to credit / give credit
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to credit
To record an amount of money in an account so that the balance increases. It is the opposite of charging or debiting.
Die Bank wird Ihnen die Rückerstattung innerhalb von fünf Werktagen gutschreiben.
The bank will credit the refund to you within five business days.
to give credit
To acknowledgeingly attribute a positive achievement or quality to someone. You recognize that someone is responsible for something positive.
Man muss ihm gutschreiben, dass er die Initiative ergriffen und das Problem gelöst hat.
You have to give him credit for taking the initiative and solving the problem.
'Gutschreiben' (to credit / give credit) is a separable verb. The prefix 'gut' comes at the end in a main clause. In subordinate clauses and in the infinitive with 'zu', the verb stays together.
Die Fluggesellschaft schreibt mir die Meilen später gut.
The airline will credit the miles to me later.
When it is about money or points, 'gutschreiben' (to credit) needs a person in the dative (to whom?) and the amount or thing in the accusative (what?). The structure is: jemandem (dative) etwas (accusative) gutschreiben.
Der Händler hat mir den vollen Kaufpreis gutgeschrieben.
The retailer credited me the full purchase price.
You can recognize this meaning from words from the financial or business field. Typical signal words are 'Konto' (account), 'Betrag' (amount), 'Summe' (sum), 'Punkte' (points), or 'Guthaben' (credit/balance).
Ich habe Bonuspunkte gesammelt, die meinem Kundenkonto gutgeschrieben wurden.
I collected bonus points that were credited to my customer account.
In the meaning 'anerkennen' (to acknowledge), a subordinate clause with 'dass' often follows. The structure is: jemandem (dative) gutschreiben, dass ...
Man muss der neuen Kollegin gutschreiben, dass sie sich sehr schnell eingearbeitet hat.
You have to give the new colleague credit for getting up to speed very quickly.
to attribute / credit
In a formal or legal context, Zuschreiben can mean generally assigning an amount to an account. Gutschreiben, by contrast, is the established term for posting an amount to an account, thereby increasing its balance. Gutschreiben is therefore better for the usual banking transaction.
Die Bank schreibt den Erstattungsbetrag dem Kundenkonto gut.
The bank credits the refund amount to the customer's account.
Der Vertrag schreibt den Erstattungsbetrag dem Kundenkonto zu.
The contract assigns the refund amount to the customer's account.
