Hello everyone,
and welcome to … ugh… sigh… anooooooother prefix verb.
How many more are there?
“Many, Emanuel, many. They abound.”
Wait, who said that?!
“It is I, the Universe.”
Well, thanks Universe, but you might wanna look up what a rhetorical question is some time.
“Oh yeah?! And you might wanna look up what a roundhouse kick is some time.”
Oh, scary…
“Yeah, indeed. Chuck Norris was my teacher.”
NOT your roundhouse kick, Universe! I mean the range of meanings of the verb we’ll look at today. That’s what’s scary. Ships mooring, planting a garden, pushing for something, looking for trouble and investing money. And others.
So, looks like we’re in for a wild ride as we look at the many meanings of
anlegen
Are you ready? Then let’s go.
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Thinking of a German Verbs Ranking, where would I put the verb ‘Anlegen’ compared with many other verbs I read here? Hmm… Dead Last.
Anlegen is the worst verb in German and I hate its insulting existence. (This isn’t a critic on the article by the way, I just thought it would be fun to write about this)
So here’s the gig: I keep a bunch of tabs open of YDG with verbs and stuff I still aim to read, and I’ve been aufschieben reading this because I could just feel its negative energy. And oh boy was I right.
There are admittedly a few fun moments with the ‘Sich anlegen mit jemandem’, but for the most part, it’s all going to hell when you notice that that’s the only real useful thing here. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As an added bonus, the other meanings are horrendously unlikable, since they seem to be setting a coherent meaning, and then run meaning over with its car, enjoy. There’s the sense of planting in some way, which seems interesting and noteworthy, but then you realize you don’t know how to make the F*cking note because it just doesn’t make any sense, making you fall back into depression. And it’s not like the other meanings of this verb won’t be used, they are just so specific that its better pretend they don’t exist until you start understanding the language better.
At least ‘Ausgeben’ was interesting to think how you could use it, at least it didn’t look like the laziest verb combination with a prefixe, at least its……FFFFFFF*cking ‘R-Version’ was not forgettable.
Anlegen’s ‘R-Version’ is painful to read because it feels like something nice but the amount of times you’re using this is the same as you’re getting smashed, and I know the moment you actually need to use this, you’ll forget because it is just that forgetful.
If I was Emanuel I would hide the dark truth of this verb and throw this verb in the garbage where it belongs.
So what’s the difference between anlegen and erstellen in means of to create
As far as I can think, “erstellen” is only used in the context of drawing up some sort of list or overview. “anlegen” is more about the “infrastructure”.
You can “anlegen” an excel table, with nothing in it yet.
Does that help?
Well for example you could “ein Konto erstellen” but could you also anlegen it?
Oh, both are idiomatic and in use.
Hey Emanuel, great site. I am learning so much. I appreciate your use of humor and the different ways you get your message across. Some of the foul language is understandable, but I am asking if you could please refrain from using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in your monologues. It is not something to be thrown about. It is disrespectful. Thank you for your understanding.
I have edited it out of this particular article as I had him say things, but I can’t promise you that there won’t be some colloquial exclamatory “Jesus Christ” elsewhere on the site.
sich anlegen mit
Maybe i’ve been reading too many of your articles (thanks btw, learning a lot!) and thinking to hard, but this one maybe doesn’t sound insane to me
I interpreted it as potentially positioning youself (setting yourself/laying yourself in the sense of positioning) in respect to a person (i.e. for conflict)
Wow, yeah, it does make sense to me too. Nice mind yoga!!!
“Doch, leg mal deinen Ohr ran.”
Shouldn’t it be “dein Ohr”?
Absolutely! Good catch :)
Hi Emanuel, Der Hund legt die Ohren an = (lit.) the dog puts its ears on? We say ‘the dog pricks its ears’ – does that sound right to you? In English the dog switches on to something – a noise or something it sees.
“Lay in a stock of food” is an American English idiom, but one might go for years without hearing someone say it. So perhaps it’s a bit old fashioned or literary.
Still, parallels like this one are great as a mnemonic :)
Maria wants to “lay out, create” build a little pond/pool in her garden.
(the German version is about actually building it, not just planning. Not sure if my translation is proper)
One can certainly “day down” a new foundation , which means to build it. It might be used in gardens also, laying down a bed of roses. Bit obscure I think
Wait, did you really mean “day down”? Or was that a typo :)
Should be “lay down” for sure, although just “lay a foundation” is more idiomatic to my ear. “Lay down” fits more in the context of surrendering something (“the soldiers laid down their weapons”) or also in the idiom “lay down the law,” meaning to use one’s authority to end dispute/argument/insubordination. You can also “lay down” rules, principles, or a beat. :)
I’m not enough of a gardener to be sure about rose beds, but it sounds good to me.
So you are aware, “cuffed up” in American English slang means “to be tied down in a relationship.” For example: “The Police officer cuffs up the bank robber.” reads more like the beginning of a sex novel than what I believe you intended. ;)
Oh really :D? Interesting story…
“I don’t like bank robbers” the police man said.
“Oh really? How about a bank rubber.”
“Hmmm… do you think you can bribe me?”
“Do kisses count as bribes, officer?”
I could go on like that XD
Seriously though, what’s the proper phrasing for the non-erotic putting cuffs on?
handcuffed him
put the cuffs on him
cuffed him
Also, du benötigst die Anlagen S,E,X für die Steuererklärung?!
Ja… Standard ;)
“Die Anlage ist von Zaum umgeben” Dieser Satz hat mich wirklich verwirrt. Warum nicht “Die Anlage ist von Zaum umgegeben”?
Vielen Dank.
“um” kann trennbar und nicht trennbar verwendet werden. In “umgeben” is es nicht trennbar, und deshalb gibt es auch kein “ge-”
– Der Zaun umgibt die Anlage.
– Die Anlage ist vom Zaun umgeben.
Check mal dieses Artikel, wenn du dir das genauer angucken willst
https://yourdailygerman.com/2013/05/02/um-german-prefix-meaning/
Weil anlegen “inception” bedeutet, können wir den Verb für die Ideen benutzen?
Nee, das funktioniert nicht. Es bedeutet nicht genau “inception”. Das ist nur die Idee, die viele Verwendungen verbindet.
Some of those are kind of logical/understandable.
But die Anlage? With some mind yoga I can sorta see a “you set up/lay/create/invest in a complex/facility/system” connection, but es legt drauf (I meant “pushing it”)>
Yeah, it does. It’s definitely advanced Yoga.
One little correction “es legt es drauf an”… would be the technically correct phrasing. However, it doesn’t really work in this context. It’s usually people that “legen es auf etwas an” and there’s usually an implication of (negative) consequences. Just pushing boundaries isn’t enough.
– Ich lege es auf X an.
This basically means “If you keep pushing, X will happen.”
Hope that helps a bit.
So, two words.
First, the person: “der Anleger”. That could be a whole lot of things considering the range of meanings of “anlegen”. Is it the one who builds ponds or who cuffs criminals? Well, it’s just the “investor”. The one who invests in stuff. And normally you use this word not for a specific kind of investor like the shareholders of a company. There “Aktionär” or “Teilhaber” works better. Let’s give a typical example:
“Das war die vierte Gewinnwarnung dieser Woche. Das wird die Anleger nicht freuen, Charleen.” – “Nein, Norbert. Gleich bei uns: ‘Ist unser Geld noch sicher? Die zehn insolvenzgefährdesten Banken im Vergleich.'” = “That was the fourth profit warning this week. The investors won’t be happy about that, Charleen.” – “Yes, Norbert. Next up: ‘Is our money still save? The ten most insolvency risked banks in comparison.'”
And then this word: “die Angelegenheit”. To explain that, it might be good to look at the related words: “das Anliegen” and “etwas liegt an”. That is about time pressing matters. You can say: “Was liegt an?” as a more formal way to ask: “Was geht’n?” = “What’s up?” So the things that are next in queue.
“Die Angelegenheit” is afterwords when the matter gets processed. It’s what one is timely invested in.
“Halt dich da raus! Das ist allein meine Angelegenheit.” = “Keep out of it! That’s my business alone.”
That is also the direction I think “sich anlegen mit” stems from. You make somebody your business (“Angelegenheit”).
Hah… at some point “Angelegenheit” crossed my mind and I was like “Damn, I have to explain that, too” but then I realized that, as you said, it does come from “liegen” and I was like “Sweet, I can officially leave it out, no matter how interesting.” So thanks for actually adding it. For a language learner it does look like it belongs to “anlegen” after all :)
And Norbert and Charleen? What a random combination of names :D
“we require annex S, annex E and annex X.” I had to lol at that one. I started to envision the IRS confiscating a little part of a building. Must be British usage. I think most native speakers in the U.S. would say either appendix or additional form.
So does “sich mit etw. anlegen” feel similar to “es mit etw. aufnehmen”?
I think I would say: The lottery winner invests part of the winnings in the stock market. You could say “in stocks” too, but it sounds slightly less idiomatic to me.
Thanks for the corrections!
Yes, “sich anlegen mit” and “es mit X aufnehmen” do have a common idea of confronting but “anlegen” sounds much more negative and like arguing, fighting. Something negative.
“es mit etwas aufnehmen” sounds more neutral and just accepting “etwas” as a challenge… which can also be meant in a good way.
Hope that helps!
Als ich das Beispiel mit den Anlagen S, E und X gelesen habe, dachte ich, die IRS Frau will Emmanuel wohl durch unterschwellige Botschaften ins Bett kriegen. ;-)
“Anlegen”/”Anlage” really is a hard one to wrap my head around. I’ve run into a couple other uses:
– einen Dauerauftrag anlegen: set up a direct deposit from your bank account
– Wohnanlage: apartment complex (at least this is the closest equivalent I can think of from American English)
I’m not sure what I’d do with “einen Teich anlegen” – probably just “build” or “dig.” Or, when in doubt, “put.” :)
“putting a pond in my garden”? Echt jetzt :).
I was surprised of the range of “Anlage”, as well, when I was writing this. Kind of annoying actually. I was always like “Oh no, there’s that, too… another thing to incorporate”
That’s the thing with “put” – it works for just about any process of causing something to be in a place where it wasn’t before. :) German could use a few words like that…
“hinmachen” would do :)…
– Dahinten will ich einen Teich hinmachen.
But just “machen” without a prefix… not really :)
The audio with “Was genau bedeutet Geschützte Grünanlage?” is wrong FYI :)
How so? I just checked and it seems fine here… I’m confused.
Actually it is the audio of “Die Anlage ist von einem hohen Zaun umgeben” that’s missing…
Fixed. Thanks :)