You are meeting a potential employer for lunch and he is running late. Found on signs near driveways, highways, and train stations, this common German word has nothing to do with what happens after you eat too much Mexican food! Fahrt, meaning “trip,” “drive,” “journey,” or “ride,” is a useful word when you’re trying to find out information about the train you need to take! Don’t stop to laugh or take a picture of the sign with you smartphone like most tourists! You may miss your train! Inevitably, when an English speaker travels to a German-speaking country, this word is a source of much amusement. (The Federal Council is a constitutional body of Germany.) (Maria is seeking advice from her friends.)ĭer Bundes rat ist ein Verfassungsorgan Deutschlands. Since it can also mean “counsel” or “council,” it is also useful when talking about government agencies hence, Europäischer Rat (European Council). Do not chuckle! This friend, who may be having a work- or relationship-related problem, is not asking you for a vermin of the rodent variety! Rat, or “advice,” is one of the most common words in the German language in the context of friendship. Perhaps one day one of your German friends will be in a pickle and he or she will ask you for a Rat. The following is a list of common German words that don’t mean quite what you might have expected… (Download) 10 Common German Vocabulary Words that Don’t Mean Quite What You’d Think

This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. In some cases this tactic might not only fail you, it might have you chuckling inappropriately or, worse, put you in a sticky situation! Though trying to find the shared root between German and English words is a perfectly good strategy for learning vocabulary, watch out!

Febru10 Common German Vocabulary Words With Surprising MeaningsĮnglish has many words that are exactly the same in German.Īnd there are German words that sound like English and are, in fact, cognates.įor example: Bett (bed), Fisch (fish), leicht (light), etc.

Common german words in english