to arrest
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to arrest
To detain someone in the name of the law and take them into custody. This is usually carried out by the police.
Die Polizei konnte den Dieb auf frischer Tat ertappen und verhaften.
The police were able to catch the thief in the act and arrest him.
to be bound to
An elevated, figurative expression meaning to hold on to a particular idea, tradition, or style and be unable to break away from it.
Er ist immer noch den alten Denkmustern des letzten Jahrhunderts verhaftet.
He is still bound to the old patterns of thought of the last century.
The verb 'verhaften' (to arrest) has the prefix 'ver-' and is inseparable. This means the prefix always remains attached to the verb in all sentence forms.
Die Kommissarin verhaftete den Verdächtigen noch am Tatort.
The detective arrested the suspect at the crime scene.
'Verhaften' (to arrest) always needs an accusative object: the person being detained. The verb is also very often used in the passive to emphasize the action.
Die Polizei verhaftet den Einbrecher.
The police arrest the burglar.
To state the reason for an arrest, the preposition 'wegen' (because of/on charges of) is used with the genitive.
Er wurde wegen schweren Diebstahls verhaftet.
He was arrested for aggravated theft.
The figurative meaning has a fixed grammatical structure: jemand ist einer Sache verhaftet (someone is bound to something). The thing one holds on to is always in the dative.
Manche Künstler bleiben ihr Leben lang einem einzigen Stil verhaftet.
Some artists remain bound to a single style their whole lives.
The expression 'einer Sache verhaftet sein' (to be bound to something) belongs to elevated written language. It is rarely used in normal everyday conversation.
Sein Denken ist alten Traditionen verhaftet.
His thinking is bound to old traditions.
to arrest
Here, verhaften and festnehmen both refer to a legal measure in which a person is taken into custody. Verhaften emphasizes the formal arrest; festnehmen is especially appropriate when the police apprehend and detain a suspect. In many police reports, either word is possible.
Die Polizei verhaftete den Mann aufgrund eines Haftbefehls.
The police arrested the man on the basis of an arrest warrant.
Die Polizei nahm den Verdächtigen noch am Tatort fest.
The police arrested the suspect at the scene of the crime.
