71 Expressing and enquiring about availability
It is not always possible to draw a clear line between presence and availability, thus
all expressions listed for presence (see 69.1) can also be used for availability. The items
in this section imply that something is present elsewhere and that someone wants to
get hold of it.71.1 Making or having something available
(a) For making something available to someone, use jmdm. etw. leihen ‘to let sb.
have (the use of) sth.’ in informal contexts:Ich leihe Ihnen gern meinen Wagen.
I’ll be happy to let you have the use of my car.Note that in colloquial usage borgen can be used here instead of leihen:Ich borge Ihnen gern meinen Wagen. (colloquial)
I’ll be happy to let you have the use of my car.See also 71.6 (p. 223) for borrowing.
(b) More formally one of the following can be used:jmdm. etw. zur Verfügung stellen ‘to make sth. available to sb.’
jmdm. steht etw. (= nom.) zur Verfügung ‘sth. is available to sb.’
über etw. (= acc.) verfügen ‘to have sth. at one’s disposal’
jmdm. etw. aus*händigen ‘to hand over/issue sth. to sb.’Verfügung also means ‘permission’ or ‘authority’; jmdm. etw. zur Verfügung stellen
means ‘to make something available to somebody/put something at someone’s
disposal’.Ich stelle Ihnen meinen Wagen gern zur Verfügung.
You can have my car willingly (lit. I’ll gladly make my car available to
you).See^12 (pp. 17–18) for the word order of noun and pronoun.
Die Gemälde wurden freundlicherweise von der Tate Gallery in
London zur Verfügung gestellt.
The paintings were kindly made available by the Tate Gallery in
London.Mein Wagen steht Ihnen jederzeit zur Verfügung.
You can use my car any time.Als Dolmetscher muss man über einen großen Wortschatz verfügen.
As an interpreter one must have a large vocabulary at one’s disposal.A more official and formal way of expressing the handing over of something is jmdm.
etw. aus*händigen:71
Expressing availability