verstehen

Unadapted borrowing from German Verstehen or German verstehen (“to understand, comprehend”).

• IPA^(key): /və(ɹ)ˈʃteɪ.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

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verstehen (uncountable)

1. (sociology) A stance that attempts to understand the meaning of action from the actor’s point of view, so that the actor is seen as a subject rather than an object of observation.

From Middle High German verstān, virstēn, vorstēn, ferstān, from Old High German firstān, firstēn, from Proto-Germanic *frastāną, equivalent to ver- +‎ stehen. Cognate with Bavarian versteh, Dutch verstaan, Middle Low German vorstān. Compare also English forstand.

• IPA^(key): /fərˈʃteːən/, /fɛr-/, [fɐˈʃteː.ən], [fɛɐ̯-], [-ˈʃteː.n̩], [-ˈʃteːn]

• Audio (Germany):

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• Audio (Germany):

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• Audio (Austria):

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verstehen (irregular strong, third-person singular present versteht, past tense verstand, past participle verstanden, past subjunctive verstände or verstünde, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to understand
   1. to hear and interpret (speech)

      Ich verstehe dich nicht bei dem Lärm.

      I can't understand you with this noise.

   2. to comprehend, to make sense of

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:begreifen

      Ich verstehe nicht, was du meinst.

      I don't understand what you mean.

   3. to tale, to interpret, to gather (to impute what is not explicitly stated)

      Ich verstehe das so, dass Sie unzufrieden sind.

      What I gather from this is that you are dissatisfied.

   4. to understand, to consider, to take [with als ‘as being something’]

      etwas als Beleidigung verstehen ― to consider something an insult

      etwas als seine Aufgabe verstehen ― to consider something as being one's job

   5. to know, to have knowledge or understanding of (through experience or study) [with accusative ‘much, little, nothing’ and von ‘about something’]

      Er versteht viel von Autos. ― He knows a lot about cars.

      Davon verstehe ich nichts. ― That's beyond me. / I don't know anything about that topic.

2. (reflexive) to understand oneself, to understand each other, to be understood
   1. to see oneself, to think of oneself [with als ‘as someone/something’]

      Wir verstehen uns als Dienstleister.

      We see ourselves as a service provider.

   2. to understand one another, be able to communicate

      Ich hoffe, wir verstehen uns.

      I hope we understand each other.

   3. to get along [with mit (+ dative) ‘with someone’]

      Die beiden verstehen sich gut. ― The two get along well.

      Wie verstehst du dich mit deinem Chef? ― How do you get along with your boss?

   4. to be an expert [with auf (+ accusative) ‘at something’]

      Sie versteht sich auf gut getarnte Beleidigungen.

      She is an expert at making well disguised insults.

   5. to be meant, to have to be interpreted (in some way)

      Die angegebenen Preise verstehen sich ohne Mehrwertsteuer.

      The indicated prices do not include VAT.

      (literally, “The indicated prices should be understood as without VAT.”)

   6. (impersonal, often further emphasized with "von selbst") to go without saying, to be obvious

      Es versteht sich, dass ... ― It goes without saying that ...

      Das versteht sich von selbst. ― That goes without saying.

• “verstehen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “verstehen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “verstehen” in Duden online
• “verstehen” in OpenThesaurus.de