gehandelt

Gehandelt is the past participle of the German verb handeln, which has meanings including to act, to behave, to deal with someone or something, and to trade in goods. The participle is used with the auxiliary haben to form the Perfekt and other compound tenses (Ich habe verantwortungsvoll gehandelt; Wir haben lange mit Rohstoffen gehandelt). It can also occur in passive constructions with werden (Es wurde gehandelt; Es ist gehandelt worden).

In addition to its sense of acting or behaving, handeln is commonly used in business to mean to deal or trade, so gehandelt can describe past trading activity (Sie hat lange mit Edelmetallen gehandelt). Gehandelt also appears in the fixed phrase es hat sich um … gehandelt, meaning it was a matter of or concerned a certain thing (Es hat sich um einen Fehler gehandelt). In the present tense you commonly hear es handelt sich um …, a phrase used to identify the subject.

Origin and usage notes: handeln comes from Old High German handeln, with ge- as a standard prefix for many past participles in German. The form is typical of German strong and some mixed verbs. The word retains both the sense of action (to act) and the economic sense (to trade), which can be distinguished by context.

Examples:

- Ich habe ruhig und verantwortungsvoll gehandelt. (I acted calmly and responsibly.)

- Sie hat lange mit Rohstoffen gehandelt. (She traded commodities for a long time.)

- Es hat sich um einen Fehler gehandelt. (It was a matter of a mistake.)

- Es handelt sich um einen Fehler. (It is a matter of a mistake.)