You may already know the noun der Schlag and the verb schlagen:

Eine Ohrfeige ist ein Schlag auf die Wange.

A slap is a blow to the cheek.

Caption 34, Bundesländer und ihre Rezepte: Baden-Württemberg

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Sie schlagen mit ihren Flossen auf die Oberfläche, um die Möwen anzulocken.

They strike their fins on the surface to attract gulls.

Captions 75-76, Die Top Ten: Die 12 freundlichsten Meerestiere der Welt

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Both Schlag and schlagen have to do with "hitting" or "striking" something. But did you know that they are the root words for over a thousand German nouns and verbs? Let's take a look first at some common nouns with Schlag as their root word:

Der Anschlag, ja.  -Da war dann alles völlig anders. -Am 11. September.

The attack, yes. -Then everything was completely different there. -On September 11th.

Captions 53-54, Dieter Kränzlein: Bildhauer

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Wenn dir der Vorschlag zu riskant ist, dann mieten wir die Fahrräder einfach nur bei dir.

If the proposal is too risky for you, then we'll just rent the bikes from you.

Captions 25-26, Nicos Weg: Praktisch!

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Ich spiele viel Klavier auch sonst, aber ich spiel' auch Schlagzeug.

I play... I play a lot of piano also otherwise, but I also play drums.

Caption 58, Rockfabrik-Open-Air: Love-Street-Interview

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It's pretty clear how the root word Schlag is related to the noun der Anschlag ("the attack"). It's less clear, however, how the root word is related to der Vorschlag ("the proposal"). If you reduce das Schlagzeug to its root words, you have der Schlag and das Zeug, which could render "drums" into the literal translation "hit thing!" There is a certain logic here, however, as a drum is something that is struck.

Let's follow up with some verbs:

Und der Treves wurde vom Amt beschlagnahmt. -Ja, das war eine sehr, sehr schlechte Haltung.

And Treves was seized by the pound. -Yes, that was a very, very bad situation.

Caption 12, Ein Herz für Tiere: Tierschutzhof in Huggenhardt

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Die anderen Steine können durchschlagen.

The other stones can penetrate.

Caption 47, Es war einmal... der Weltraum: Planet Omega

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Der einst in Berlin ansässige Kunsthandel des jüdischen Paares wurde von den Nationalsozialisten zerschlagen.

Once based in Berlin, the art business of the Jewish couple was destroyed by the National Socialists.

Captions 6-7, Restituierung von Raubkunst: aus der Nazi-Zeit

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With verbs too, the relation to schlagen is sometimes clearer: durchschlagen ("to penetrate") may also be translated more literally as "to break through." The verb zerschlagen also has an element of hitting or striking in its meaning "to destroy." It's not as clear, however, how beschlagnahmen ("to seize") is connected with its root word.

Very often you have to go back centuries to Middle or Old German to find out how the words were originally related before their meaning changed over time. Sometimes even linguists aren't certain how the words came to have such different meanings from their root words!

Further Learning
Read through this list of words that use der Schlag and schlagen as root words, and look some of them up on Yabla German to see them used in a real-world context.

We've covered expressing opinions in German, but what about when you believe something to be true, but aren't completely sure? There are many different verbs for expressing what you assume or suspect to be the case. 

The verbs vermuten and ahnen are rather neutral ways of suspecting something, whereas the verb verdächtigen is used primarily in the context of crime or wrongdoing.

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Man vermutet, hier ist irgendwas in der Lüftung vom Willy-Brandt-Haus.

One suspects there is something in the ventilation here in the Willy-Brandt-Haus.

Caption 75, heute-show: Die männliche Merkel hat Erinnerungslücken

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Von all dem ahnt man oben nichts, denn die vielfältigen Geheimnisse der Alpenseen bleiben meist verborgen.

Of all of this, you would suspect nothing from above, because the diverse secrets of the Alpine lakes stay mostly hidden.

Captions 31-32, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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Sie haben den Chip also nur demontiert, damit wir ihn nicht finden und Sie nicht verdächtigen?

You only took the chip out so that we wouldn't find it and wouldn't suspect you?

Caption 23, Großstadtrevier: Neben der Spur

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The separable verb annehmen, and the verbs vermuten and mutmaßen can all be translated as "to assume." However, it is especially common to use the phrase davon ausgehen. 

Das ist wahrscheinlich sehr viel Arbeit auch, nehm ich an.

That's probably a lot of work too, I assume.

Caption 39, Der Fotograf: Sven Siegrist

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Er untersucht die genaue Herkunft von Kunstwerken im Museum Wiesbaden, von denen man annehmen könnte, dass sie während der Zeit der Nationalsozialisten unrechtmäßig und illegal ins Haus gelangten.

He is investigating the exact origin of artworks in the Wiesbaden Museum, that could be assumed to have entered the building unjustly and illegally during the Nazi era.

Captions 19-21, Restituierung von Raubkunst: aus der Nazi-Zeit

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Ich gehe mal davon aus, dass wir circa sechzig Prozent internationale Schüler haben werden.

I am assuming that we will have around sixty percent international students.

Caption 85, Strothoff International School: Interview mit dem Rektor

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Lange gingen Astronomen davon aus, dass die Asteroiden Überbleibsel einer kosmischen Katastrophe, Bruchstücke eines zerborstenen Planeten irgendwo zwischen Mars und Jupiter seien.

Astronomers long assumed that asteroids were small remnants of a cosmic catastrophe, broken pieces of a planet blown apart somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.

Captions 17-19, Unser Universum: Asteroiden - Gefahr aus dem All?

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Further Learning
It being Monday, use the examples above and others on Yabla German to construct a few sentences about your expectations for the week. What do you assume will happen the same way it always does? What do you suspect might be different?