#german language
My German professor: How do you say, “My friend cannot cut hair?”
Me: Meine Freundin kannst nicht Haare schlafen. (”My friend cannot sleep hair”)
Professor:
official-german-translationen:
No matter how kind you are, German children are kinder
hey! ive been active here before, but never really introduced myself, so here you go!
basics
im enfys seren toive, 20, german native, university student (studying finnish and scandinavian studies along with dapping into some other stuff in the general studies field)
languages im learning
are finnish, swedish, danish, and esperanto! along with some slight dabbing into some other languages
i want to
become a translator/interpreter once im finished with university!
hello hello! if youre focusing on any of the languages im studying, feel free to lmk! i need to follow more blogs
Sivu yksi ja takakansi - page one and the back cover - Seite eins und die Rückseite
merkillinen - weird, strange - komisch, seltsam, merkwürdig
luonnonilmiö - natural phenomenon - Naturerscheinung, Naturereignis
tulkita - translate, interpret, explain - dolmetschen, erklären, interpretieren
tuho - downfall, ruin, doom - Untergang, Verderben, Ruin, Vernichtung
merkki - sign; stamp; utterance, expression - Zeichen; Briefmarke; Äußerung
kaukainen - far away - fern
tähtitorni - observatory - Sternwarte
selvä - bright; clear; clean - hell; deutlich; sauber
omituinen - specific; weird; curious, odd - eigentümlich; spezifisch; seltsam
pyrstötähti - comet - Komet
-> pyrstö - tail (as in a horse’s tail, an animal’s tail) - Schweif, Schwanz
liittyä - to belong to something; to join - sich jmd. anschließen; zu etw. gehören
neuvokas - perceptive, smart, innovative - erfinderisch, scharfsinnig, klug
viehättävä - delighting, enchanting; charming - begeisternd, entzückend; charmant
-> viehättää - delight, enchant - entzücken; begeistern, hinreißen
taival - distance - Strecke, Entfernung
edetä - get ahead, keep on going - weiter gehen, vorwärts kommen
huima - wild, untamed - unbändig, ungestüm, wild
seikkailu - adventure - Abenteuer
varoittaa - warn smb. from smth. - jmd. vor etw. warnen
vaarallinen - dangerous - gefährlich
syöksyä - fall - stürzen, fallen
uhkaava - threatening - drohend, bedrohlich
-> uhata - threaten - jmd. (be)drohen
kohti + Partitiivi - towards smth. - auf etw. zu
jolloin - where; whem; as, when - wo; wann; als, da
vievä - time-consuming - zeitraubend
saada valmiksi - to finish smth., get done with smth. - etw. zu Ende bringen, mit etw. fertig werden
otus - animal; beast - Tier; Biest; Vieh
keksiä - make up, discover - erfinden, entdecken
kummallinen - weird, strange - komisch, seltsam, merkwürdig
eräs - one - ein, eine, eins
aivan - entirely - ganz, genau, völlig
painua - sink; give in; boost smth. - sinken, untergehen; nachgeben; antreiben
tutkia - investigate smth. - etw. untersuchen, etw. erkunden
uskaltaa - dare - wagen, den Mut haben, sich trauen
varjoinen - shady (as in, a shady place, not a shady person) - schattig
panna - put - setzen, stellen, legen
oksa - branch - Ast
risti - cross - Kreuz
loikkia - jump, walk with big steps - springen, mit großen Schritten laufen
käpälä - paw - Pfote, Tatze
täynnä - full of - voll, voller
niitty - meadow - Wiese
Genetiivi + halki - across - über, durch, quer durch
virrata - flow - strömen, fließen, rinnen
kaartaa - bend - biegen, krümmen
kattaa - cover; encompass - decken; umfassen, beinhalten
seutu - area, region, surrounding - Gegend, Region, Umgebung
ihmetellä - wonder, admire - sich wundern, staunen, etw. bewundern
mahtaa - may, must - dürfen, mögen, werden, müssen
ihmeellinen - weird, strange; phenomenal - komisch, seltsam; phänomenal
miettiä - to think about smth. - an etw. denken, über etw. nachdenken
NOTE: I translated the words into German first, then into English, so the German translations are betterthan the English ones!
NOTE 2: etw. - etwas; jmd. - jemanden; jemandem; jemand
Cowboys
nouns
derCowboy- the cowboy
dasCowgirl- the cowgirl
dasPferd- the horse
dieFarm- the farm
dieRanch- the ranch
derBauernhof- the farm (however this has less of a cowboy connotation and is moreso a farm in general)
derCowboyhut- the cowboy hat
dieCowboystiefel(Sg. der Cowboystiefel) - the cowboy boots
derSattel- the saddle
der Wilde Westen - the wild west
dasLasso- the lasso
dieKuh- the cow
der Stier- the bull
derIndianer/dieIndianerin- the native american
adjectives
wild- wild
frei- free
verbs
reiten- to ride (only with horses and other animals)
hüten- to herd
galoppieren- to gallop
das Lasso schwingen- to wield the lasso
LGBT
nouns
dieLesbe- the lesbian
dieLGBT-Community- the LGBT community
derRegenbogen- the rainbow
diePride/das Pride-Festival- the pride (festival)
dieFahne/dieFlagge- the flag
der/dieBi/Pan/A/Homosexuelle- the bi/pan/homosexual (i know h*m*sexual is considered a slur by some in english, but i am not sure about how it is in german. i personally would be uncomfortable with it, so ask people first before you apply it to them)
dieEhe für alle - the same-sex/gender marriage (lit. marriage for everyone)
diePolyamorie- the polyamory
diePolygamie- the polygamy
dieBeziehung - the relationship
dieHormone- the hormones
dieGeschlechtsangleichung- i dont know how to translate this one, but it can be used both for taking hormones and the surgeries transgender people can get, basically it means aligning your social/biological gender/sex to your actual one
dasÖstrogen - the estrogen
dasTestosteron - the testosterone
dieHormontherapie- the hormone replacement therapy
adjectives
schwul- gay (onlyto be used by men in my experience)
lesbisch- lesbian
bi/pan/a/homosexuell- bi/pan/a/homosexual
transgender- transgender
transgeschlechtlich- transgender
transsexuell- transsexual (also considered outdated and misleading by most germans)
LGBT- LGBT
out- out
stolz- proud
nicht-binär/nichtbinär- nonbinary (i think its the same as in english, where whether you use the - or not depends on personal preference)
queer- queer (in german this is not really considered as much of a slur as it is in english and often used as an umbrella term, however there arepeople uncomfortable with it)
verbs
lieben- to love
feiern- to celebrate
sich outen - to come out
jemandenouten- to out someone
NOTE: most aces and aros also call themselves ace or aro in german, there arent any extra terms for that
Sternzeichen- zodiac signs
♈ - Widder (ram) means Aries
♉ - Stier (bull) means Taurus
♊ - Zwilling(e) (twins) means Gemini
♋ - Krebs (word for both cancer and crayfish) means Cancer
♌ - Löwe (lion) means Leo
♍ - Jungfrau (virgin, in old times used to refer to young women) means Virgo
♎ - Waage (scales) means Libra
♏ - Skorpion (scorpion) means Scorpio
♐ -Schütze (this nowadays refers mainly to people with guns, but in old times referred to people shooting with bow and arrow) means Sagittarius
♑ - Steinbock (ibex, apparently. it’s an animal) means Capricorn
♒ - Wassermann (literally translated: water man) means Aquarius
♓ - Fische (fish, plural) means Pisces
Valentinstag
nouns
derLiebesbrief- the love letter
dasGeschenk- the gift/present
diePralinen- the chocolates (a box of chocolates, mainly)
ein hoffnungsloser Romantiker - a hopeless romantic (m)
einehoffnungslose Romantikerin - a hopeless romantic (f)
dasDate- the date (romantic meeting)
derFlirt- the flirt (is mainly used to refer to a person you are flirting with)
dasKino- the cinema
derHeiratsantrag- the (marriage) proposal
dieVerlobung- the engagement
dieHochzeit- the wedding (ceremony)
dieEhe- the marriage
adjectives
romantisch- romantic
süß- cute, sweet (can be used to describe foods and people)
heiß- hot (for weather and people)
perfekt- perfect
atemlos- breathless, out of breath
verliebt- in love
verbs
lieben- to love
flirten- to flirt
mitjemandemausgehen- to go out with someone
jemandendaten- do date someone
einen Liebesbrief schreiben- to write a love letter
jemandenausführen- to invite someone out (this has a rather formal connotation, you wouldn’t say “ich führe dich zum Döneressen aus”, however “ich führe dich zum Dinner aus” is very much okay. things like the cinema probably depend on the person)
jemandemschmeicheln- to flatter someone
sichverloben- to get engaged
First week of Uni is done!
I just bought this academic year journal and it’s quite hard to fit in there
A book my dad bought me arrived yesterday! Idk if it’s good but I just needed something to exercise on since I don’t have any German-speaking friends and I am too introvert to find some (๑•﹏•)
Anyway, even though I am a little bit sick and tired of studying German (burn out yay!), I’ll definitely try the book out later today! ✨
In German we don’t ask “What’s the matter ?” or “What’s on your mind ?” when we are casually talking to somone who is in a bad mood, we say “Wo drückt der Schuh ? [voː dʀʏkt deːɐ̯ ˈʃuː]” which roughly translates to “Where does the shoe pinch ?” and I think that’s beautiful.
[resources:Wiktionary (in German),Sprichwörter & Redewendungen (in German),Redensarten-Index (in German),the article “Wo drückt denn der Schuh ?” published in the GEOlino (in German)anddict.cc]
But essentially you’re asking the ‘same’ question, both questions “What’s on your mind” and “What’s your pain” serve the same purpose - asking someone about their feelings when they are in a bad mood. It doesn’t matter whether or not I ask people the one or the other question because their answers would be the same.
In German we don’t say “Happy New Year” we say “Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr” which roughly translates to “A good slide into the new year" and may all your wishes come true.
Translation: In Germany, we don’t say “Hello, could you turn down the music ?”, we say “Yes, hello, Code Enforcement/Department of Order ? The neighbour still has loud music turned on at 10:01 pm*.
Yes, with emergency vehicle lighting*, please.”
*According to German law, a curfew is applied past 10 o’clock pm. (a law loved and appreciated by Germans :))
*lit. “blue light” - any sort of emergency/operational vehicle uses blue light to signal the urgency of the situation; here we would talk about the municipal-level law enforcement agency
[credit:this post by @jodelapp on instagram]
Translation: “IN GERMANY, THE OBLIGATION TO DRIVE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD PREVAILS ! You idiot* with your (Opel) Corsa better scoot off the left lane now !”
*lit. “evolutionary brake” - meaning somebody who represents an obstacle to evolution (very colloquial use)
[credit:this post by @best_of_jodel on instagram]
Cleo & Luise PDF ist auf deutsch downloadbar auf Gumroad :)
For girls:
- Süße
- Prinzessin
- Engel
- Maus/Mausi
- Schnecke
- Zuckerschnecke
- Kätzchen
- Liebste
- Herzallerliebste
- Elfchen
- Käfer
- Kätzchen
- Perle
For boys:
- Süßer
- Prinz
- Liebster
- Herzallerliebster
- Bär
- Katerchen
- Tiger
For both:
- Schatz/Schatzi/Schätzchen
- Liebling
- Hase/Hasi/Häschen
- Baby
- Babe
- Spatz
- Bärchen
- Goldschatz
- Goldstück
- Herzblatt
- Honigkuchenpferd
- Honey
- Igelchen
- Schnuckiputz
- Schnucki
- Augenstern
- Dicki
- Sonnenschein
okay okay okay
spring break! wahoo! maybe ill actually be able to finish this book
well, ive officially read my first book in german, even if i did have to struggle my way through it, and boy oh boy was it a doozy
deutsche sprache, schwere sprache
(aber eine interessante sprache!)
Deutche!