01
würzen
to season
To add spices, herbs, or other flavor-giving ingredients to a dish.
example
Ich muss die Soße noch mit Salz und Pfeffer würzen.
I still need to season the sauce with salt and pepper.
würzen
to season
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Meanings
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Usage tips
Word family
The verb 'würzen' (to season) belongs to the word family of 'die Würze' (the characteristic flavor) and 'das Gewürz' (the ingredient used for seasoning). If you know the noun, you can easily work out the meaning of the verb.
EXAMPLE
Für dieses Gericht braucht man viele verschiedene Gewürze.
You need many different spices for this dish.
Sentence structure with 'mit'
When you say what you season something with, you use the preposition 'mit' followed by the dative. The structure is: [food in the accusative] mit [spice in the dative] würzen.
EXAMPLE
Er würzt seinen Salat gerne mit frischen Kräutern.
He likes to season his salad with fresh herbs.
Figurative meaning
In the figurative sense, 'würzen' (to spice up) works grammatically the same way as in cooking. You 'season' an abstract thing (e.g. a story) 'mit' (with) an interesting ingredient (e.g. humor).
EXAMPLE
Der Redner würzte seinen Vortrag mit persönlichen Anekdoten.
The speaker spiced up his talk with personal anecdotes.
Compare with
würzen vs beleben
to enliven / revive
'beleben' and 'würzen' can both mean that something becomes more interesting or livelier. 'beleben' fits more with places, conversations, markets, or a mood: something gets more activity or energy. 'würzen' is used in this figurative sense more with a speech, a story, or a text. It means: you add something that makes the matter more exciting or more special. Practically speaking: you can 'beleben' a festival, and you can 'eine Erzählung mit Humor würzen' (spice up a story with humor).
würzen
Laura würzt ihre Präsentation mit einer kurzen lustigen Geschichte.
Laura spices up her presentation with a short funny story.
beleben
Die neue Musik belebt die Feier sofort.
The new music immediately livens up the party.
In real life
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