Whether you’re stunned by a baffling decision or simply amazed that everyone is talking about it, German has the perfect word to describe how you’re feeling.
Recent headlines about FIFA’s decision to overturn the suspension of the USA’s star striker from the football World Cup – reportedly following President Trump’s intervention – have leaned heavily on a wonderfully German expression for stunned disbelief.
Whether you’re shocked by the decision itself or merely astonished by the amount of attention it’s getting, fassungslos is a word worth adding to your German vocabulary.
What does Fassungslos mean?
Fassungslos is an adjective meaning “stunned”, “speechless”, “aghast”, “dumbfounded” or “flabbergasted”.
If a piece of news leaves you staring at your phone with your mouth hanging open, chances are you’re fassungslos.
The word is built from two parts. First there’s the noun die Fassung, which can mean “composure” or “self-control”.
Then there’s the suffix -los (without). Put them together and you get someone who is literally “without composure”.
The noun Fassung can also mean “frame” and appears all over the place in compound nouns. A Lampenfassung is a light-bulb socket, for example.
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In publishing, a Fassung can also be a version or draft of a text, as in die endgültige Fassung (the final version).
The noun form of fassungslos is Fassungslosigkeit (stunned disbelief or shock), as seen in a Süddeutsche Zeitung headline on Monday:
Fassungslosigkeit im Fall Balogun – heftige Kritik an der Fifa von der Uefa
Outrage in the Balogun case – Fierce criticism of FIFA from UEFA
Why do I need to know Fassungslos?
Fassungslos paints a wonderfully vivid picture. The idea behind the word is that your internal framework for understanding the world has suddenly disappeared, leaving you literally unable to maintain your normal self-control.
Knowing this word also helps unlock a family of useful German verbs built around fassen (to grasp, hold or contain). These include:
- anfassen – to touch
- zusammenfassen – to summarise
- umfassen – to encompass
- erfassen – to comprehend, record or grasp
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Use it like this:
Als er im Lotto gewann, starrte er nur fassungslos auf den Bildschirm.
He just stared at the screen in stunned disbelief after winning the lottery.
Ich bin absolut fassungslos, dass sie das Projekt ohne uns abgesagt haben.
I am completely flabbergasted that they cancelled the project without us.
Die Nachricht von dem plötzlichen Rücktritt der Ministerin ließ die Öffentlichkeit fassungslos zurück.
The news of the minister’s sudden resignation left the public stunned.
Fassungslos standen die Nachbarn vor den Trümmern des abgebrannten Hauses.
The neighbours stood speechless before the ruins of the burnt-down house.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
