B2-49 · Use English loanwords with German grammar
Language change
Give anglicisms the right gender and plural, and use Denglisch verbs and adjectives with German endings and in the right register.
About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions
01
Which gender does an English word get?
English nouns have no gender, so German has to give them one. Two clues help: the ending and the German word with a similar meaning. Nouns ending in -ing are usually neuter, people and devices ending in -er are masculine, and die Deadline is feminine like die Frist.
| Clue | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ending -ing | das | das Meeting, das Training |
| ending -er | der | der Influencer, der Computer |
| feminine German equivalent | die | die Deadline, die App |
Das Meeting beginnt erst um zehn.
The meeting doesn't start until ten.
Die Deadline für das Projekt ist morgen.
The deadline for the project is tomorrow.
Der Influencer hat ein neues Video gepostet.
The influencer has posted a new video.
Meine Tochter installiert die neue App auf ihrem Handy.
My daughter is installing the new app on her mobile phone.
Some words have more than one accepted gender, so learn each anglicism with its article. Das Handy is a German coinage that only looks English; in English it is a mobile phone.
02
Plural: mostly -s
Most anglicisms form the plural with -s: die Meetings, die Jobs. Words ending in -y simply add -s, so die Party becomes die Partys, not Parties. Nouns ending in -er take no plural ending, but like German nouns they add -n in the dative plural: mit den Influencern.
Ich habe heute drei Meetings hintereinander.
I have three meetings in a row today.
Am Wochenende gibt es in der Stadt viele Partys.
There are lots of parties in town at the weekend.
Viele Jugendliche folgen mehreren Influencern gleichzeitig.
Many young people follow several influencers at the same time.
In der IT-Branche gibt es viele gut bezahlte Jobs.
There are many well-paid jobs in the IT sector.
The -ies spelling of English is not used in standard German: Partys, Hobbys, Storys. The plural -s never adds an apostrophe.
03
Denglisch verbs and adjectives
English verbs become German verbs with -en (or -n after -el) and form a German participle with ge- and -t: chillen, gechillt; checken, gecheckt; googeln, gegoogelt. English adjectives such as cool take normal German endings before a noun: ein cooles Video.
Wir haben am Samstag einfach nur gechillt.
On Saturday we just chilled.
Hast du die Infos schon gecheckt?
Have you already checked the info?
Lena hat ein cooles Video über Sprachwandel gepostet.
Lena has posted a cool video about language change.
Ich habe den Begriff schnell gegoogelt.
I quickly googled the term.
Such words are typical of youth language, die Jugendsprache, and casual speech. In a formal email, prefer the German verb, for example prüfen instead of checken. Der Sprachwandel means language change.
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