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auswendiglernen

to memorise

verb OWS-ven-dikh-ler-nen Rare
People & Society Education

Origin: from auswendig (by heart) and lernen

Also means

to learn by heart

Usage Note

auswendiglernen means to memorise something so as to know it by heart, a staple of vocabulary and poetry work. It behaves separably, splitting in main clauses (ich lerne das Gedicht auswendig), and forms its participle as auswendig gelernt. Modern dictionaries also allow the spelling as two words.

Examples

"Wir mussten das ganze Gedicht auswendiglernen."

Natural Translation

We had to memorise the whole poem.

Literal Translation

We had-to the whole poem by-heart-learn.

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