adjective
exhausting, taxing
B1
Exhausting, taxing. Adjective (often participial) from the verb anstrengen. Gradable: comparative anstrengender, superlative am anstrengendsten. Used predicatively or attributively to describe tasks or people. Not a verb: no auxiliary. Common collocations: anstrengend sein. Indicates effortful, tiring experiences. Derived from the separable verb anstrengen.
Examples
Es war ein anstrengender Tag, aber wir haben alles geschafft.
It was a taxing day, but we managed everything.
Der Umzug war anstrengend, weil die Möbel sehr schwer waren und das Haus keine Aufzüge hatte.
The move was exhausting because the furniture was very heavy and the building had no elevators.
Die Arbeit war sehr anstrengend.
The work was very exhausting.
Details
Mnemonics
Imagine a long uphill climb labeled 'anstrengend' that drains energy.
Sounds like 'and-stretch-end' — stretching until the end is exhausting.
Notes
A participial adjective derived from 'anstrengen'. Can be used attributively and predicatively. Comparative and superlative forms are regular.