I’ve got this correction for my writing practices a few times so I’d like to clarify this moment.
I’ve always used the verb sprechen
with the preposition über
and the verb besprechen
without any preposition at all.
Sometimes I get texts with besprechen
corrected to use this verb with the über
preposition. I have tried searching it on the internet and found only examples without this preposition.
So my question is whether this correction is right or not.
You are right, “besprechen” is used without a preposition. Rather, it tends to replace the “über” used with “sprechen”
For example:
“Ich spreche mit Peter über das Projekt.”
versus
“Ich bespreche das Projekt mit Peter.”
So – in my humble opinion – the correction you are getting is not right. Hope this helps a bit!
@ameliea thank you for your reply! When it’s about learning a language, I always prefer to recheck what I know.
I also agree with @ameliea, besprechen is used mostly without a preposition because it replaces the über. But the way I like to think about it is: etw. besprechen = discuss sth. vs. sprechen über etw. = speak about sth.
In English you would never add another preposition to the verb discuss, the only thing missing is “with ___” but even that is optional. As with discuss, besprechen has a more formal ring to it and is more often used in professional settings.
I hope this helps!