Meaning of Stelle

[fritzad]

I'm having a little trouble understanding the meaning and grammer of the following sentance. "Stelle Sie sicher, das Sie das Meeting jedem ankundigen, der dort da zu sein hat". I can't quite get the meaning of what's being said in the phrase Stelle Sie sicher. I don't understand Stelle! What does Stelle mean in this phrase. I assume this is a verb and if so why isn't the conjugation Stellen with an n at the end. Also in the last part of the sentance, don't dort and da both mean the same thing so it almost sounds like a german stutter. Why not just say "der dort zu sein hat" or "der da zu sein hat".

[Salivia_Baker]

I find this sentence rather weird as well.
And it should be "Stellen" with an n when using Sie. it would be Stelle if you adress the other person as du.

the verb is sicherstellen = to make sure.

da can be used as hier or dort. If you say someone should be present we often use da sein. that's how it is used here. (just like you can say in english "to be there"). Dort is the meeting place, where people gather.
As you said, you can simply say "der da zu sein hat".

[fritzad]

Thanks a lot for your explanation Salivia it was quite good. I guess I'm so used to seeing sicher as a stand alone word, such as in "bist du sicher?" that it never occured to me that it was the seperable prefix part of the verb sicherstellen which I hadn't come across before. The differences between the usage and meanings of da and dort was also interesting. Thanks again.

[Salivia_Baker]

gern geschehen.