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There are some untranslatable German words that need to be explained.
To be fair guys, the English language is quite easy to learn. This comes from the general structure of your language. For example, compared to many other languages you don’t have genders, there is just ‘the’. Also, the conjugation of verbs follows some easy rules compared to other languages like French or Spanish. There are more good examples, but let’s focus on German now.
In fact, the German language is much more complex than English, and several other languages. But, despite this fact, in German we only have around 300.000 to 500.000 words in our dictionaries and in the English language there are up to 800.000. So congratulations, you win. (But this isn’t the only interesting fact about Germany.)
Even though your vocabulary is so much bigger than in German, we are using words in our daily life that have no proper translation. And you can get excited because we will show you some really strong words that will make you sound more German than some native speakers, which is great if you’re planning to travel there!
We want to show you 10 words that you should know when learning German. There is no proper translation to English, but we will make sure you will understand what they mean.
And, the best for you out of this, those words are actually used in the daily language between native German speakers, so let’s get right to it, though some of those words can be hard to listen to in daily life.
Table of Contents
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1. German Untranslatable Words List
1- Kindergarten
Literal Translation:
Children’s garden
Meaning:
Kindergarten is a form of preschool educational approach that is based on activities like singing, playing, drawing and interaction and is the transition period in Germany between home and school.
Example:
A mother or father is preparing their 1 to 6-year-old child in the morning before going to work with a sandwich and a small bag with new clothes. On the way to work the parent is dropping off their child in the kindergarten along with other parents and kids. He or she will get back after work to pick up her son or daughter.
Usage In A Sentence:
A quick note before we continue that sentence patterns are an important aspect of the German language, so you may want to brush up before continuing.
Onkel fragt: “Franz, gehst du gerne in den Kindergarten?” Franz antwortet: “Ja Onkel, ich gehe gerne in den Kindergarten!” (Franz is here the name of the kid) – Uncle asks: ‘Franz, do you like going to the kindergarten?’ and Franz answers ‘Yes, uncle I like going to the kindergarten!’
This form of pre-school education is well known in a lot of countries and usually, they even use the German word to describe it. Did you know that kindergarten has a long history?
2- Geborgenheit
Literal Translation:
Secureness, security
Meaning:
This refers to a state a person is in as well as having a feeling or sense of security and well-being.
Example:
You are sitting on the couch with your husband, your wife or even with your family in your home where you always feel comfortable. You have this deep feeling of security, protection, peace, trust. This is when you feel ‘geborgen’ which literally means secure.
Usage In A Sentence:
Mit seinem Partner zu Hause fühlt sie sich geborgen – With her partner at home she feels secure.
The feeling of ‘Geborgenheit’ means just so much more in the German language than you can describe in one word in English. When it all comes together from protection, happiness, warmth, love, trust, peace and comfort, just then you can get into this state. It really is a strong word.
3- Sturmfrei
Literal Translation:
Storm free
Meaning:
Having the house or apartment to oneself, caused by the absence of parents or flatmates.
Example:
Your parents are away for a couple of days doing a vacation trip and you are alone at home, then you have ‘sturmfrei’.
Usage In A Sentence:
Meine Eltern sind über das Wochenende nicht zu Hause, ich habe sturmfrei. – My parents are not at home over the weekend, I have ‘sturmfrei’.
A suiting English equivalent would be the saying, ‘When the cat’s away, the mice will play’. This refers a bit to making a home party when the parents are not at home. Well, sometimes this might be the case, but in Germany young people just enjoy to be alone at home without their parents, at least for a while.
4- Ohrwurm
Literal Translation:
Earworm
Meaning:
It might sound a bit strange, but and ‘Ohrwurm’ is nothing else than the situation when you have a song stuck in your head.
Example:
You are having a road trip with your friends and in the radio comes to a song that you know really good and you like it. The song is finished and in the next couple of hours, you can still sing the lyrics of it over and over again.
Usage In A Sentence:
Ich liebe dieses Lied, es ist ein echter Ohrwurm”. – I love this song, it gets stuck in my head.
By the way, to fix this issue and you would like that this song gets out of your head, just hear the song completely from the beginning to the end, because this usually happens, when you listen to a song and don’t finish it.
5- Dreikäsehoch
Literal Translation:
Three cheese high
Meaning:
This actually has nothing to do with cheese or food. It refers to a child that is not really tall, that has literally the same height like three wheels of cheese stack on top of each other. Ok, there we have the connection to cheese. To be fair, everybody likes cheese.
Example:
A kid is playing with his uncles and aunties on a family meeting and it gets a bit wild. Maybe the kid says something that he shouldn’t have said, so the uncle or aunt will call him a cheeky ‘Dreikäsehoch’.
Usage In A Sentence:
Sei nicht so frech, du Dreikäsehoch – Don’t be so cheeky, you three cheese high.
Usually, this word is just used when a kid has a bad behaviour or is a bit cheeky (or should I say cheesy) towards adults.
6- Wanderlust
Literal Translation:
Hiking lust/hiking desire
Meaning:
It describes a strong desire to travel and leave your comfort zone that usually is your home.
Example:
There is no real situation when using this word. It more refers to a deep desire that you feel when you are closed at home and you know you should be out there exploring the world, experiencing new cultures and cities while meeting new and awesome people all over the world.
Usage In A Sentence:
Die Wanderlust überkommt mich. – The hiking desire is establishing inside of me.
This has gotten quite popular around the younger generation all over the world. People use it as hashtags on their Instagram posts and even a movie is now called after this old German word which is filled with history and passion.
7- Fernweh
Literal Translation:
Distance pain
Meaning:
This literally just is the opposite of homesickness and something similar to ‘Wanderlust’.
Example:
You are coming back from a long holiday and you arriving with your plane at the airport, grabbing your suitcase. Then suddenly, you look out the window of the airport and see how planes taking off and a feeling inside of you that wants to go back to the beach or mountains where you just came back from
Usage In A Sentence:
Ich habe Fernweh. – I have distance pain.
‘Fernweh’ is actually something very similar to ‘Wanderlust*, but you need to differentiate here a bit. While ‘Wanderlust’ is the desire to be in a place away from home and exploring new things and feel the experience, with ‘Fernweh’ you are more thinking about a specific place where you have been already.
8- Fingerspitzengefühl
Literal Translation:
Fingertip-feeling
Meaning:
When someone has a great awareness of situations and is good at dealing with people and reading their needs. When having an appropriate and tactful sense for situations.
Example:
You know motorbike races on big tracks with high speed? The driver sometimes looks so concentrated and they navigate those powerful machines around the corner, where other people would struggle to get a car around.
Those drivers have such a good feeling for gas and brake of their bike that you could say in German they have the right fingertip-feeling for the bike.
Usage In A Sentence:
Er hat ein echtes Fingerspitzengefühl beim Verkaufen von Autos. – He has a real fingertip feeling when it comes to selling cars.
Often this term is used for describing how people deal with other people, but it is much more than that. If you are going after a certain hobby or work that requires a calm hand or precision you also can have this ability.
It can be really hard to pronounce the word. But luckily for you, there are resources you can use to get some help with this.
9- Fremdschämen
Literal Translation:
Be ashamed for a stranger
Meaning:
To be ashamed of someone else’s behalf.
Example:
Imagine you made a new friend and you want to hang out at home with him/her for a bit and present him/her to your parents. Your parents come home and they try to be really ‘cool’ with your friend and they are doing things that are just not appropriate for someone with their age. Then you are ashamed about the behalf of your parents.
Usage In A Sentence:
Ich muss mich für meine Eltern fremdschämen – I need to be ashamed about my parents.
This can happen quite often to yourself and it makes you feel bad, but let’s be honest. It can be really funny seeing a situation when someones else is in it and I am sure everybody of us experienced this before.
10- Erklärungsnot
Literal Translation:
Explanation misery
Meaning:
The state of having quickly explained yourself.
Example:
Everybody of us surely can remember this situation when your teacher asked for the homework and you didn’t prepare anything.
You need to come up with an excuse quickly and everything that drops in your mind is ‘my dog ate my homework’. The word ‘Erklärungsnot’ exactly matches this emergency situation where you need a little lie or excuse.
Usage In A Sentence:
Er ist in Erklärungsnot gekommen. – He came under pressure for failing to give an explanation.
2. Bonus: Are there untranslatable English words?
But not only in German we have words, that you can not translate properly into English. From English to German it is also hard to translate some words. Some examples for you:
- Pimp
- Spam
- Bromance
- Googly
- Facepalm
3. Conclusion
Finally, it’s time to say thank you for your patience and interest in this. You learned 10 untranslatable words of the German language.
If you are interested in something even funnier, why not take a look at the 5 longest German words? Can you pronounce them or even find out what they mean?
Are you ready to learn the German language? Here at GermanPod101, we made it our passion to help other people learning this fascinating language. There’s plethora of reasons you should continue your pursuit of German mastery!
If you want to find out more and get more into detail with German, check out the resources we provided in this article. Until then, all the best without 10 untranslatable German words.
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