Tag Archives: german words
The Corona Chronicles in Germany Part 3 Posted by Larissa on May 19, 2020
I hope all of you are staying safe and well. Here is my monthly update on how the situation is in Germany! Here in Germany the restrictions are continuing to lift and sometimes there is a sense of normality again. You can find part one and part two of my corona chronicles in Germany here…
3 Tips For Remembering German Plurals Posted by Larissa on Jan 28, 2020
There are a lot of rules in German for forming plurals. In English it is a bit easier, as we mostly just add an “s” onto the end of the word (of course there are still some exceptions). The other day when I was teaching a fitness class, I realized I didn’t know what the…
German ‘Non-Word’ of 2019 Posted by Constanze on Jan 15, 2020
Linguists from the Technische Universität Darmstadt have decided on the German Unwort des Jahres (the ‘non-word of the year’) 2019. The Unwort des Jahres is ‘Klimahysterie’. At the end of every year, the GfdS (German Language Association) picks a word for its Wort des Jahres (Word of the Year). This is a word that’s been…
German Word of the Year 2019 Runners Up Posted by Constanze on Jan 1, 2020
Guten Tag! Each year, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS) – The German Language Association – picks a word as their Wort des Jahres – ‘Word of the Year’. This is often a word related to a prominent topic in the country during the year, and is usually interesting from a linguistic perspective, too. The…
The Germans on the Germans: North & South Posted by Constanze on Nov 27, 2019
Hallo! Every country has names for people from different regions within that country. In this post we will look at what people from northern Germany call people from southern Germany, and vice-versa (for a post on east and west Germany, click here!). *Please note: The point of learning about these words is not to encourage anybody…
The Austrians on The Germans Posted by Constanze on Oct 30, 2019
Guten Tag! Recently we talked about the word Kraut which, as well as being the German word for ‘herb’, is an offensive term for a German person. In this mini-series, we will look at some words the Swiss, Germans, Bavarian-Germans, and Austrians use to describe one another. Some are meant in a derogatory way, whilst…
Similar German Words: Stimme, Stimmung, stimmen Posted by Constanze on Sep 11, 2019
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at three words that appear extremely similar, but which have different meanings. It can be confusing to a language learner to see a word that you think you recognise, only to find out it means something else entirely. So let’s start with three words: Stimme, Stimmung, and stimmen…