based on my “feelings”, so they might be the same thing to someone else.
At first, I had the directional aspect in mind as well, but I think the notion of “starting” is quite prevalent with “ansprechen”. Continuous talking at someone is not “ansprechen” (“Ansprache” not being considered). That’s why decided to go with that. You can explain “ansprechen” without the directional component, but not without the starting.
As for “in Anspruch nehmen”… great addition. I’d just add that it’s not “to take advantage of” in a bad way. I think a lot of times it’ll just be translated to “to take”.
– Das nimmt viel Zeit in Anspruch. – That takes a lot of time.
RuthE
Ich liebe “das Hamsterrad” ! Es klingt viel lustiger als “rat race”. Vielen Dank für diesen neuen Artikel. Ich habe mich gerade über “ansprechen” gewundert. Sehr zeitnah. Vielleicht möchten Sie dieses Video in Ihr Bali-Programm aufnehmen. :-D :-D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY&t=3s
Hahahahaa… danke für den Link!!! Ich musste sehr lachen :)
Farha
I just want to say small thank you for all the truly good hearts and spirits that helped me getting the membership scholarship. I am really proud to be part of this one of a kind learning community. Sending lots of l and kindness back your ways. Thank you German is easy:)
crittermonster
With the idea of ansprechen being that something is appealing: this is one of those times when the English translation is hiding in plain sight: when something just strikes you as right, you could say “Well, I wasn’t planning to buy a car today. But this Veyron— it just spoke to me”.
As for the last example sentence “konventionell Art zu lernen…” I would just like to reiterate that this blog is THE BEST LANGUAGE LEARNING BLOG IN THE HISTORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING.
Any one in doubt, just check out this sample sentence on location prepositions, from my uni-Deutsch class:
Meine Pfanne ist in der Küche.
Seriously, has ANYONE ever, in the history of Deutschland, EVER uttered that sentence? C’mon, be honest, “Meine Pfanne ist in der Küche”? This is going to be a looooong semester, thank my lucky stars for Emanuel’s blog.
Hahaha… to be fair though, I don’t think any German has ever uttered something about a unicorn hunting down deer either. But yeah, from my experience course books are pretty damn boring. I sometimes look at one… to hate-watch :)
Anonymous
Your content is always interesting, sometimes a little too “deep” for me ( Ich bin Anfanger) but I find it compelling reading and thank you for the accompanying translations – I am 70-plus and enjoy learning German very much !!!
Great to hear that :). Good that you decided to read even though you don’t understand all of it . Just pick the bits that make sense to you and ignore the rest. Viel Spaß weiterhin!!
“reacts to already the smallest changes” strikes me as a dead giveaway of a native German speaker ;-). If I understand what you mean, I might say “reacts to even the smallest changes”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdtCEaxfT38
How would you describe the difference between these two sentences? Jemand hat Anspruch auf etwas. Etwas steht jemandem zu.
Oh damn. I guess I fell into the already-trap again :). Yes, it definitely is a giveaway. “schon” is MUCH broader than already but German native speakers are totally unaware of how out of place it sounds to English speakers sometimes. We had a discussion about that in the comments under “schon” (or somewhere else) but I can’t remember where exactly. As for your question:
Those are really similar, but “Anspruch haben” sounds more formal. I can see “zustehen” being used in non-formal contexts but “Anspruch haben” not really.
– Es steht dir nicht zu, so über mich zu reden. You have no right to talk about me that way.
This wouldn’t work with “Anspruch haben” because it is obvious that such an entitlement doesn’t exist.
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Also one more add to vocabulary : in Anspruch nehmen
Ich muss Medizinsystem in Anspruch nehmen.
Hope it sounds okay.
“Gesundheitssystem” würde man sagen. In welchem Kontext würdest du das denn verwenden? Grammatisch alles top, aber ein bisschen komisch als Statement.
I recently heard the word Ansprechbar in a German thriller show. A police officer was asking her colleague, whether a patient who was unconscious till now, Ansprechbar. In English subtitles it said ‘conscious’. I think the this translation was done because of lack of an English equivalent.
“ansprechbar” basically means that you can talk to someone and they’re receptive and able to reply.
It’s a bit broader than “conscious”. Someone who is super drunk for instance may still be “conscious” (eyes open, moving by themselves) but they might not respond to you anymore. Same for someone in an accute shock state.
And you can find “ansprechbar” in the context of work, if you see someone is busy and you want to tell them something.
– Bist du grad ansprechbar?
That basically means “Do you have capacity for me right now?”.
Thanks so much. That was a big help.
Ansprechpartner ist auch super üblich, besonders auf berufsbezogenes Deutsch!
Oh ja stimmt!!
I’m pretty new here but thoroughly enjoyed this entry and will come back for others!
Great to hear that :). Viel Spaß!!
Hi Emmanuel, just a question about this sentence:
Mein Mitbewohner hält eine Ansprache über Sauberkeit und Respekt, aber niemand hört zu.
My flat mates gives a speech about cleanliness and respect, but no one is listening.
It sounds off, did you mean my flatmate (one guy) or several flatmates? If it is the latter, then it would be better to say: “My flat mates GIVE speeches about cleanliness…” (They give). Thank you for this post – it was INCREDIBLY useful (even though I am not single ). Also, it helped me from crying Conditional German tears of shame, so that I could feel better about understanding something again
Oh, that’s a typo :). I meant flatmate. Thanks for the correction.
Oh and if you need help with conditional, just let me know what you’re struggling with :)
Hey Emanuel, thanks for another great post! One thing I think might be a typo: in the vocab section should it not be “ansprechenD – appealing (nice)”, i.e. the Partizip I rather than the Infinitiv?
Absolutely right :). Fixed it. Danke!
vielen Dank für deine detailierte Erklärung. Es ist vielfach hilfreicher als ein Wörterbuch. Meine Freunde können auch nicht so gut alles erklären.
Freut mich, dass es dir gefällt :)
Dankeschön Emmanuel! Das ist echt hilfreich! :)
Das ist der erste Beitrag, den ich auf deinem Blog gelesen habe. Ich hatte vor langer Zeit abonniert, aber die E-mails gingen leider in meinen Spam! Ab jetzt werde ich jeden Beitrag gerne lesen!
Thank you Emmanuel for your lessons!
Gerne :)
Payed should be “paid” I believe. Apologies if “payed” is British usage however,
I’m going with AE in most spelling disputes, so I’ll stay the course and use “paid”. Danke für die Korrektur :)
I’d add “etwas in Anspruch nehmen” as a good phrase to know, meaning “take advantage of” or “take someone up on” an offer.
Just as a quick note on “Ansprache” (which I don’t think I’d ever heard), English also uses “address” (in AE, pronounced “ad-DRESS”) as a synonym for “speech,” probably most famously known in American history through Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.” I don’t think you can distinguish it from “speech” in the same way you can with “Ansprache” and “Rede,” but I thought it might be helpful to mention, since “to address” is a good basic translation for “ansprechen.”
It’s interesting that you see the “turn on/begin” sense of “an” as the core idea for “ansprechen” – I’ve always thought of it in the more directional/positional sense, like “speaking at/toward someone.” (Like maybe “jmdm. etwas antun”?)
Ha, that distinction I made between “Rede” and “Ansprache” is purely based on my “feelings”, so they might be the same thing to someone else.
At first, I had the directional aspect in mind as well, but I think the notion of “starting” is quite prevalent with “ansprechen”. Continuous talking at someone is not “ansprechen” (“Ansprache” not being considered). That’s why decided to go with that. You can explain “ansprechen” without the directional component, but not without the starting.
As for “in Anspruch nehmen”… great addition. I’d just add that it’s not “to take advantage of” in a bad way.
I think a lot of times it’ll just be translated to “to take”.
– Das nimmt viel Zeit in Anspruch.
– That takes a lot of time.
Ich liebe “das Hamsterrad” ! Es klingt viel lustiger als “rat race”. Vielen Dank für diesen neuen Artikel. Ich habe mich gerade über “ansprechen” gewundert. Sehr zeitnah. Vielleicht möchten Sie dieses Video in Ihr Bali-Programm aufnehmen. :-D :-D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY&t=3s
Hahahahaa… danke für den Link!!! Ich musste sehr lachen :)
I just want to say small thank you for all the truly good hearts and spirits that helped me getting the membership scholarship. I am really proud to be part of this one of a kind learning community. Sending lots of l and kindness back your ways. Thank you German is easy:)
With the idea of ansprechen being that something is appealing: this is one of those times when the English translation is hiding in plain sight: when something just strikes you as right, you could say “Well, I wasn’t planning to buy a car today. But this Veyron— it just spoke to me”.
For some reason I thought “Transformers” when I read your comment :D
App App App!!!!
Yapp, yapp, yapp.
(sense of “yes”, not “bluh” :D
Uh oh! Do I smell an App in the making! WOW!
As for the last example sentence “konventionell Art zu lernen…” I would just like to reiterate that this blog is THE BEST LANGUAGE LEARNING BLOG IN THE HISTORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING.
Any one in doubt, just check out this sample sentence on location prepositions, from my uni-Deutsch class:
Meine Pfanne ist in der Küche.
Seriously, has ANYONE ever, in the history of Deutschland, EVER uttered that sentence? C’mon, be honest, “Meine Pfanne ist in der Küche”? This is going to be a looooong semester, thank my lucky stars for Emanuel’s blog.
Hahaha… to be fair though, I don’t think any German has ever uttered something about a unicorn hunting down deer either. But yeah, from my experience course books are pretty damn boring.
I sometimes look at one… to hate-watch :)
Your content is always interesting, sometimes a little too “deep” for me ( Ich bin Anfanger) but I find it compelling reading and thank you for the accompanying translations – I am 70-plus and enjoy learning German very much !!!
Great to hear that :). Good that you decided to read even though you don’t understand all of it .
Just pick the bits that make sense to you and ignore the rest.
Viel Spaß weiterhin!!
Thanks for the article, that was great!!!
Freut mich :)
“reacts to already the smallest changes” strikes me as a dead giveaway of a native German speaker ;-). If I understand what you mean, I might say “reacts to even the smallest changes”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdtCEaxfT38
How would you describe the difference between these two sentences?
Jemand hat Anspruch auf etwas.
Etwas steht jemandem zu.
Oh damn. I guess I fell into the already-trap again :).
Yes, it definitely is a giveaway. “schon” is MUCH broader than already but German native speakers are totally unaware of how out of place it sounds to English speakers sometimes. We had a discussion about that in the comments under “schon” (or somewhere else) but I can’t remember where exactly.
As for your question:
Those are really similar, but “Anspruch haben” sounds more formal. I can see “zustehen” being used in non-formal contexts but “Anspruch haben” not really.
– Es steht dir nicht zu, so über mich zu reden.
You have no right to talk about me that way.
This wouldn’t work with “Anspruch haben” because it is obvious that such an entitlement doesn’t exist.