# handeln
## German
### Etymology 1

From Middle High German handeln, from Old High German hantalōn, from Proto-West Germanic *handulōn.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhandəln/, [ˈhandl̩n]
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: han‧deln

#### Verb

handeln (weak, third-person singular present handelt, past tense handelte, past participle gehandelt, auxiliary haben)
* (intransitive) to act; to take action
    Jeder ist dafür verantwortlich, wie er handelt.Everybody is responsible for the way they act.
    Wir müssen handeln, bevor es zu spät ist.We must take action before it is too late.
* (intransitive) to negotiate; to bargain; to haggle
    Da lass ich nicht mit mir handeln.I won’t bargain about this.
* (intransitive) to trade in; to deal; to sell [with mit (+ dative)]
    Er handelt mit Teppichen. ― He trades in carpets.
* (transitive, stock exchange and the like) to trade
    Eine Aktiengesellschaft ist eine Firma, die an der Börse gehandelt wird.A stock company is an enterprise that is traded in the stock market.
** 2010, Der Spiegel‎, number 46/2010, page 95:In Toronto werden mehr als 1400 Bergbaubetriebe gehandelt, jede Woche kommen im Schnitt drei Unternehmen hinzu.More than 1400 mining companies are traded in Toronto, three companies are added each week on average.
* (transitive, figurative) to tip as; to take into consideration as being
    Er wird als der nächste Superstar gehandelt.He’s being tipped as the next superstar.
* (intransitive, of a person, formal, literary) to discuss; to deal with; to write or speak about [with von]
    Der Autor handelt auf 32 Seiten von dieser Nebensächlichkeit.The author discusses this marginal issue in 32 pages.
* (intransitive, with von, of a text, film, etc.) to be about; to deal with
    Das Buch handelt von Hasen. ― The book is about hares.
* (impersonal, reflexive, idiomatic) to be, to be a case of, to be a matter of, to concern (often used to introduce the subject before giving it a name, or to indicate some uncertainty regarding exact amounts) (literally, “it itself has to do with ...”) [with um (+ accusative) ‘something’ and bei (+ dative) ‘with respect to something else’]
    Es handelt sich um ein Missverständnis.What we have is a misunderstanding.
    Bei diesen Tieren handelt es sich um Hasen.These animals here are hares.
    Es handelt sich um ein paar Tage, bis die Pakete ankommen werden.It will be a matter of days before the packages will arrive.

##### Conjugation

$^1$Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

##### Derived terms

* abhandeln
* aushandeln
* ausverhandeln
* behandeln
* einhandeln
* erhandeln
* gehandelt
* Handeln
* handelnd
* Händler
* Handlung
* herunterhandeln
* kuhhandeln
* misshandeln
* unterhandeln
* verhandeln
* zuwiderhandeln

#### See also

* dealen

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English handle. Doublet of handeln (“to act; to deal”).

#### Alternative forms

* händeln

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈhɛnd(ə)ln/

#### Verb

handeln (weak, third-person singular present handelt, past tense handelte, past participle gehandelt, auxiliary haben)
* (transitive, informal) to handle something; to control; to deal with in an organised fashion
    Synonyms: handhaben, bewältigen
    Wir müssen sehen, wie wir dieses Problem handeln.We must find a way of handling this problem.

##### Usage notes

* Rare in writing for confusability with etymology 1, but fairly common in speech, chiefly in business and media slang.
* The form händeln is sometimes used when quoting speech in writing.

##### Conjugation

$^1$Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

##### Related terms

* Handling

### Further reading

* “handeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
* “handeln” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
* “handeln” in OpenThesaurus.de
* “handeln” in Duden online
* “handeln” in Duden online
* Friedrich Kluge (1883) “handeln”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

## Swedish
### Noun

handeln
* definite singular of handel