auseinandersetzen

(verb)

Word type: verb
Based on: setzen

Perfect (spoken past): hat auseinandergesetzt

Preterite (written past): setzte auseinander

Meanings

to (make) sit apart

(Think of a teacher separating two people in class and placing them in different areas.)

How useful:

Opposite (closest): zusammensetzen

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to deal with, to confront, to tackle

("sich+Acc auseinandersetzen mit" - can be about dealing with a challenge or looking into a topic or confronting something. Think of it as an opposite to ignoring, with a little "tackling" undertone, if that makes sense :).)

How useful:

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to explain something to someone, to run someone through something

("jemandem etwas auseinandersetzen" - sounds quite formal and it's quite rare.)

How useful:

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Word Family

Root: *sed-

The core idea of this root was

sitting

Today, the majority of members of the family are about a somewhat broader sense of “putting down”.
Here’s a little (incomplete) overview:

to sit, seat (“sitting”)
saddle (“seat”)
to set (“putting down”)
settle (“sitting down for camping”)
soil (“where your settlement is”)
session (“the sitting”)
seance (“the sitting”)
siege (“sitting in front”)
sediment (“dust settling”)
possess (“sit on”)
obsess (“sit on, occupy”)
sedate, sedative (“settling”)
assist, assistent (Originally, a person sitting next to the judge)
assess (see “assist”, originally an assistant responsible for determining fines)
size (see “assess”)
cathedral (Originally, it was a scholar’s chair, the root is the “thed”- part)
chair (comes from cathedral)

auseinandersetzen

Meanings

Word Family

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