verb
recommend, advise
A1
Meanings: recommend, advise. It's a strong irregular verb (stem e→ie in du/er; simple past empfahl; past participle empfohlen). Uses auxiliary haben. Non‑reflexive. Typical construction: jemandem etwas empfehlen—person in dative, thing in accusative. Not separable; imperative forms irregular (du empfiehl!). Commonly used for recommendations of places, products, or actions.
Examples
Ich habe dir das schon empfohlen.
I already recommended that to you.
Ich empfehle dieses Buch allen meinen Freunden.
I recommend this book to all my friends.
Er empfahl mir ein gutes Restaurant.
He recommended a good restaurant to me.
Details
Mnemonics
Picture a friend pointing to a book and saying 'this one!' — that pointing gesture helps you remember 'empfehlen' = to recommend.
Think 'emp-FELL-en' — imagine someone 'falling' onto a good idea to remember you 'recommend' it.
Notes
Empfehlen is typically transitive and commonly used with a person in the dative and a thing in the accusative (jemandem etwas empfehlen). In perfect tenses it uses haben (hat empfohlen). The present has a stem vowel change in some persons (ich empfehle — er empfiehlt).