verletze

In a sentence

• Ich verletze mich, wenn ich nicht vorsichtig bin.

  I hurt myself if I am not careful.

  Here, 'verletze' is conjugated in the present tense and refers to the speaker causing injury to themselves.

• Wenn ich dich mit meinen Worten verletze, tut es mir leid.

  If I hurt you with my words, I am sorry.

  Here, 'verletze' describes causing emotional harm to another person, illustrating a metaphorical usage.

• Er sagt, dass er sich selten verletzt.

  He says that he rarely gets injured.

  In this example, the reflexive form 'verletzt' is passive, expressing the occurrence of getting hurt.