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LEARNING GERMAN

10 beautiful ways to express your love in German

Struggling to ask someone out or find the perfect German pet name? Allow The Local to assist you with these delicate matters of the heart.

Published: 24 January 2020 18:04 CET
Updated: 13 January 2023 16:56 CET
10 beautiful ways to express your love in German
The gardens and flowers of the Schonbrunn Palace are seen on a sunny day in Vienna on July 11, 2013 - a perfect spot for a romantic walk. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KLEIN (Photo by ALEXANDER KLEIN / AFP)

1. Ich liebe dich/ Ich bin in dich verliebt/ Ich hab’ dich lieb

Let’s jump in at the deep end. There are a few different ways to drop the l-bomb in German, and it is important to choose the one which strikes the right note.

Ich liebe dich (I love you) is better suited to a serious, long-term relationship than the colloquial hab’ dich lieb (love you/love ya lots), which can be used not only for your partner but also friends and family. Ich bin in dich verliebt is definitely only for a lover, but it isn’t as serious as Ich liebe dich.

If it feels right to respond with  “I love you too”,  just pop auch into the phrase, for example ich liebe dich auch, ich bin auch in dich verliebt, ich hab’ dich auch lieb.  

2. Ich bin bis über beide Ohren verliebt

Continuing with bold declarations of love, ich bin bis über beide Ohren verliebt literally means “I am until over both ears in love”. This better translates to “I am head over heels in love”. 

3. Liebestoll

Ever felt totally consumed by your emotions after being hit by cupid’s arrow? Find it difficult to think about anything else but your other half? In German, you would describe yourself as being liebestoll, which means to be crazed by love or love-struck. 

4. Pet names  

If you’re looking for a cutesy pet name, you have come to the right place. Take your pick from Liebste(r), Mausi, Schatz or Liebling, which all translate to something along the lines of love, sweetie, sweetheart or darling.

If you’d like to try something different for February 14th, Vielliebchen is a slightly dated way to call someone your valentine.

5. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz

This phrase means your’s is my heart alone, your’s is my entire heart or your heart is my delight. Much like saying I love you, it is also better suited to an established relationship, rather than a new one. 

6. Willst du mit mir gehn? 

But how to find someone to say these cheesy things to? 

All relationships have to start somewhere. If you feel things are going well with someone and you’d like them to become your partner, how better to ask them than with a simple willst du mit mir gehn?. This literally translates to ‘do you want to go with me?’. 

7. Ich steh’ auf dich

Another gem for the early days of dating would be ich steh’ auf dich, which simply means “I’m into you”. This is the perfect phrase if you’re looking to make your intentions known without getting too serious. 

 8. Du bist mein Ein und Alles

Another way to make your feelings known to your significant other would be to say du bist mein Ein und Alles. This is the equivalent of ‘you’re my everything’, ‘you mean the world to me’ or ‘you are my one and only’. Aww.

9. Liebestöter

On the other hand, if you really hate the idea of love, you might don some liebestöter or “love/passion killers”.

10. Hagestolz 

Another way to steer clear of the messy business of love would be to declare yourself a Hagestolz. This term usually describes an old bachelor who has chosen a life of solitude simply because they prefer being alone.

For members

GERMAN LANGUAGE

Ask a German: Do you ever forget the gender of words?

Remembering whether a noun is der, die or das can be tricky for non-natives. In the first of our series where we find answers to the burning questions that foreigners want to know, we ask a German: do you ever forget the gender of articles?

Published: 19 April 2024 16:04 CEST
Ask a German: Do you ever forget the gender of words?

For lots of non-natives, speaking German is a bit like a lottery: when you are not 100 percent sure about the article of a German word, you take a guess. And you have a one in three chance of getting it right. 

But knowing whether a singular noun is der (masculine), die (feminine) or das (neutral) is key to developing your language skills in order to construct fuller sentences. Think of it like the foundations: you need to learn the gender of the word as well as the word itself so you can build the rest of your German language house. 

But do native German speakers always know whether a word is der, die or das?

Berlin-based German teacher Seraphine Peries told The Local that although German speakers tend to know intuitively what the article of most nouns are because they learn them while growing up, they “definitely” have doubts. 

“German native speakers make a lot of mistakes when it comes to certain words,” said Peries. “For example, the word ‘Email’ is feminine in German: die Email. But the further you go south of Germany, they use the neutral form: das Email. So there’s a bit of a discussion about that, it’s a regional thing.”

Peries said there are lots of debates on the gender of English words that been transported into German, as well as newer words.

She also said product names provoke discussion. One of the most famous is Nutella. 

“A lot of people say die Nutella because it’s like the Italian ella, but others say der Nutella because they think of the German word der Aufstrich, which means ‘spread’. And then there are people who say das Nutella because it’s a foreign word so they say it must be das.”

Although the makers of Nutella have never revealed the gender of the word so perhaps everyone is right in this case.

And then there are the words that change their meaning depending on the article that definitely confuse natives (as well as foreigners, no doubt).

“A few words in German are known as Genuswechsel (gender change),” said Peries. “These are words that change their meaning when they change gender.”

Peries highlighted the word der Verdienst, which means earnings or income, and das Verdienst, which means merit or credit. 

So you could say:

Der Verdienst für die Stelle war zu niedrig.

The income for the job was too low

OR

Es ist das Verdienst der Eltern, dass das Kind so gut erzogen ist.

It is to the credit of the parents that the child is so well brought up.

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