{"id":11640,"date":"2020-04-22T23:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T23:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11640"},"modified":"2020-04-22T10:38:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T10:38:37","slug":"the-german-prefix-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-prefix-un\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Prefix ‘Un’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to talk about German nouns that start with \u2018Un\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like in English, there are many adjectives in German that begin with \u2018un\u2019<\/strong> to signify lack or negation. Some examples include the words unbequem<\/strong> (uncomfortable) and unverst\u00e4ndlich<\/strong> (unintelligible). In both English and German, removing the prefix \u2018un\u2019 from these examples would leave the original word:<\/p>\n

unbequem = uncomfortable<\/strong>
\nbequem = comfortable<\/strong><\/p>\n

unverst\u00e4ndlich = unintelligible<\/strong>
\nverst\u00e4ndlich = intelligible\/understandable<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

German nouns can also be prefixed with \u2018Un\u2019. But when it comes to German nouns, this prefix is used slightly differently, often taking the original word to its opposite extreme, and suggesting something bad, or horrifying. Here are some examples of German nouns, and their meanings with and without the \u2018Un\u2019 prefix:<\/p>\n

\"\"

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

das Wetter \u2013 Weather.<\/strong>
\ndas Unwetter<\/strong> \u2013 This is the German way of saying \u2018bad weather\u2019. But we\u2019re not talking just a bit of rainfall here; to be Unwetter, we\u2019re talking storms, hail, crazy winds, and so on. Weather that\u2019s so bad, the Germans can\u2019t seem to call it weather any more, so it becomes \u2018non-weather\u2019!<\/p>\n

das Tier \u2013 Animal.<\/strong>
\ndas Untier<\/strong> \u2013 This is the term for a wild, aggressive, untamed animal, sometimes referring to animals that aren\u2019t real but, rather, legendary, such as monsters. Like Unwetter, Untier is named so because it is so far \u2018beyond\u2019 a normal animal.<\/p>\n

die Zahl \u2013 Number, count.<\/strong>
\ndie Unzahl<\/strong> \u2013 This is what we\u2019d call a myriad or plethora in English. Basically it\u2019s a number so big, you can\u2019t count it. A \u2018non-number\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"

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

das Kraut \u2013 Herb<\/strong> (Also cabbage. For example, Sauerkraut \u2013 pickled cabbage – is sometimes shortened to Kraut).
\ndas Unkraut<\/strong> \u2013 The German word for weeds! And not simply weeds, but a big, unsightly mess<\/em> of weeds!<\/p>\n

das Gl\u00fcck \u2013 Luck.<\/strong>
\ndas Ungl\u00fcck<\/strong> \u2013 Although it also means \u2018bad luck\u2019, the word Ungl\u00fcck is used to refer to extreme<\/em> bad luck, such accidents, disasters, tragedies and so on. In other words, anything that is the exact opposite<\/em> of luck. I recently wrote a post about this word explaining it further, so if you\u2019d like to read that, please click here.<\/a>
\n*Note: Even the German word for accident, der Unfall<\/strong>, uses the Un<\/em> prefix to suggest an extreme opposite of its root word, der Fall. Der Fall<\/strong> means \u2018situation\u2019 or \u2018case\u2019, making an Unfall (accident) a \u2018non-situation\u2019.<\/p>\n

das Ding – Thing.<\/strong>
\ndas Unding –\u00a0<\/strong>This word, a ‘non-thing’, refers to something wrong, immoral, scandalous – basically, anything that should not be happening – it should not be ‘a thing’. It can also refer to something absurd, irrational or laughable.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s worth noting that some nouns use \u2018Un\u2019 in a more straight-forward manner. Here are some examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n

die Reinheit \u2013 purity
\ndie Unreinheit \u2013 impurity<\/p>\n

die Ehre \u2013 honour
\ndie Unehre \u2013 dishonour<\/p>\n

die Sichtbarkeit \u2013 visibility
\ndie Unsichtbarkeit \u2013 invisibility<\/p>\n

die Geduld \u2013 patience
\ndie Ungeduld – impatience<\/p>\n

I hope this has been interesting! If you liked this post, you might like this one on the German prefix ‘Ur’.<\/a><\/p>\n

Bis bald (see you soon)!<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to talk about German nouns that start with \u2018Un\u2019. Like in English, there are many adjectives in German that begin with \u2018un\u2019 to signify lack or negation. Some examples include the words unbequem (uncomfortable) and unverst\u00e4ndlich (unintelligible). In both English and German, removing the prefix \u2018un\u2019 from these examples would…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":11646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[503854,95131,6,376023,3007,110,2418,1401],"class_list":["post-11640","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-curious-words","tag-german-language","tag-grammar","tag-language","tag-noun","tag-nouns","tag-prefix","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640","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=11640"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11649,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640\/revisions\/11649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}