schalten

== German == === Etymology === From Middle High German schalten, from Old High German scaltan, from Proto-West Germanic *skaldan (“to push, shove”); further etymology obscure; according to Pokorny, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, separate”), in which case related to English shell. Cognate with Old Saxon skaldan (“to push”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈʃaltən/, [ˈʃaltn̩], [ˈʃaltən] Rhymes: -altən, -altn̩ Hyphenation: schal‧ten === Verb === schalten (weak or mixed, third-person singular present schaltet, past tense schaltete, past participle geschaltet or (regional) geschalten, auxiliary haben) to switch to shift gears (colloquial) to be on the ball (to be quick to understand and react to something sudden and/or unexpected) ==== Usage notes ==== The normal past past participle is geschaltet. The strong form geschalten is used colloquially in some regions. It is rarely seen in writing, although it is the older form. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== Schalter, Schalterei, Schaltung ==== Related terms ==== === References === === Further reading === “schalten”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[1] (in German) “schalten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “schalten” in Duden online “schalten” in OpenThesaurus.de