versprechen

== German == === Etymology === From Middle High German versprechen (“to guarantee”), from Old High German firsprehhan (“to defend verbally, to warrant”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasprekan. Analyzable as ver- +‎ sprechen. The sense “to misspeak” is a later transparent derivation (see the prefix). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /fərˈʃprɛçən/, [fɐˈʃpʁɛ.çn̩], [-çən], /fɛr-/, [fɛɐ̯-] === Verb === versprechen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present verspricht, past tense versprach, past participle versprochen, past subjunctive verspräche, auxiliary haben) (intransitive) to promise Ich verspreche es dir. ― I promise you. (literally, “I promise it to you.”) Er hat versprochen, Kuchen mitzubringen. ― He’s promised to bring along cake. (intransitive, dative reflexive) to expect (something positive); to hope for Ich verspreche mir viel davon. ― I expect a lot from it. (literally, “I promise myself a lot...”) (reflexive) to promise oneself [with dative ‘to someone’] Er hatte sich einer Frau versprochen und heiratete dann eine andere. ― He had promised himself to one woman and then married another. (reflexive) to make a verbal slip; to misspeak Entschuldigung, ich habe mich versprochen. Ich meinte „hundert“, nicht „tausend“. ― Sorry, I misspoke. I meant “a hundred”, not “a thousand”. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Synonyms ==== (to promise): geloben, schwören, verheißen ==== Derived terms ==== Versprechen, Versprecher, Versprechung versprechend, versprochen ==== Related terms ==== vielversprechend === Further reading === “versprechen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “versprechen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961. “versprechen”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[2] (in German) “versprechen” in Duden online