Hello everyone,
and welcome back to a new episode of the hype series
Stranger Things
And the title of today’s episode is
absetzten
Now you’re like “Wait, we got tricked. This isn’t Stranger Things!!! This is bloody Prefix Verbs Explained.”
Yeah, that’s right. The dreadful series is back! And unlike Stranger Things which will start to suck and at some point come to an end, prefix verbs explained sucked from the beginning and will never be taken off the air.
And speaking of taking off the air… with that we’re already right at the meanings of absetzen. So we might just as well continue ….
Setzen is the German brother of to set and but it’s better and more helpful to think of it as what I like to call a placement verb. There are three main placement verbs in German – stellen, setzen and legen. They all are about positioning things or beings in space. Or an abstract reality in a broader sense. #helpful
I don’t want to go into detail about that… like… ever…. but in a nutshell, stellen is about “putting something upright”, legen is about “putting something horizontally” and setzen, the least common one, is used when neither of the other two fits. #helpful_increases
Anyway, let’s just think of setzen as a really vague idea of putting, setting.
Now, the prefix ab- can lend two notions to a verb. One is separation and the other one is downward.
If we combine that with this vague notion of putting, then we get something like putting ,setting down, putting aside.
And that’s actually pretty much what absetzen is all about. That’s the core.
The problem is that… or wait, that sounds too negative… erm…. the fascinating beauty of it is that it’s used in a wide variety of contexts, so the translations vary.
So let’s go over them together real quick.
Maybe the most common meaning is to take off in context of hats, glasses or headphones.
“And planes?”
No, not planes :).
The opposite is aufsetzen and you kind of literally put these things “on top” of your head , so absetzen for taking them off makes perfect sense.
- “Kannst du bitte die Kapuze, die Sonnenbrille und deine Kopfhörer absetzen?”
“Nee, wieso?”
“Das hier ist Thanks-Giving Dinner!!” - “Can you please take off the hood, the sunglasses and the headphones?”
“No, why?”
“This is thanks giving dinner!!”
Next up, we have absetzen in sense of putting down. Like … putting down a heavy piece of furniture to take a breath while carrying it up the stairs.
And in a more figurative sense, this absetzen is also a common colloquial word for to drop someone off.
- Der Adler setzt das Einhorn auf dem Felsen ab.
- The eagle puts down the unicorn on the rock.
- Du kannst mich hier absetzen.
- You can drop me off here.
Absetzen is also THE word for cancelling TV shows and stopping with a medication – which both kind of also have a notion of dropping in them.
- Die Show wurde nach der dritten Staffel abgesetzt.
- The show was cancelled/stopped after the third season.
- Antibiotika sollte man nicht selbstständig absetzten.
- You shouldn’t stop taking/discontinue with antibiotics on your own.
Another context, where absetzen comes quite in handy are taxes, because it is the German word for to deduct (you take something off of your income, so to speak). And while we’re talking about business, absetzen is also a technical sounding word for to sell usually used for bigger numbers (just think of a drone, dropping of a package on your door).
- Thomas will sein Tantra-Yoga-Seminar von der Steuer absetzen.
- Thomas wants to deduct his tantra yoga seminar on his taxes.
- Das wertvollste Start-Up der Welt hat im ersten Quartal über eine Milliarde McGuffins abgesetzt.
- The most valued start up in the world sold over a billion McGuffins in the first quarter.
And then, last but not least, we have absetzen with a self reference – sich absetzen.
This can be used in a rather literal sense of little particles settling down on a surface.
- Die Hefe setzt sich am Boden der Flasche ab.
- The yeast settles at the bottom of the bottle.
But the more common use is the idea of setting oneself apart from.
- Emanuel sucht immer nach Wegen, sich von der Konkurrenz abzusetzen.
- Emanuel is always looking for ways to set himself apart from the competition.
Like for example making
pointless, short paragraphs in bold pink that hurt the eyes
and serve no purpose.
#unique #onlyhere
And speaking of paragraphs, that brings us right over to the noun der Absatz, because this is the German word for the paragraph of a text (not for law, the word for that is der Paragraph).
Now you might be like “Wait… this meaning has nothing to do with anything we have talked about so far.”
And that’s true.
Der Absatz as paragraph is actually based on yet another use of the verb. We’ve had absetzen in sense of putting down something. But you can also absetzen a pen and THAT is about taking of the surface.
- Deutsch – denn es gibt nur einen “Satz” in Absatz.
- German – because there’s only one sentence in a paragraph.
- “Aber warum nicht? Andere machen das auch.”
“Ich kann damit nicht laufen, und ich will nicht. Wenn du 10 Zentimeter lange Absätze willst, dann lies Thomas Mann.” - “But why not. Others do it too.”
“I can’t walk with them, and I don’t want to. If you want 10 cm long heels/paragraphs then read Thomas Mann.”
And in the second example, where Thomas explains to Maria why he doesn’t want to wear high heels, we actually see the second noteworthy meaning of der Absatz, which is heel, the part where we “set down” the foot.
Oh and just to explain … Thomas Mann is one of the most famous German authors besides Mozart and Piccasso and his sentences are really really long.
Like… when you read Der Zauberberg, you wonder why he had to make them so long. Maybe the man was trying to compensate for something else being not so long? I mean… the man was called Mann. I can imagine that this creates a bit of pressure.
But I digress.
Let’s get back to our topic and there’s one more thing we need to talk about. Long term readers will know what I mean… the r-version :).
herabsetzen
For some reason, verbs with ab- as a prefix don’t really have this pure r-version. So there is no rabsetzen. But there is herabsetzen. The best translation is probably to diminish and it can be used in context of prices as well as in a figurative sense of diminishing people.
- Diese Schuhe waren herabgesetzt.
- These shoes were on sale/reduced.
(runtergesetzt is much more common)
- Thomas fühlt sich von seinem Chef herabgesetzt.
- Thomas feels put down by his boss.
But overall the verb is not that common and you can definitely put it on the passive-vocab pile.
And that’s it for today. Hooray :)!
This was our look at the meanings of absetzen and I hope you could see how they all revolve around a core notion of putting/setting down/of.
As always, if you need a quick recap you can take the little quiz I have prepared. And if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Kindly add when used as separable and when inseparable as I believe absetzen can be either in different contexts, correct?
No, it’s always separable. Otherwise I would have mentioned it.
Ok – great article – still trying to figure out in my head if you could absetzen einen Termin? It seems maybe as you pointed out it’s specific to tv shows?
No, that’s not idiomatic. You’d say “absagen” in that context.
I think “absetzen” implies that something has been going on continuously for a time. Like a TV show, a prime minister or a medication.
Greetings Emanuel,
Does sich absetzen and sich abheben mean the same (to stand out)? Can both of these be swapped in the same sentence, or is there any nuances?
Hmm, good question. I can’t think of a real difference but I’d say”abheben” is generally more idiomatic, so I’d recommend using that one.
Greetings
Kann “absetzen” die Bedeutung von “uebertragen” oder “senden” haben?
Sie versuchte die Handy-Verbot kreativ zu umgehen, und zwar mit zwei verschiedenen Spielkonsolen, ueber die sie heimlich ihre Tweets absetzte.
Danke
Ja, stimmt. Das geht. Der Fokus ist aber auf dem Aspekt von “weg”. Also es ist nicht klar, ob das irgendjemand empfängt.
Diese Bedeutung findet man fast immer im Kontext von irgendwelchen Messages. Also zum Beispiel nicht für Fernsehsendungen.
“absetzen” klingt ein bisschen “contraband”, deshalb passt es hier besser als “verschicken”.
Is it not hohe Absätze instead of lange Absätze?
Generally yes, but if we add a specific size, then it’s also idiomatic to speak of their length.
“The dreadful series is back! And unlike Stranger Things which will start to suck and at some point come to an end, prefix verbs explained sucked from the beginning and will never be taken off the air.
That made me, how you say, le chuckle.
Glad the series was at least good for a little chuckle :)
Great post as usual: absetzen is now ALMOST in my bone marrow. Only need to know about absetzen in relation to dropping a class: Habe einen Kurs abgesetzt, or Habe mich (preposition) einen/einem Kurs abgesetzt?
As in, I dropped the class for credits and will only audit it until I take it for credits next term. Or:
The class was completely incomprehensible, so I dropped it and will take a class in Leafy-Vegetable Washing” instead.
“absetzen” for a class would maybe work for a university cancelling it. I mean, people will understand if you as a student say it, but it sounds weird.
“Ich habe mich aus einem Kurs abegetzt.”
That works in the sense of sneaking out and going elsewhere, but it’s not the normal way to phrase it. That means you must have NO accent or else people won’t thing you’re creative with language but rather just that you picked the wrong word :)
The normal word for dropping a class in university context is “abwählen”. My university time is like 8 years ago, though, so wording might have changed.
By the way… leafy vegetable washing sounds interesting. What study program is that a part of? Bachelor of Food Truck Administration :D?
Abwählen. Danke.
Leafy Vegetable Washing 101 is indeed a requirement for Food Truck Admin.
Next term we do Sauce Phrasing: how to ask “spicy, mild or garlic” with an attitude that sells!
Looking forward also to “Sign writing with chalk 101” and “Beard trimming 101” :)
“…dropping of a package on your door…”- wäre es nicht better “off” zu benutzen?
I’m always unsure about when to use “of” and “off” with verbs like this one. Does anyone know a rule maybe?
Hey I think you meant Eichörnchen instead of Einhorn. Einhorn ist ein Pferd mit dem Horn in der Mitte der Stirn.
Nah when I read the sentence I tought the animal that was being placed down was squirrel for some reason, then I wrote this comment and found out that indeed it was unicorn lol
Nee, ich meinte schon “Einhorn”. Es ist ein großer Adler, so wie bei Herr der Ringe :)
Obwohl es kein Übungsblatt zum Eintrag gibt, ist der doch schon ok und sinnvoll behilflich bei dem Erlernen dieser Verben..
Haha, danke :)… ich habe es diesmal nicht geschafft eine Übung zu machen, aber ich mache wieder welche in der Zukunft – versprochen.
Wow ich wusste gar nicht, dass dieses Verb in verschiedene Kontexte verwendet sein könne.. Danke für den wertvollen Beitrag zu diesem komplexen Verb das wäre doch noch dabei behilflicher, wenn es Übungen dazu gäbe um sie anzuwenden, noch schöner wenn es kostenloser Zugang auf sie gäbe!
Boo it’s just not the same workout the quiz :(
I know , I’m sorry. I was in the middle of the woods and had NO internet. Not even on my phone.
That’s why I didn’t add one :/
very nützlich finde ich. Danke sehr !
Gerne!
Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who had a part in the sponsorship program. It really does help. Danke schön!
Doesn’t der Absatz also mean a heel (of a shoe)?
Yes, I think I did mention that in the article :)
Ich habe in meiner Heimat 5 Jahren Deutsch gelernt und wohne in Deutschland seit 4 Jahren. Damals habe ich vieles von Foren und Website gelernt aber seitdem ich täglich von der deutschen Sprache umgeben bin, ging alles viel schneller.
Aber das hier ist spektakulär! Ich lerne immer was neues auf diese Website. Keep the good work!
Wow, vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback. Ich habe mich sehr gefreut!!
Und ein Kompliment zurück – dein Deutsch ist ECHT gut.
Zwei kleine Sachen:
– .. Heimat 5 Jahre (ohne n) Deutsch gelernt und wohne seit 4 Jahren in Deutschland.
McGuffin! Is that not from Hitchcock/Trufaut dialogue?
/
/
It is ;). It’s a device that is central to a narrative but no one ever knows what it actually is.
Like… “we need this suitcase because of what’s inside”.
And we never really learn what’s inside.
In my example, the company sells something that apperantly lots of people want, but the only purpose it has is to be sought after.
I often say that these verbs are like English’ phrasal verb’s: put something on, put someone up, take off, take something off. We use verbs with a preposition or adverb and in German they use the different prefixes. My favourite example is ‘bringen’: zubringen, aufbringen, unterbringen und of course – umbringen! They need to be learned and best with an example for something to hold on to in time of need.
Phrasal verbs are the perfect comparison. The only difference is where the “extra” bit is placed in the infinitive form.
– Ich hebe ab.
– I take off.
Here, there’s no difference at all.
Thanks for explaining how you get der Absatz to be both heel and sentence, makes sense now!
I do appreciate these prefix lessons
Freut mich zu hören :)
Absolutely TOP explanations!
Yeay… danke :)!!