Hello everyone,
and after almost two years of hiatus, today it’s time for the triumphant return of everyone’s favorite series… Prefix Verbs Explained.
Are you excited?!
Me neither.
So let’s get this over with quick and take a look at the meaning of
einsetzen
The base verb setzen is the German brother of to set, and on occasion, the two verbs do line up.
But not often enough to call them translations.
In my opinion, it’s better to think of setzen as the third one of the three German translations for to put.
The other two options are stellen, which is roughly “to make stand”, and legen, which is roughly “to make lie”. And those two have the majority of the market share.
But for some instances of placing, neither of those really fit and German uses setzen instead. Or its prefix versions, of course.
Now I know your brain is now like “Need rule, must have rule. Give rule! When rule?” but it’s hard to give one because a lot just comes down to what happened to be idiomatic in a given context.
However …
what I can say is that setzen has an emphasis on a certain level of control while doing the placing.
Like… just think sitting down on a chair. There’s a fair bit of coordination happening and we can definitely stand up faster than we can sit down.
Or think of putting on glasses, which is aufsetzen in German. You need some level of dexterity for that.
Anyway, the key point is not to think of setzen as to set, but rather as to place, to put because that just captures it better.
And it’s the same for einsetzen. It can be the literal translation of to set in.
- Gegen Abend setzt leichter Regen ein.
- Toward the evening, slight rain will set in.
But the main uses of einsetzen are about putting/placing something in somewhere.
That can be very literal, like placing an item into a socket.
- Das Einhorn setzt den Infinity-Stein in seinen Hufschuh ein.
- The unicorn puts/places/inserts the infinity stone into its Glhoofe™.
(Gloofe is a registered trademark of the Glooves for Hoofs Ltd.)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But what makes einsetzen an actually useful verb that’s worth knowing is the more abstract idea of “putting” some sort of resource into a situation.
Which is the secret behind why einsetzen is actually a translation to employ and even to use.
- Die Einhörner setzen dunkle Magie gegen die Eichhörnchen ein.
- The unicorns employ/use dark magic against the squirrels.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Viele Menschen würden gerne mitentscheiden, wie ihre Steuern eingesetzt werden.
- Many people would like to participate in the decision about how their taxes are being used.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Emanuel überlegt, wo er den Praktikanten am besten einsetzt.
- Emanuel ponders where to best use/put to work the intern.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
As you can see in the last example, einsetzen doesn’t only work for resources like items and energy. It also works for people.
Which brings us right over to the reflexive version sich (acc) einsetzen. Which basically means that you “put” yourself, your energy, your reputation up on the line for (or against) something, either by just speaking up or by doing continuous dedicated work.
- Maria setzt sich für Bürgerrechte ein.
- Maria actively supports civil rights.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Ich wurde gefeuert… nur weil ich mich bei der Party für No-Pants-Mittwoch eingesetzt habe.”
“Das war keine Party, das war ein Investor-Meeting!!” - “I was fired… just because I spoke up for No-Pants-Wednesday at the party.”
“It wasn’t a party, that was an INVESTOR meeting!!” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This (sich) einsetzen in the sense of “putting” a resource “in” a situation is fairly common and I think you’ll see it sooner or later in daily life.
And the same goes for the noun der Einsatz. Which can be the effort or resource that you put up…
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I didn’t see it mentioned here, but reading this made me realize that “der Einsatz” (the putting-in) actually has a direct English equivalent: “input”. E.g. “Thank you for your input”, or “Without your input we wouldn’t have got this far.”. Maybe not 100% the same but it helps me remember it!
I thought this “input” was about an input of ideas. Does it also work for actual active work? Because that’s what the German Einsatz is… effort.
(you probably know this, but I wanted to repeat it for people skimming the comments :)
Hallo Emanuel,
(Viele Menschen würden gerne mitentscheiden, wie ihre Steuern eingesetzt werden.)
(Emanuel überlegt, wo er den Praktikanten am besten einsetzt.)
Kann ich ,, verwenden/ benutzen ” in diesen Sätzen anstellte von ,,einsetzen ” anwenden ?
(Kann ich ,, verwenden/ benutzen ” in diesen Sätzen anstellte von ,,einsetzen” anwenden ?)
Ist Anwendung von ,, anwenden ” in disem Satz korrekt ?
Sie haben leider nicht Möglichkeiten, die Sprache aktiv einzusetzen
Kann ich ,, anwenden ” in diesem Satz anstellte von ,,einsetzen ” anwenden ?
Thomas geht nach dem Kurs immer in eine Bar ,um das was er gelernt hat , anzuwendet.
Kann ich da ,,einsatzen” sagen ?
Vielen Dank !
Not sure why I never replied :)
You can use verwenden and benutzen for taxes, but not for people (interns).
The other examples were all okay.
Hello! Question about the couch example!
If you used einsetzen instead of reinsetzen, would that have potentially left vague on how you’re going to use the couch (like for sleeping, sitting, landing pad), versus reinsetzen meaning one wants to literally sit themselves down on it?
It would sound quite strange. You could either understand it as “I want to support the effort” maybe in context of buying the couch, but that sentence would be incomplete.
Or it could technically mean that you insert yourself as part of the couch, like a diamond or something… which makes no sense at all.
So bottom line… using “einsetzen” makes no sense there.
The distinction between the normal prefix verb and the r-version is REALLY strong to a German brain. It’s like two separate words to us and there’s no guarantee our brain will make a connection from one to the other.
Vielen Dank!
Another really terrrrrific post, Emanuel. And many many thanks! You’re the best.
… ‘Now I know your brain is now like “Need rule, must have rule. Give rule! When rule?” ‘
I laughed until I wept when I read this. Then yesterday, I burst into uncontrollable laughter again, as I was out walking.
YES! YES! You must have spent a lot of time in my brain to understands it’s blunt, thick language-learning process SO well.
Hahaha, trust me, it’s not just your brain. I think all brains learn that in brain school, first semester. Being a Brain 101.
lech mich an “r’s” My understanding (Gefuehl) is
that the r derives from “hier”. Signifying “presence”,
which is to say “involvement” – a means to make
the reader or listener more participant in the action,
If that helps you with the r-versions, then great, go with it, but it’s not really what I feel with these verbs.
The core is definitely a spatial direction, which it gets from “her” (which is of course a version of “hier”).
But I don’t feel any focus on presence or involvment.
Thank you Emanuel for this lovely Blog. Also all the other thoughtful people who pays extra for us to access to this blog, thank you so much. I do really appreciate it. Have a beatiful day everyone!
Very helpful!
Thank u so much for this article !! And thanks to everyone who paid extra so that people who can’t afford it could learn German as well. I really grateful for all of you !! Have a great day y’all
As usual sooo engaging and stimulating! You are very gifted Emanuel.
Vielen Dank :)
Thank you so much Emanuel, reading you articles is really interesting and fun for me. I’ve really got a better orientation language-wise, each time I read your blog.
And the prefix series is always helpful
I’m happy to hear that, danke für das schöne Feedback!
sincere thanks to you for providing those that can’t afford access to this blog, and I think that your blog is actually great! also, thanks to everyone who donated to this blog, your donations really do help people, one example is me
Thema: Opposites repel oder CEEDE lang
Dieser kleine Absatz ist aber ein grosses Lob für Deinen sehr hilfsreichen Aufsatz über den richtigen Einsatz und reinsetzens von Einsatz und hereinsetzen!!
Ist das Resultat von einem Einsatz am Streitplatz oft nicht ein böser Gegensatz??
So sind die Leute heute!!
Leider
16.4.22
“über den richtigen Einsatz und das Reinsetzen”.
Das Wortspiel mit Einsatz am Streitplatz habe ich nicht verstanden, trotz allem Einsatz meines Hirns. Warum ist das ein Gegensatz? Erklär mal bitte mit einem Satz, oder mit zweien.
Hey, Emanuel. I am Jalal. I just wanted to thank you and your team for giving me the scholarship to use your website. I love your content and you’re the funniest, most articulate teacher that I’ve ever had. Lots of love from Iran.
Yay! The prefix verbs series is actually my favorite. You’re so thorough with explaining these words that seem like they can mean anything when I look them up in a dictionary or translator, and the r-version part is always SUPER helpful. After reading so many of them, knowing when to use the r-version is even becoming a little more intuitive for me, which I never thought would happen. Thank you!!
Oh, I’m really happy to hear that, because that was the idea… by repeating the r-version stuff over and over in the articles and giving it the space, it’ll slowly sink in, without ever really talking in depth about it :)
Emanuel, du hast mich echt zum Lachen gebracht. Zum Glück hab’ ich keinen Hund, der etwas machen würde wo ich mich reinsetzen könnte. Hey, guter Gebrauch vom Konjunktiv, eh? Ich sollte deine Artikel öfter in meinen Klassen einsetzen! Vielen Dank.
Das freut mich und würde mich freuen :)
Hello!
Prefix verbs – woooohoooo… love this series and, at the same time, wish such verbs didn’t exist, they’re my Achilles heel ;)
Typos:
“main uses of einsetzen is” (main uses of einsetzen are)
“participate in the decision how their taxes” (participate in the decision about how their taxes)
That’s it!
Thanks for clearing up Einsatz, that’s a word I’ve always had trouble with!
(I realised I didn’t log in and now my comment is anonymous and waiting for approval, so I’ve logged in and here it is again!)
Frohe Ostern und bis bald!
Danke dir, dir auch frohe Ostern :)!!!
Achillesabsatz
Took some Einsatz of my brain to get that one!
Would you say the idea/vibe of control can also be there for “einlegen” and “einstellen/reinstellen”? If I had to guess, I would say yes. Like if you’re putting a DVD in the player (einlegen), you’re probably not just smushing it in there haphazardly. Hopefully not. But I don’t know if I’m on the right path with that logic.
Actually yeah, “reinlegen” and “reinstellen” do also go with some control. It’s just a bit stronger with “setzen” but that might just be me thinking about creating jewelry too much :)
I think “set” is pretty similar in that way. An example where the “putting” isn’t so important: “I brought in the mail. It’s mostly junk.” (pointing at a dusty corner with a huge stack of unopened mail) “Oh, just put it over there.”
But if someone makes a cake and brings it to my party. “Hey, I have the cake. Where should I put it?” (pointing at a safe spot) “Just set it over here.” (“Place” would sound too formal or technical.)
Maybe that last one isn’t the best example because “put” is in the question but not the answer. I don’t know why. But “set” definitely implies control, carefulness, deliberateness, not random. I think that shows in the phrasal versions too. Set about, set aside, set off, set out, set up.