{"id":11587,"date":"2020-04-01T23:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T23:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11587"},"modified":"2020-04-01T11:56:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T11:56:42","slug":"german-bad-luck-pech-and-ungluck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-bad-luck-pech-and-ungluck\/","title":{"rendered":"German Bad Luck: Pech And Ungl\u00fcck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch gut (Hello! I hope you are all well)! We recently talked about Gl\u00fcck<\/strong> (luck) on the blog. In case you missed those posts, they are here<\/a> and here.<\/a> Now we\u2019re going to talk about its opposite, bad luck, which is a very interesting word in itself in German!<\/p>\n

The word for luck in German is das Gl\u00fcck<\/strong>, and the word for bad luck is das Ungl\u00fcck<\/strong> \u2013 the \u2018un-luck\u2019. While this seems pretty straight-forward, it\u2019s not as straight-forward as it seems, because there are actually TWO words for \u2018bad luck\u2019 in German, the other one being das Pech.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will get into the differences between Ungl\u00fcck and Pech in a moment. First of all, we\u2019ll look at the word Pech in more detail.<\/p>\n

das Pech \u2013 bad luck<\/h3>\n
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Image: Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

To understand why Pech<\/strong> means bad luck<\/em>, we have to look at the word\u2019s meaning and its history. Pech<\/strong> is a sticky, tar-like substance known as pitch<\/em> in English.<\/p>\n

In medieval times, Pech was used to assist in the hunting of birds. It was used to coat tree branches, so that when birds landed on the branches, they became stuck, and hunters could catch them easily. So you could say it is bad luck \u2013 Pech \u2013 for the bird who lands on the Pech!<\/p>\n

This is where the German \u2018untranslatable word\u2019 der Pechvogel<\/strong> \u2013 \u2018the pitch bird\u2019 – originates. A Pechvogel<\/strong> is someone who always seems to have bad luck.<\/p>\n

das Pech or das Ungl\u00fcck?<\/h3>\n
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Pech. Image by Sarah Kilian at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

So if they both mean \u2018bad luck\u2019, how do you know when to use das Pech, and when to use das Ungl\u00fcck? There is a subtle difference of meaning between the two.<\/p>\n

Das Ungl\u00fcck<\/strong> is primarily used for more serious situations, like accidents, misfortunes and other disasters. Meanwhile, das Pech<\/strong> is primarily used for less serious situations, like if you miss the bus or spill your coffee.<\/p>\n

Das Ungl\u00fcck<\/strong> \u2013 accident, misfortune, disaster, calamity
\nDas Pech<\/strong> \u2013 bad luck, hard luck, tough luck<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, for example, what happened at Chernobyl would be classed as Ungl\u00fcck.<\/p>\n

But if you stepped in dog poo twice in one day, this would be classed as Pech.<\/p>\n

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Ungl\u00fcck. Image by Nick Agus Arya at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

I hope this has been helpful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch gut (Hello! I hope you are all well)! We recently talked about Gl\u00fcck (luck) on the blog. In case you missed those posts, they are here and here. Now we\u2019re going to talk about its opposite, bad luck, which is a very interesting word in itself in German!…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":11463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[95131,95391,376023,95390,532861,533031],"class_list":["post-11587","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-german-language","tag-gluck","tag-language","tag-luck","tag-pech","tag-ungluck"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t