ansprechen

Word type: an verb
Based on: sprechen

Perfect (spoken past): hat angesprochen

Preterite (written past): sprach an

Meanings

to address, to bring up

(For issues or topics. They're the direct object then.)

How useful:

to approach, to start talking to someone (usually a stranger)

("jemanden ansprechen" - usually because you want or need something, like help or a date.)

How useful:

to appeal to, to be attractive to

("jemanden ansprechen" - this is mostly used for things that are appealing. Like the color of the curtains for instance. It sounds fairly unemotional.)

How useful:

to respond to

("ansprechen auf-Acc" - ONLY in a sense of systems or sensors reacting to some sort of excitement or input.)

How useful:

Examples

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German Prefix Verbs Explained - "ansprechen"

A fun look at the meaning of the prefix verb "ansprechen" and its various related words that range from being picky to eye candy.

Vocab:

ansprechen, die Ansprache, ansprechend, ansprechbar, sich angesprochen fühlen, anspruchsvoll

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Word Family

Root: *spere-

The core idea of the root (according to English sources) was:

ankle

German sources have the meaning for focused on motion and describe it as

twitching with the foot, unrest

In German, it shifted toward a sense of tracking (by foot) and then kept going toward the sense of perceiving.

English doesn’t have many relatives – spur, spoor, spurn.
They haven’t shifted their meaning as much, so they’re still somewhat close to ankle or to a broad sense of twitching.

ansprechen

Meanings

Examples

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Word Family

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