Hello everyone,
and welcome to another episode of Prefix Verbs Explained. And before we even get to the topic let me say that this is:
The 300th article !!!
That’s crazy!! And it’s all because of YOUR support. Because clearly I wouldn’t do this if no one read it. Your comments, questions, likes and donations are super super motivating. Danke, danke, danke. I’d say… let’s do 500 next (UPDATE: done). And then 1000. And then the world… buahahahahah… okay. Time to get to the topic.
Today, we’ll have a look at
auslegen
and we’ll start with a little quiz. Which of the following is NOT a translation for auslegen:
a) to interpret
b) to comb down a horse
c) to lay out
If you pondered c) for a second, then you’ve clearly had some experiences with prefix verbs already ;). So, auslegen can mean to lay out but the two don’t always fit. And then there’s of course the other meaning. Clearly, we have enough talk about, so let’s jump right in.
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Hilfe! Tauben kacken mir den Balkon voll. Ich will kein Gift auslegen, aber die Viecher müssen weg.
It’s good you left out the definite article at the start, or else the sentence becomes ambiguous :)
Hahaha, that took my a few seconds to figure out :)!
halo, viel danke, where are the pdf files?
I took down the option again, because it’s a search engine issue. I just had them up as a trial. Out of curiosity… what makes them useful for you?
I put them on my ipad and they are well structured, I don’t have to go to the net
Can I please have them all? And do you give classes via skype?
I might bring the feature back in the future but it probably won’t be for free.
There are browser plugins you can use though. Just look for the terms ‘pdf creator browser’ and you’ll find something.
As for Skype… no, I don’t do that at the moment. I don’t like being in front of the screen too much :).
Oh, and congratulations on your 300th article.
Vielen Dank!
Hi,
I always thought about the “interpret” sense of “auslegen” as reading the bones. You know when the caveman or the fortuneteller throws some small animal bones on a piece of cloth and tries to read them. First he is “laying” the bones (die Knochen legen) and afterwords he interprets what was layed: “Er legt die Knochen aus.” So he gets something out of the laying so to say. Or maybe that is just too far of a stretch?
And isn’t “die Auslage” in the sense of “showcase” more connected to “ausliegen”, which is used for something that is lying clearly on display (like the documents for the demolition of Arthur Dent’s house/planet in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)? I mean of course “legen” and “liegen” are brothers in law so maybe both is true.
Great image with the fortuneteller. Maybe that is indeed how the Germans got their inspiration. And you’re totally right about “Auslage”. I didn’t realize it but technically it doesn’t belong in here. I’m gonna leave it in though because I probably won’t do a post on “ausliegen”.
Thanks a lot for these additions!!
Probably a dumb question, but why did you use “ist” instead of “habe” below?
Die Sattel ist speziell für längere Touren ausgelegt.
The saddle is designed/laid out especially for long tours.
Well, let’s turn it around and ask why you’d use “habe”? The saddle isn’t doing anything. We’re just saying how the saddle is. Does that help?
Does that mean it’s a passive construction?
That’s up to you in a way. At the core it is a simple descriptive statement with the following structure:
– [thing/person] is [characteristic].
That characteristic can be an adjective like “pretty” but in our case it is based on a verb (auslegen – to design, plan). That implies, that someone did it at some point, so yes, there is a notion of passive involved but it doesn’t really matter in my opinion and it’s kind of overanalyzing. I mean
– Das Haus ist nass.
– The house is wet.
Houses don’t get wet by themselves, so also here someone or something else made the house wet. Still you wouldn’t think of that as a passive. The difference between this example and the one from the post is really only the verb.
So… you can think of it as a passive but it’s much simpler than that.
Does that help?
Yes, that’s very helpful thank you :)
Es gibt auch noch “auslegen” im Sinne von “eine begrenzte Fläche vollständig bedecken”, z.B mit Auslegeware (Teppichboden), ein Backblech mit Backpapier auslegen, ein Badezimmer mit Mosaikfliesen auslegen.
Stimmt, die gibt’s auch noch. Klingen aber ein bisschen technisch für meine Ohren. Auf jeden Fall danke für die Ergänzung
I really appreciate the quality of these articles. They are exceptional.
Thanks :).
Off Topic, aber ich muss wissen, kannst du Japanisch gut sprechen? Ich lerne es jetzt & ich brauch ganz viel Hilfe dafür & es wird gesagt dass sogar das bei dir möglich ist…
Leider nicht :). Ich spreche gar kein Japanisch. Ich habe mal angefangen, aber da habe ich nur die Schrift gelernt und das war’s. Aber da gibt’s bestimmt auch coole Blogs.
Superb post as ever, Emmanuel.
For the “interpretation” sense, can you use it to “interpret” someone’s behavior or attuide? As in
He interpreted this as a hostile act
Or is it restricted to language (bible, etc)?
I mean how do I use “das kann man so und so auslegen” correctly?
Technically, it’s not limited to text but I think in reality it is often used in that context. You could use it for behavior but “auslegen” sounds like somewhat of a process to me. And a very thought driven one. You sit down and interpret. That doesn’t really go together well with just reading some gestures. As for “das kann so und so auslegen”… a good context for that would indeed be when you and someone else are trying to interpret an ambiguous statement.
More comatose. Stretched out and dead to the world.
It was meant to be a joke!
Yeah but which one… the word really made no sense to me in that sentence? Were you going for laying down? Or puking?
I don’t suppose this will work?
Mein Freund hat zu viel Schorschbock getruncken und jetzt ist er auslegen!
No, it really doesn’t. What were you trying to say?
“Das Bibel ist immer so konservativ, wie die, die sie auslegen.”
What does the “sie” refer to?
To “die Bibel”.
Right, but at the beginning of your sentence, it says “Das Bibel”? Apologies if I am missing something obvious here!
Damn it! That’s a bad mistake. It should be “die Bibel”. I had a different example first and I forgot to change the article. My apologies for all the confusion. I really need to take better care of these things.
“The English to lay out can be used in combination with money in some sense of to invest.”
I would say it’s more like “spend”, at least in British English. Example: “I had to lay out fifty quid on getting that fixed!”
I agree although of course it’s not as simple as just “to spend”. Something about “lay out” directs ones (or at least my) thoughts to what was supposed to be received in return. Like emphasising what an item cost (and that it was probably expensive) rather than just the fact you parted with money.
Then of course there is “outlay”, which I don’t think the above article mentions. This is more commonly to do with investing I would say. E.g. “From an initial outlay of £5 I have amassed a fortune”.
Thank you for your amazing work! Please, keep it up.
I have realised you are posting also a PDF version now? Do you have any plans to do that with all content you have already done? It would help me so much.
That’s a trial I’m doing at the moment. It should be on all posts at the moment :).
I’m kind of curious… you’re not the first one to say that a PDF would be really helpful but I don’t really know why. What is it about a pdf that you really appreciate?
I can print it out and read wherever i am, without the need of internet connection.
Thank you so much for your work on this site, it is AMAZING!
Thanks for the great feedback!!