anweisen

Anweisen is a German verb with two primary meanings. The first and most common sense is to instruct or direct someone to perform a task: for example, a supervisor instructs an employee to提交 documents. In this usage the verb is separable, so in the present tense you hear forms like ich weise an, du weist an, er weist an, wir weisen an, ihr weist an, sie weisen an. The simple past is wies an (ich wies an, du wiesest an, er wies an), and the perfect is formed with haben: der Vorgesetzte hat den Mitarbeiter angewiesen, die Unterlagen vorzulegen.

The second use concerns issuing instructions to perform a financial or administrative action, such as authorizing a payment. In banking or business language one speaks of paying or transferring money by “eine Zahlung anweisen” or “eine Überweisung anweisen.” Example: Das Unternehmen hat der Bank angewiesen, die Zahlung an den Lieferanten auszuführen. Both senses share the core idea of directing an action, but they occur in different domains (personnel management versus financial operations).

Noun form and related terms: the related noun Anweisung means instruction or directive (plural Anweisungen). Common collocations include Anweisung erteilen (to give an instruction) and Anweisungen geben (to issue instructions).

Etymology and usage notes: the prefix an- with weisen (to point or indicate) evokes directing someone toward a task. Anweisen is mainly used in formal, administrative, or professional contexts, and is often preferred over more general verbs like sagen or befahlen when describing explicit directives.