{"id":10838,"date":"2019-06-26T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T06:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=10838"},"modified":"2019-06-25T09:46:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T09:46:20","slug":"the-german-word-zeug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-word-zeug\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Word ‘Zeug’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at a very small, but very versatile German word: das Zeug.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simply put, Zeug (das) means thing<\/strong>, or stuff<\/strong>. It is quite common to hear people say things like \u2018Was ist das f\u00fcr ein Zeug?\u2019<\/strong> (\u2018What kind of thing\/stuff is this?\u2019).<\/p>\n

Zeug can refer to one thing, or several things (stuff). For example:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. At a Flohmarkt, looking at a stall full of weird items: \u2018Was ist das f\u00fcr ein Zeug?\u2019<\/li>\n
  2. In a shop, picking a gadget off the shelf and looking more closely at it: \u2018Was ist das f\u00fcr ein Zeug?\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In this way, the word das Zeug is useful as a placeholder, much like the word das Ding<\/strong> (the thing). It is also slightly dismissive when used this way, suggesting the item(s) in question is a bit rubbish. Parents often use the word Zeug when telling their kids to tidy up: ‘R\u00e4um dein Zeug weg!’<\/strong> (‘Tidy your stuff away!’).<\/p>\n

    \"\"

    Zeug – stuff, mess, things. Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

    The word Zeug is related to the verb ziehen: to pull.<\/strong> That’s because it used to refer to tools used to \u2018pull\u2019 or \u2018bring\u2019 things to you (think horses and carts, etc.). When we see how else the word Zeug is used today in the German language, this connection starts to make sense.<\/p>\n

    The flight stuff<\/h3>\n

    Many German words end in -zeug.<\/strong> Here are a few of them, along with their literal definitions and their meanings. Do you notice a pattern among them?<\/p>\n

    Das Flugzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The flight stuff\/thing\u2019
    \nAeroplane (airplane)<\/p>\n

    \"\"

    Man looking at flight stuff. Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Das Spielzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The play stuff\u2019
    \nToys<\/p>\n

    Das Strickzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The knit stuff\u2019
    \nKnitting utensils<\/p>\n

    Das Werkzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The work stuff\u2019
    \nWorkbox tools<\/p>\n

    Das Schlagzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The hit stuff\u2019
    \nDrumkit<\/p>\n

    Das Feuerzeug
    \n<\/b>\u2018The fire stuff\u2019
    \nLighter\/matches<\/p>\n

    \"\"

    Fire stuff. Image via Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Das Schreibzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The write stuff\u2019
    \nStationery<\/p>\n

    Das Fahrzeug
    \n<\/b>\u2018The drive stuff\u2019
    \nVehicle<\/p>\n

    Das Gr\u00fcnzeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The green stuff\u2019
    \nGreenery, or salad<\/p>\n

    Das Badezeug<\/strong>
    \n\u2018The bathing stuff\u2019
    \nSwimming attire<\/p>\n

    Do you see the pattern?<\/p>\n

    Because these are compound nouns, in theory you could add -zeug<\/strong> onto anything to create your own word. If you\u2019re a bit of a coffee connoisseur and have lots of coffee-making equipment at home, for example, you could refer to it collectively as your Kaffeezeug<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

    I hope this post on das Zeug<\/strong> has been helpful.<\/p>\n

    Bis bald (see you soon).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at a very small, but very versatile German word: das Zeug. Simply put, Zeug (das) means thing, or stuff. It is quite common to hear people say things like \u2018Was ist das f\u00fcr ein Zeug?\u2019 (\u2018What kind of thing\/stuff is this?\u2019). Zeug can refer to one thing, or several things…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":10840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[503854,457052,95131,960,457016,451644,376023,3016,13,1401,504114],"class_list":["post-10838","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-curious-words","tag-flugzeug","tag-german-language","tag-german-vocab","tag-german-vocabulary","tag-german-words","tag-language","tag-placeholders","tag-vocabulary","tag-words","tag-zeug"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10838"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10847,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10838\/revisions\/10847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}