Guten Tag! Today we’re going to learn the five senses – die fünf Sinne – in German, as well as some related vocabulary. Let’s get started!

Die fünf Sinne – The five senses

Here are what the five, basic human senses are called in German:

HEARING: das Gehör
SIGHT: das Sehen
TOUCH: der Tastsinn
TASTE: der Geschmack
SMELL: der Geruchssinn

Usually when we talk about our senses on a day-to-day basis, we use the corresponding verbs to the above nouns –‘Ich höre nichts’ (‘I don’t hear anything’) when someone asks you to listen out for a particular sound, for example. So, here are the corresponding verbs with some example sentences:

HEARING: das Gehör

Corresponding body part: das Ohr (ear)
Corresponding verb: hören (to hear)
Ich kann dich nicht hören – I can’t hear you

SIGHT: das Sehen

Corresponding body part: das Auge (eye)
Corresponding verb: sehen (to see/watch)
Ohne Brille sehe ich nichts – I can’t see anything without glasses

TOUCH: der Tastsinn

Corresponding body part: die Haut (skin)
Corresponding verb: tasten (to feel for/touch)
Ich taste nach dem Lichtschalter – I feel around for the light switch
Note: This one is a little tricky. The verb tasten is not actually the best translation for the word ‘touch’! More accurate verbs are anfassen or berühren. But the verb tasten, from Tastsinn, is more about specifically using your sense of touch – ie. feeling around for something in the dark.

TASTE: der Geschmack

Corresponding body parts: der Mund (mouth) / die Zunge (tongue)
Corresponding verb: schmecken (to taste)
Wie schmeckt es? – How does it taste?

SMELL: der Geruchssinn

Corresponding body part: die Nase (nose)
Corresponding verb: riechen (to smell)
Riechst du das? – Can you smell that?

How do you say you’re hard of hearing, blind, or have no sense of smell? Here are a few words that will come in handy:

Blind – blind

Short-sighted – kurzsichtig

Long-sighted – weitsichtig

Deaf – taub

Hard of hearing – schwerhörig

Mute – stumm

Deaf and mute – taubstumm

Loss of sense of smell – der Geruchsverlust

Loss of sense of taste – die Geschmacksstörung

Loss of sense of touch – die Hypästhesie
(For example, you might lose your sense of: der Schmerz- pain, die Vibration- vibration, or die Temperatur- temperature)

Other senses

Of course, human beings have other senses, too. Der Gleichgewichtsinn is the sense of balance, for instance, and der sechste Sinn is the famous ‘sixth sense’! I will write a separate post on the sechste Sinn, where we will look at things like intuition, gut feelings, and psychic ability.

Bis dann (until then)!
Constanze

If you liked this post, you might like this one about a group of people who were employed to use their sense of smell to sniff out illegal coffee roasting!