erweist

Erweist is the third-person singular present tense form of the German verb erweisen. The basic meaning of erweisen is to prove, demonstrate, or show something to be the case. The verb is common in formal, scientific, and legal writing, where it is used to indicate that a conclusion or assessment is warranted by evidence or facts.

A related construction is sich erweisen, a reflexive form meaning “to prove to be” or “to turn out to be.” In this usage, the sentence often presents the result of evaluation, as in Es erweist sich als schwierig or Der Bericht erweist sich als unvollständig. The past participle of erweisen is erwiesen, and the perfect tense is formed with habe oder habe sich erwiesen depending on the construction, e.g., Es hat sich als nützlich erwiesen.

Another important usage is the phrase jemanden die Ehre erweisen, which means to pay someone respect or honor. This is a fixed expression and uses erweisen with die Ehre as the direct object and a dative recipient, for example: Wir erweisen dem Gast die Ehre.

Syntax and nuance: erweist commonly governs a clause that follows with a complement or with sich erweisen followed by a noun phrase or adjective describing the outcome (z. B. als notwendig, als Fehler, als Beweis). The form erweist is mainly found in written or formal language; in everyday speech, speakers may choose other verbs such as beweisen, zeigen, or herausstellen, depending on register.

In sum, erweist functions as a versatile term for stating that something has proven to be a certain way, with sich erweisen and the idiomatic expression die Ehre erweisen expanding its range of meaning.