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Entschließen/entscheiden/beschließen | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6315 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 1 of 5 20 January 2010 at 2:39am | IP Logged | ||
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This is one of the few little things in German that I for some reason still haven't got the hang of, deciding whether to use sich entschließen, sich entscheiden or beschließen in a particular context. Would someone mind explaining the usages of these in depth? I feel rather silly still not knowing this!
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| Reisender Triglot Newbie Italy Joined 5450 days ago 30 posts - 44 votes Speaks: German*, English, Italian Studies: Spanish, Latin, Ancient Greek, French | Message 2 of 5 20 January 2010 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | ||
My 2 Deutschmarks: Beschließen has kind of an "official" touch to it. Beschließen would be something a board or a committee would do. Entschließen relates more to a personal decision. À la "I'm setting my mind up to do something". Entscheiden has to do with a decisive choice. You choose one option over another and stick with it. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tropi Diglot Groupie Austria Joined 5430 days ago 67 posts - 87 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 5 20 January 2010 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well first of all, don't feel silly, the differences are really minor ones.
"entscheiden" is more or less used when to choose between opportunities. So if you have to choose between apples and oranges you can say: "Ich entscheide mich für die Äpfel." In this case you won't use "entschließen/beschließen". "beschließen/entschließen": Even more minor differences. I can't tell you a real difference here, I would just decide in the context it is used. In most cases you can't substitute one with the other but you can get express the same thing with a different structure, for example: "Ich entschließe mich dazu mehr Sprachen zu lernen." "Ich beschließe mehr Sprachen zu lernen." 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lerner Groupie Germany Joined 5817 days ago 51 posts - 79 votes Speaks: Hindi* Studies: EnglishC2, GermanC1, Spanish, Dutch | Message 4 of 5 20 January 2010 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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As some learning German I'll have to agree that the plethora of suffixes sometimes
really messes with the brain. I've a book(Mastering German Vocabulary-Bruce Donaldson)that says the following: "to decide beschließen, (sich) entscheiden, sich entschließen Personal decisions and deciding between alternatives are most commonly expressed by sich entscheiden, e.g. A: Was willst du machen? B: Ich kann mich nicht entscheiden (, ob…) ‘A: What do you want to do? B: I can’t decide (whether…)’. Entscheiden, without the reflexive pronoun, is used when organisations or bodies ‘decide’ s.t., not individuals, e.g. Ende November muss der Bundestag entscheiden ‘The federal parliament must decide at the end of November’, Die Kubaner können selber entscheiden, was sie wollen ‘The Cubans can decide (for) themselves what they want’. But whether you use sich with entscheiden or not can depend on syntax. If followed by a dass/was clause, omit sich, e.g. Wir haben entschieden, dass wir miteinander ein neues Segelboot bauen ‘We have decided that we will build a new yacht together’, Er kann selbst entscheiden, was er möchte ‘He can decide himself what he would like’; compare Wir haben uns entschieden, ein neues Segelboot zu bauen ‘We have decided to build a new yacht’. Sich entschließen strictly speaking mean ‘resolution/to resolve (to do s.t.)/to make up one’s mind’ and although more or less synonymous with sich entscheiden, are more forceful and entschließen is always reflexive, e.g. Ich habe mich zu diesem Schritt entschlossen, weil… ‘I decided on this step because…’; (note the use of zu where sich entscheiden requires für), Ich habe mich dazu entschlossen, den Vertrag zu verlängern ‘I decided to extend the contract’ (=I was determined to), Die Regierung des Landes hat sich nicht freiwillig zu der Öffnung in Richtung Marktwirtschaft entschlossen ‘The country’s government did not voluntarily decide on heading towards a market economy’. Beschließen are used chiefly for official decisions or decrees, e.g. Die Regierung hat ein neues Polizeigesetz beschlossen ‘The government has decided on (=passed) a new police law’. This verb is not necessarily only used for official decisions; where it is otherwise used, it simply states the decision made whereas sich entscheiden and sich entschließen imply a process of deliberation about the alternatives has preceded the decision, e.g. Er wusste, dass er arbeitslos bleiben könnte und beschloss daher, sich umschulen zulassen ‘He knew he could remain unemployed and decided to have himself retrained’ " <end> Hope this helps a bit Edited by lerner on 20 January 2010 at 7:58pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6315 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 5 of 5 22 January 2010 at 11:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks kindly for the responses, guys. That clears everything up.
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