to conceal / withhold
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to withhold
To deliberately not share a piece of information or a fact, even though it would be relevant.
Er hat uns verschwiegen, dass er bereits eine Vorstrafe hatte.
He withheld from us the fact that he already had a criminal record.
'Verschweigen' (to conceal / withhold) is an inseparable verb made up of 'schweigen' (to be silent) and the prefix 'ver-'. Here, the prefix indicates an action with negative intent, namely the deliberate hiding of information.
Warum hast du mir das so lange verschwiegen?
Why did you withhold that from me for so long?
This verb often needs two objects: the person from whom something is withheld is in the dative. The information that is withheld is in the accusative. The structure is: jemandem (dative) etwas (accusative) verschweigen.
Der Zeuge hat dem Gericht wichtige Details verschwiegen.
The witness withheld important details from the court.
Instead of an accusative object, the withheld information can also appear in a subordinate clause with 'dass' (that). This subordinate clause then takes on the role of the object.
Sie hat ihm verschwiegen, dass sie den Job gekündigt hat.
She withheld from him the fact that she had quit the job.
'Verschweigen' (to conceal / withhold) is often combined with abstract nouns that represent information. Typical examples are 'die Wahrheit verschweigen' (to withhold the truth), 'Details verschweigen' (to withhold details), 'ein Geheimnis verschweigen' (to conceal a secret), or 'die wahren Gründe verschweigen' (to withhold the real reasons).
Er hat uns die wahren Gründe für seine Entscheidung verschwiegen.
He withheld from us the real reasons for his decision.
to be silent
When someone deliberately does not share important information, both schweigen and verschweigen are possible. With schweigen, the focus is on consciously not speaking about a topic; verschweigen takes the withheld information itself as its object. Use schweigen with „über“ and verschweigen with the information as the object.
Sie verschweigt im Gespräch den Streit mit ihrem Bruder.
She withheld the information about the argument with her brother during the conversation.
Sie schwieg im Gespräch über den Streit mit ihrem Bruder.
She remained silent during the conversation about the argument with her brother.
