{"id":11565,"date":"2020-03-25T23:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T23:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11565"},"modified":"2020-03-25T12:21:38","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T12:21:38","slug":"the-german-word-gluck-happiness-or-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-word-gluck-happiness-or-luck\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Word ‘Gl\u00fcck’: Happiness Or Luck?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Recently I\u2019ve been talking about das Gl\u00fcck<\/strong> (luck) on the blog, and I wanted to address something that could be confusing about this word.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image: Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

If you studied German in school, one of the first adjectives you probably learnt was the word for happy<\/em> – gl\u00fccklich<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ich bin gl\u00fccklich<\/strong> \u2013 I am happy
\nIch bin traurig<\/strong> \u2013 I am sad
\nIch bin m\u00fcde<\/strong> \u2013 I am tired<\/p>\n

And so on.<\/p>\n

If this is the case, you probably accepted from then on that to be gl\u00fccklich<\/strong> is to be happy, <\/strong>and das Gl\u00fcck <\/strong>means happiness<\/strong>. And this is true- but what you might not have learnt is that das<\/strong> Gl\u00fcck <\/strong>is also the word for luck.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So how do you know whether it’s luck or happiness that’s being spoken about?<\/h4>\n

If you say a person<\/strong> is gl\u00fccklich,<\/strong> it means they are happy.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You cannot say a person is lucky<\/strong> (‘ist gl\u00fccklich<\/span>‘) in German. If you say \u2018Sie ist gl\u00fccklich\u2019, this means \u2018She is happy\u2019. It doesn’t mean \u2018She is lucky\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lots of luck. Image: Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

So how do you say in German that someone – or something – is lucky?<\/h4>\n

The trick is that, when talking about luck, you don\u2019t use the verb sein (to be), but the verb haben (to have)<\/strong>. In German, a person has<\/em> luck.<\/p>\n

Sie hat Gl\u00fcck.<\/strong>
\nShe\u2019s lucky\/she\u2019s in luck.<\/p>\n

Da hast du Gl\u00fcck gehabt!
\n<\/strong>Wow, you were lucky!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another reason this can confuse is because the words happiness<\/em> and luck<\/i> are relatively close in meaning, and when people talk about being lucky they are usually also happy, or talking about happiness. Take these sentences, for instance:<\/p>\n

Ich bin gl\u00fccklich, dass ich hier wohnen kann.
\n<\/strong>I am happy I can live here.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich habe Gl\u00fcck, dass ich hier wohnen kann.
\n<\/strong>I am lucky I can live here.
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both of these sentences might be said about the same situation (getting to live in a certain place). The person might feel incredibly lucky<\/em> to live there, which in turn makes them incredibly happy<\/em>. But can you tell the difference between the use of gl\u00fccklich sein<\/strong> (to be happy) and Gl\u00fcck haben <\/strong>(to have luck) in them?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re ever stuck on this, just remember the following table:<\/p>\n

\n

gl\u00fccklich sein = to be happy
\nGl\u00fcck haben = to be lucky (\u2018have luck\u2019)<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This sentence is also a good example of how the two versions of Gl\u00fcck work:<\/p>\n

Er hat im Leben viel Gl\u00fcck gehabt<\/em>, und ist doch niemals gl\u00fccklich<\/em> gewesen.
\n<\/strong>He’d had a lot of luck<\/em> in life, but had never been happy.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope this has been of some help!<\/p>\n

<\/b>To finish, see if you can decipher from these sentences whether they are talking about happiness, or luck:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ich bin so gl\u00fccklich, dass du hier bist<\/li>\n
  2. Er hat aber Gl\u00fcck gehabt<\/li>\n
  3. Sie sind alle so gl\u00fccklich<\/li>\n
  4. Gl\u00fccklich ist, wer vergisst, was nicht mehr zu \u00e4ndern ist<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Bis bald!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    Guten Tag! Recently I\u2019ve been talking about das Gl\u00fcck (luck) on the blog, and I wanted to address something that could be confusing about this word. If you studied German in school, one of the first adjectives you probably learnt was the word for happy – gl\u00fccklich. Ich bin gl\u00fccklich \u2013 I am happy Ich…<\/p>\n

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