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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

15 Bavarian words you need to survive down south

Things are a wee bit different down in Bavaria, so you might want to brush up on your basic Bairisch before paying a visit.

Published: 27 September 2019 14:53 CEST
15 Bavarian words you need to survive down south
"I like you" in Bavarian. Photo: DPA.

1. Bairisch or Boarisch – the Bavarian language

A Munich newspaper printed in Bairisch. Photo: DPA.

It’s probably important to know if you’re going to speak Bavarian that it’s actually locally called Bairisch or Boarisch.

It’s also important to note up front that since the Bavarian tongue reaches into Austria, and there are also dialects in Italy, Switzerland and Hungary, there are of course a variety of terms and spellings for things.

We’ll try to stick to what’s found in Germany.

2. Grüß Gott – greetings or good day

Photo: DPA.

Bavarians have their own way of greeting people, none of that “Hallo” or “Guten Tag” stuff. 

The salutation Grüß Gott literally means “greet God”, and therefore maybe sounds somewhat Medieval. All part of the Bavarian charm.

And if you want to be a little more informal you can say 'servus' – which also serves as a farewell.

3. Buam und Madln – men and women

You might see this on restroom doors, and if there are no pictures to help out it could get confusing. Buam is for lads and Madln or Dirdln is for women.

4. Fesch – pretty or attractive

This is the Bavarian equivalent of the high German hübsch. So you might hear something like: “Ja mei, was für ein fesches Madl!”

Translation: “O my, isn’t she a pretty woman!”

5. Der Schmarrn – nonsense, rubbish

Someone might accuse you of talking Schmarrn if you tell a tall tale.

And if you speak too much nonsense, they may even dub you a Schmarrnbeppi.

READ ALSO: German word of the day: Der Schmarrn

6. Gell – isn’t it?

You might find this word often added at the end of a question, kind of like Germans elsewhere would use the interjections of “oder” or “ne”. It's kind of funny, gell?

7. I mog di – I like you

Photo: DPA

Strike up a conversation with a fesch young man or woman and you might find yourself looking for the right words to describe all those fluttery feels.

I mog di – simple. I like you.

8. Pfiat di – bye-bye!

While their neighbours further north might say Tschüß upon goodbye, Bavarians prefer Pfiat di, which is short for 'behüt dich Gott, which means 'may God protect you.'

9. A Maß – a litre of beer

Waiters and waitresses at Oktoberfest are trained to carry up to 34 kilos of beer at a time. Photo: DPA

Because there is no other size appropriate for beer-drinking here.

10. Ogschdocha – drunk

You might be shouting out “I bin ogschdocha” after having one Maß too many at the beer garden, but try to keep it together to properly pronounce your newly learned Bavarian!

11. Freilich – of course

If you live in north Germany you'll already know that the word natürlich can be anything from a stern rebuke to a gesture of hearty consent. Well that word in in Bavaria is freilich. For example: Can I have another Maß? Na freilich!

12. Semme or Semml – bread roll

Photo: DPA

Berliners prefer Schrippe and generally across the country people will understand Brötchen, but in Bavaria the word for a bread roll is Semme or Semml.

13. Fleischpflanzerl  – meatball

The fine Fleischpflanzerl being served at a golf tournament in Tutzing, Upper Bavaria. Photo: DPA

The love for meatballs is found across Germany, though you may be more familiar with the term Frikadelle. 

14. Der Brezl – pretzel

Photo: DPA

You should definitely know the word for this very typical Bavarian food staple, perhaps if you want to chow down on some Weißwuascht (Weisswürst or white sausage) with it.

15. Prost – cheers

Photo: DPA

Okay this one we hope you already know if you've spent any time anywhere else in Germany, but it's one that's definitely important to remember in this beer-proud region, birthplace of the German Beer Purity Law or Reinheitsgebot.

So cheers to your newfound expertise in Bairisch! Prost!

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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Le Havre rules: How to talk about French towns beginning with Le, La or Les

If you're into car racing, French politics or visits to seaside resorts you are likely at some point to need to talk about French towns with a 'Le' in the title. But how you talk about these places involves a slightly unexpected French grammar rule. Here's how it works.

Published: 30 November 2021 13:04 CET
Updated: 4 December 2021 17:47 CET
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre.
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre. It can be difficult to know what prepositions to use for places like this - so we have explained it for you. (Photo by AFP)

If you’re listening to French chat about any of those topics, at some point you’re likely to hear the names of Mans, Havre and Touquet bandied about.

And this is because French towns that have a ‘Le’ ‘La’ or ‘Les’ in the title lose them when you begin constructing sentences. 

As a general rule, French town, commune and city names do not carry a gender. 

So if you wanted to describe Paris as beautiful, you could write: Paris est belle or Paris est beau. It doesn’t matter what adjectival agreement you use. 

For most towns and cities, you would use à to evoke movement to the place or explain that you are already there, and de to explain that you come from/are coming from that location:

Je vais à Marseille – I am going to Marseille

Je suis à Marseille – I am in Marseille 

Je viens de Marseille – I come from Marseille 

But a select few settlements in France do carry a ‘Le’, a ‘La’ or a ‘Les’ as part of their name. 

In this case the preposition disappears when you begin formulating most sentences, and you structure the sentence as you would any other phrase with a ‘le’, ‘la’ or ‘les’ in it.

Masculine

Le is the most common preposition for two names (probably something to do with the patriarchy) with Le Havre, La Mans, Le Touquet and the town of Le Tampon on the French overseas territory of La Réunion (more on that later)

A good example of this is Le Havre, a city in northern France where former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who is tipped to one day run for the French presidency, serves as mayor. 

Edouard Philippe’s twitter profile describes him as the ‘Maire du Havre’, using a masculine preposition

Here we can see that his location is Le Havre, and his Twitter handle is Philippe_LH (for Le Havre) but when he comes to describe his job the Le disappears.

Because Le Havre is masculine, he describes himself as the Maire du Havre rather than the Maire de Havre (Anne Hidalgo, for example would describe herself as the Maire de Paris). 

For place names with ‘Le’ in front of them, you should use prepositions like this:

Ja vais au Touquet – I am going to Le Touquet

Je suis au Touquet – I am in Le Touquet 

Je viens du Touquet – I am from Le Touquet 

Je parle du Touquet – I am talking about Le Touquet

Le Traité du Touquet – the Le Touquet Treaty

Feminine

Some towns carry ‘La’ as part of their name. La Rochelle, the scenic town on the west coast of France known for its great seafood and rugby team, is one such example.

In French ‘à la‘ or ‘de la‘ is allowed, while ‘à le‘ becomes au and ‘de le’ becomes du. So for ‘feminine’ towns such as this, you should use the following prepositions:

Je vais à La Rochelle – I am going to La Rochelle

Je viens de La Rochelle – I am coming from La Rochelle 

Plural

And some places have ‘Les’ in front of their name, like Les Lilas, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The name of this commune literally translates as ‘The Lilacs’ and was made famous by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, about a ticket puncher at the Metro station there. 

When talking about a place with ‘Les’ as part of the name, you must use a plural preposition like so:

Je suis le poinçonneur des Lilas – I am the ticket puncher of Lilas 

Je vais aux Lilas – I am going to Les Lilas

Il est né aux Lilas – He was born in Les Lilas  

Islands 

Islands follow more complicated rules. 

If you are talking about going to one island in particular, you would use à or en. This has nothing to do with gender and is entirely randomised. For example:

Je vais à La Réunion – I am going to La Réunion 

Je vais en Corse – I am going to Corsica 

Generally speaking, when talking about one of the en islands, you would use the following structure to suggest movement from the place: 

Je viens de Corse – I am coming from Corsica 

For the à Islands, you would say:

Je viens de La Réunion – I am coming from La Réunion 

When talking about territories composed of multiple islands, you should use aux.

Je vais aux Maldives – I am going to the Maldives. 

No preposition needed 

There are some phrases in French which don’t require any a preposition at all. This doesn’t change when dealing with ‘Le’ places, such as Le Mans – which is famous for its car-racing track and Motorcycle Grand Prix. Phrases that don’t need a preposition include: 

Je visite Le Mans – I am visiting Le Mans

J’aime Le Mans – I like Le Mans

But for a preposition phrase, the town becomes simply Mans, as in Je vais au Mans.

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