verhängen

Verhängen is a German verb with several related meanings. The most common sense is to impose or decree a penalty, ban, or other measure by an authority. In legal and administrative contexts, a court, authority, or regulatory body verhaft? No. The correct form is: verhängen. People say that a Strafe, ein Verbot, or eine Sanktion is verhängt. Typical collocations are eine Strafe verhängen, eine Geldstrafe verhängen, ein Verbot verhängen, oder eine Sperre verhängen. This usage is transitive and widely found in news, official announcements, and legal language.

In a second, more literary sense, verhängen can mean to cover, veil, or obscure by hanging something over or across. In poetic or descriptive writing one may encounter expressions like den Blick verhängen oder einen Schleier verhängen, where something is figuratively veiled or shaded.

Etymology: Verhängen is formed from the verb hängen with the prefix ver-, a common combination in German that often adds a modality of imposition, completion, or alteration of state. The sense of physically or figuratively hanging something over or across underlines the figurative meaning of obscuring or imposing a condition.

Noun form: Die Verhängung refers to the act of imposing a penalty or, less commonly, the act of veiling or covering. Example: Die Verhängung einer Strafe wurde angekündigt.

See also: verhüllen, verhüllen and verwandte Begriffe.