vorstellt

Vorstellen is a German verb with two primary meanings: to present or introduce someone to another person, and to imagine or picture something in the mind. The form vorstellt is the third-person singular present tense, used with he, she, or it (er stellt vor, sie stellt vor, es stellt vor).

Etymology and structure: vor- is a prefix meaning before or forward, attached to stellen (to place or put). Many uses are separable-prefix verbs; in present tense the prefix is separated: er stellt … vor. The verb also appears in reflexive form as sich vorstellen, which has two main senses: to introduce oneself and to imagine or envision something in one’s mind.

Usage and examples: In introduction contexts, vorstellen means to introduce someone to someone else. Example: Er stellt Ihnen seinen Freund vor. (He introduces his friend to you.) In a self-introduction, sich vorstellen means to introduce oneself: Ich möchte mich vorstellen. (I would like to introduce myself.) The imperative Stellen Sie sich vor is a common phrase meaning “Imagine this” or “Picture this.” In everyday speech, vorstellens also occurs in phrases like etwas vorstellen (to present something), or den Plan vorstellen (to present a plan).

Past forms and related terms: The past participle is vorgestellt, used with haben (Ich habe ihn vorgestellt). The simple past is stellte … vor (Er stellte seine Kollegin vor). Related words include die Vorstellung (the presentation or the notion, depending on context) and die Vorstellungskraft (imagination or imagination capacity).

In sum, vorstellt serves as the standard present-tense form for “to introduce/present” in third person, and it is closely tied to the separable-prefix verb paradigm and the reflexive sich vorstellen for self-introduction or imaginative sense.