anspielt

Anspielt is a German verb form related to the separable-prefix verb anspielen. The core idea of anspielen is to begin by playing or to refer to something indirectly. In standard usage the two main senses are to hint at or allude to something, and to perform a brief musical or dramatic gesture that introduces a larger work, motif, or idea.

In the sense of alluding, anspielen means to reference something without stating it outright. It is commonly used with the preposition auf: on something. For example, a journalist or author might anspielen auf a political crisis that is not named directly. A typical sentence is: Der Text spielt auf eine frühere Debatte an. The meaning is to evoke or suggest rather than to describe explicitly.

In the musical or dramaturgical sense, anspielen describes performing a brief excerpt or motif to set the tone or preview what follows. For instance, a composer might anspielen on a principal theme, or a director might a short scene anspielen to indicate how the future events will unfold. An example sentence is: Der Komponist spielt ein kurzes Motiv an, bevor der eigentliche Satz beginnt.

Grammar and usage notes: In contemporary German, the separable-prefix verb is conjugated with the prefix split in finite forms (ich spiele an, du spielst an, er spielt an). The past participle is angespielt. The form ansPielt appears in some dictionaries as an entry form, but the common written usage in ordinary prose tends to use gespielt an in the present tense.

See also: allude, hint, anspielung, auf etwas anspielen, anspielen auf.