Hello everyone,

and welcome to our German word of the Day. This time well have a look at the
meaning of

zwingen

Imagine a day in late spring. Sunny, balmy, a slight gentle breeze, the birds are singing.
And all your friends including your new crush are going to have a BBQ at the lake at
which your favorite band will play at sunset. For free. But you have like the most
important paper ever to hand in the next day and so far youve done:
nothing.
Thats when its time for zwingen.
And no, it does not mean to screw the paper.
Zwingen is about making someone do something they dont want to do. And not by
subtle manipulation. So in one word zwingen is to force.
Der neue Manager, ein Veganer, zwingt die Angestellten dazu, Sojamilch zu trinken.
The team manager, who is a vegan, forces/coerces the staff to drink soy milk.
Stell mein Bier wieder hin!
Nein!
Zwing mich nicht, dir weh zu tun.
Put my beer down!
No!
Dont force me to hurt you!
Maria wurde im Kindergarten dazu gezwungen, Spinat zu essen.
In kindergarten Maria was forced to eat spinach.
Eine Reparatur der Kaffeemaschine ist zwingend notwendig.
Repair of the coffee machine is absolutely mandatory/an absolute must.

I feel like zwingen is actually a little bit stronger than to force. Or maybe its just the
sound of the word. Zwingen. Sounds like someone is pinching your arm.
And thats actually kind of where the word comes from. The origin is a Germanic verb
that was about the idea of compressing something by force. And wouldnt that make a
lot of sense if this verb was connected to the same ancient Indo-European root as the
words zwei and two? Like you pinch someones arm between your fingers? I mean,
come on how much sense would that make? Exactly all the sense in the celestial
sphere. Scientists will say its false, that the words are not related. But thats just their
opinion, man. This this compulsion to be scientifically accurate it is totally out of
control. The word being related feels right, thats what should matter, damn it.
Anyway, speaking of compulsion that brings us right to the noun
for zwingen der Zwang.
Zwang is part of like a bazillion useful compounds and the translation depends on
context but the idea is always that there is some form of forcing going on, either
internal or external.
Der Komiker leidet unter dem Zwang lustig sein zu mssen.
The comedian suffers under the urge/pressure to be funny.
Gruppenzwang ist eine starke Kraft.
 Peer pressure is a strong force.
(is there a word for peer pressure that is completely independent of age and social group?
Just for the group youre with at a given moment? Thanks a lot :)
Wegen dem Stromausfall muss das Team eine Zwangspause einlegen.
Because of the power outage the team is forced to take an (unwanted) break.
In dem Casino ist Krawattenzwang.
In the casino a neck tie is required/compulsory.

Krawattenzwang ist auch nur eine Zwangstrung.

A Compulsory tie is just another form of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

Thomas findet, dass Maria einen leichten Waschzwang hat.

Thomas thinks that Maria has a slight compulsion to wash her hands (ablutomania).
Was seinen Schreibtisch angeht, ist Thomas echt zwanghaft.
When it comes to his desk, Thomas is obsessional. (Thomas is obsessive when it comes to
his desk.)
Those were but a few examples and there are lots of other Zwnge out there. Theres
even one for German verbs the Prfixversionszwang (the compulsion for
prefixes :). Thats a super strong one and only few verbs are strong enough to resist it.
Zwingen is pretty strong though because there are only three versions. Aufzwingen is
basically to force something onto someone, but its pretty rare.
Thomas ist mit dem ihm von Maria aufgezwungenen Zlibats-Monat nicht so glcklich.
Thomas isnt that happy with the celibacy-months that was forced upon him by Maria.
Then there are erzwingen and bezwingen. The er- adds the usual idea of reaching
something through the action. So its mostly a grammatical difference to zwingen.
Man kann niemanden zwingen, gute Laune zu haben.
You cant force someone to be in a good mood. (the person forced is the direct object)

Gute Laune kann man nicht erzwingen.

You cant force a good mood. (the goal of the coercion is the direct object)
Mittels Sexentzug hat Maria einen Opernbesuch erzwungen.
Using sex withdrawal, Maria forced/(got) a visit to the opera.
And last but not least, we have bezwingen. The be- does a very vague intensifying
here, and bezwingen basically means to subdue. So its kind of a general once-and-
for-all-zwingen if that makes sense.
Thomas hat seine Hhenangst bezwungen.
Thomas subdued/overcame his fear of heights.
All right.
So, Id actually say thats enough for one day. Weve covered everything and our heads
are filled with plenty of examp oh whats that theres another word running
toward us. I hope it doesnt want to get in on this post oh oh no, it does want to get
in. Hey hey

zw ugh
SIR, were full
 zw ugh sorry. zwngen
Too late, it squeezed itself in. Now youre wondering whats this stupidity about?
Well, zwngen is an offspring of zwingen and Zwang and its about forcing
something into a rather tight location. Like a verb squeezing itself into a post thats
already quite full ;).
Technically, zwngen is not a reflexive verb. So you can zwngen something
somewhere. A rock formation for instance can zwngen a creek into a narrow path or
you can zwngen your belly into those pants that used to fit still totally fit.
But in practice, youll mostly see zwngen used with people squeezing themselves in
somewhere.
Der dicke Mann versucht sich in den vollen Bus zu zwngen.
The chubby man tries to squeeze himself into the packed bus.
Maria zwngt sich in ihre alte Jeans.
Maria forces/squeezes herself into her old jeans.
Oh, and it doesnt really work in abstract senses. So you cant zwngen yourself into a
certain job, for example. That would be another word. Wait I can actually see it its
running toward us. But now were REALLY full. Quick, lets wrap this up before it gets
here :).
This was our look at the meaning of zwingen. It is absolutely NOT related
to zwei and two but thinking of it in terms of two fingers squeezing your arm helps a
great deal to remember that it means to force, to coerce.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions or if you want to try out some
examples, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
** vocab **
jemanden (akk) zu etwas zwingen force, coerce
jemandem etwas aufzwingen force something onto someone
bezwingen to defeat (sounds a bit pompous)
erzwingen get by coersion
der Zwang the compulsion, coercion, pressure
der Gruppenzwang the peer pressure
der Waschzwang compulsion to wash yourself
Zwangsstrung (obsessive) compulsive disorder
Zwangspause forced break
Zwangsjacke straitjacket
Zwangsehe forced marriage
Zwangsversteigerung forced auction
Zwangsrumung forced eviction
zwanglos casual, without pressure
der Zwinger cage for dogs, castle in Dresden