Is there a word for “to be able to trust”, because “anvertraubar” does not exist?

Question

I want to use the suffix -bar to transform the word anvertrauen (to trust something to somebody) to change it meaning to to be able to trust. As a native German speaker this sounds so right in my ears, i.e. anvertraubares Kapital (money to trust).

However, this word is not listed anywhere, so it does not exist? Is there a more correct form using vertrauen, any good short alternative, or is it fine to use anvertraubar?

Here are some sample sentences:

Ich vertraue dir Geld an. Ich kann dir X Euro anvertrauen. X Euro sind bei dir anvertraubar.

So, the word I'm seeking is describing the money, not the person.

Answer 1

Obviously, 'anvertraubar' does exist. Dictionaries just don't list all possible or rare derivations of words. But 'anvertraubar' is a correctly formed and comprehensible adjective. It requires a copular verb (Kopulaverb: sein, werden, bleiben,…) to which it is a predicative adjective (anvertraubar sein), and this will usually require a dative object to form a complete statement:

    {Etwas/Jemand}ᴺᴼᴹ ist {jemandem/etwas}ᴰᴬᵀ anvertraubar.

Das Geld ist dir anvertraubar. (not: 'bei dir anvertraubar')

Attributive use in a noun phrase:

    der/die/das {jemandem/etwas}ᴰᴬᵀ anvertraubare {etwas/jemand}

Technically, the adjective describes the subject or the noun, but on the semantic level it is of course a statement about the person/thing that can be entrusted with the subject. That's just in the meaning of the word: The prefix 'an-' in 'anvertrauen' signals the transfer of something in a trustful manner.

But there are also examples of different uses, e.g., to describe that trust can be put into something that is desirable or expected to happen in something. It is here somewhat close to "zutraubar" (which is also not listed in your dictionary).

"Normalerweise ist es dem Prozess der Vertrauensbildung und der Pflege der Beziehung gut anvertraubar, dass sich die in neuen Bekanntschaften anfangs oft geschärfte Wirkungssuche schließlich verläuft." (Nicole Diercks: "Nie mehr weg von mir! Stärker nach Burnout", 2015)

Answer 2

What you are looking for is

vertrauenswürdig

»Anvertraubar« is also a correct German word, but it means something else:

anvertraubar

I never used this wird, and it is hard to find a context where this word is the right choice, but I try it:

Dieses Konto beinhaltet anvertaubares Kapital.
This bank account contains trustable capital.

This means that the capital can be trusted (given in good conscience) to someone. So this word describes a property of the capital.

vertrauenswürdig

This word is more common.

Walter ist sehr vertrauenswürdig, ihm kannst du das Geld geben.
Walter is very trustworthy, you can give him the money.

This means that Walter is reliable. You can trust him. He is »worth to be trusted«. So this word describes a property of a person (or institution) to whom you are giving something valuable.

Answer 3

I find it very amusing that the other answer correctly states what you are looking for but says that that is not the answer.

You can indeed say anvertraubar in the situation you want to use it in. To be honest, I cannot think of a situation at all where I would use that kind of sentence in either German or English, but given your constraints, anvertraubar is the word you are looking for.

The suffix -bar is productive in modern German, so it is able to form new words according to the established rules. Otherwise, there would be no discussion about how dreadful the word unkaputtbar is.

Also note that being an understandable German word and being listed in the Duden are two separate properties. The first is neither sufficient nor required for the second.

(Are you really sure you want to say that, or is that some bank-y thing that I just cannot understand?)

Answer 4

You are on the right track, but -bar is not the right suffix. The correct form is vertrauenswürdig, which translates into English as "trustworthy," rather than "able to trust."

Answer 5

The sentence

X Euro sind dir anvertraubar.

(note: without the bei ) is correct, but a bit uncommon in german language. You could use instead the direct translation of it can be trusted to you:

X Euro können dir anvertraut werden.

X Euro kann man dir anvertrauen.