betreffen

(be verb)

Meanings

1.
to have to do with, to concern, to have an effect on
(Think of a tax increase on cigarettes, but you don't smoke, so you're not going to be affected. )

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Word of the Day - "treffen"

A fun look at the weird double meaning of "treffen" and the difference between "treffen" and "sich treffen".


Word of the Day- "angehen"

A fun look at "angehen" how (or if) its various meanings connect. Also: how to say "That's none of your business." and the super useful phrasing "was... angeht"


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vvv-ooo-vvv
vvv-ooo-vvv
1 month ago

I’m trying to nail the meaning of this one precisely. In certain contexts its clear but I’m wondering if you can use it precisely as you might “to refer to” or “to relate to”

“The codename “The Dark One ” referred to Thomas”

Does this work:

“Der Deckname “The Dark One” betrifft Thomas”

“The use of the dativ case relates to the preposition nach”

Die Andwendung von Dativ betrifft der Präposition “nach”

I was also wondering if these sentences could also use
beziehen sich auf and whether betreffen and beziehen sich auf are somewhat interchangable.

Danke dir!

vvv-ooo-vvv
vvv-ooo-vvv
1 month ago
Reply to  Emanuel

Thanks. My second example is definitely a bit convoluted but it was essentially about pinpointing something that relates to something else.

Vvvvxxxxx
Vvvvxxxxx
1 month ago
Reply to  vvv-ooo-vvv

Btw the way when you say “it has to do with” i understood this definition as synonymous with something like “es geht um”. For example “in this book the heroes dilemma has to do with a longing for a misremembered past”.

Im guessing now betreffen doesnt really have this sense of „have to do“?

Vvvvxxxxx
Vvvvxxxxx
1 month ago
Reply to  Emanuel

I see. I think if you felt like adding a few more examples it might become clearer : )

What did you mean by smoking by the way?

Can you use the verb for phsysics? Like talking about how the moon’s gravitational field affects the earth?



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