auseinandersetzen

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German

Etymology

From auseinander (apart) +‎ setzen (to set, place).

Pronunciation

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Verb

auseinandersetzen (weak, third-person singular present setzt auseinander, past tense setzte auseinander, past participle auseinandergesetzt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (reflexive) to deal with, to occupy oneself with, to look into, to think about
    Synonym: sich beschäftigen
    Du musst dich damit auseinandersetzen, dass es so nicht weitergehen kann.
    You have to deal with the fact that it can’t go on like this.
    Er hat sich mit diesem Problem ausgiebig auseinandergesetzt.
    He has occupied himself thoroughly with this problem.
  2. (transitive, formal) to explain, to make understandable
    Synonyms: erklären, darlegen, verständlich machen
    Ich weiß nicht, wie ich Ihnen das auseinandersetzen kann, ohne in alle Details zu gehen.
    I don’t know how I can explain this to you without going into all the details.
  3. (transitive) to disassemble, to take apart
    Synonyms: auseinanderbauen, auseinandernehmen (both commoner)
    Antonyms: zusammensetzen, zusammenbauen
    Erst hat er das Teil probeweise eingebaut und dann alles wieder auseinandergesetzt.
    First he installed the part to test it out and then took everything apart again.
  4. (transitive) to seat (someone) away from (someone else)
    Antonym: zusammensetzen
    Hört auf zu schwätzen, sonst muss ich euch beide auseinandersetzen.
    Stop chatting now, otherwise I'll have to make you two sit apart from each other.
  5. (reflexive) to (go to) sit separately, to take seat away from each other
    Antonym: zusammensetzen
    Erst saßen wir nebeneinander, aber dann haben wir uns auseinandergesetzt.
    At first we sat next to each other, but then we (got up and) sat apart.

Conjugation

Further reading