SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

GERMAN LANGUAGE

10 ways to talk about being drunk in German

Austria is famous for its love of beer, schnapps and wine. So here are some phrases to help you express various levels of inebriation in the German language.

10 ways to talk about being drunk in German
(Photo by Andrea Tummons on Unsplash)

1. Betrunken sein

The most straightforward way to express alcohol-induced intoxication in German, which will leave no one in any doubt as to your state, is to use the word betrunken meaning “drunk”.

Example:

Es ist ihm egal – er ist betrunken!

He doesn’t care – he’s drunk!

2. Saufen

Next up is the most common word for “boozing” in German. Saufen can be used both as a verb and a noun to mean “to get drunk” or “drinking”.

Examples:

Lass uns einfach weiter saufen!

Let’s just keep drinking!

Ich habe kein Problem mit dem Saufen

I don’t have a drinking problem. 

3. Alkoholisiert sein

This is more of a formal way to talk about being drunk, and is equivalent to the English “to be under the influence of alcohol”. You’ll usually hear authorities and newspaper reports using this phrase to talk about alcohol-related incidents.

Examples:

Der Fahrer war alkoholisiert

The driver was under the influence of alcohol

Es ist aus Sicherheitsgründen untersagt, vor Spielbeginn alkoholisiert anzukommen.

For safety reasons, it is prohibited to arrive intoxicated before the start of the game.

4. Blau sein

This expression, meaning literally “to be blue” has a pretty disgusting origin story.

In the middle ages, the plant woad was used to create a blue colour for dyes.

As only a small amount of alcohol was needed to speed up the dyeing process, using human urine containing alcohol was supposedly the cheapest way to ferment the dye.

READ ALSO: Hugo, Almdudler and Radler: 5 drinks to try in Austria

So the dyers drank beer all day and urinated into the vat where the plant was fermenting. Remember that next time you wear your favourite blue t-shirt. 

Example:

Er war so blau, dass er seinen Schlüssel nicht in die Tür bekam

He was so drunk that he couldn’t get his key in the door

5. Beschwipst sein

The phrase beschwipst sein is equivalent to the English “to be tipsy” and not yet in the full throws of drunkenness.

READ ALSO: Austrian old folks toast success of ‘Grandma and Grandpa’ beer

The word was first used in Austria in the 19th century and can be traced back to the verb schwippen, meaning to sway, as it describes a drunk person who finds it increasingly difficult to walk in a straight line.

Example:

Ich bin nicht betrunken, nur ein bisschen beschwipst

I’m not drunk – just a little tipsy

6. Zu tief ins Glas schauen

This idiom is most likely a jokey rethink of the idiom tief ins Augen schauen meaning “to look someone too deeply in the eyes” as a way of saying “to fall in love with someone”.

This phrase for drunkenness has been in use in the German language since around 1700 and has even made appearances in many literary works, including those of Goethe.  

Examples:

Du solltest nicht zu tief ins Glas schauen, sonst musst du dir ein Taxi nehmen

You’d better not get too drunk, or you’ll have to take a taxi

Immer mehr Rentner schauen oft zu tief ins Glas

More and more pensioners get drunk often

 7. voll wie ein Eimer sein

This expression, meaning “to be as full as a bucket” is just one of a multitude of German expressions that include the word voll (“full”) to express drunkenness.

Beer buckets (Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash)

There are numerous phrases that start with voll wie (“as drunk as”) and end in something heavy, such as Granate (grenade), Schwein (pig), Kanone (canon), and even voll wie ein tausend Russen (“full as a thousand Russians”). Why not try making up your own variation?

8. Einen im Tee haben

This idiom, which is not that common in Austria, is believed to have originated in northern Germany, where a drop of rum was often added to tea on cold winter days for a warm comforting feeling and to protect against the cold – especially by sailors. After one or two, of course, you would be drunk, or at least a little tipsy.

Example:

Er hatte ganz schön einen im Tee

He’s pretty wasted

9. einen sitzen haben

This phrase is a shortened version of the older einen Affen sitzen haben meaning “to have a monkey sitting” which was used to express a heightened state of inebriation. 

READ ALSO: Tips: How to buy wine in an Austrian supermarket

The origin of the phrase is disputed, but most believe it is to do with the fact that fools and jesters would often carry a monkey on their shoulder.

Example:

Ich hatte gestern so richtig einen sitzen

I was so drunk yesterday

10. Kater

Although Kater is also the name for a male cat, this is the German term for “hangover” that you will inevitably need to use after consuming too much alcohol.

It’s widely believed that the origin of this word comes from the medical term “Katarrh”, an inflammation of the mucous membrane, which leads to symptoms such as cough, cold, malaise and headache – similar to those of a hangover.

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Example:

Ich hatte am Sonntag einen schrecklichen Kater

I had such a terrible hangover on Sunday

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

GERMAN LANGUAGE

Gendern: Why German speakers get fired up over gender-neutral language

This word has all to do with how to use German sensitively - but that doesn't always mean it doesn't rub people the wrong way. So what do both sides of the argument have to say about 'gendern', and why is it so controversial?

Gendern: Why German speakers get fired up over gender-neutral language

Why do I need to know gendern?

Because you’re bound to see this discussion crop up fairly often in German-speaking countries like Austria, and it’s useful to know where you stand in the debate so that you make decisions about how you use the German language. 

What does it mean?

As you might have recognised, gendern is a verb built out of the English word “gender”. To gender someone – or gendern in German – is to make an assessment of their gender identity, usually by defining them as either male or female.

As in English, this creates a bit of a linguistic issue when it comes to describing people in various professions. Traditionally, people often referred to a male actor as an actor and a female actor as an actress, and if they didn’t know the gender or were speaking generally, the male version (actor) was used as the default. Over time, however, it’s become standard practice to simply use gender neutral terms like police officer, firefighter, and so on, and it’s also perfectly possible to talk about a “judge”, “teacher” or “painter” without specifying a gender. 

In German, however, the issue isn’t quite so simple. Generally, although some gender-neutral forms to describe certain groups exists (i.e. Studierende rather than Student/-in), these are far from the norm, and due to the gendered nature of definite articles, it can be very difficult to speak in a gender-neutral way. In recent years, this has led to a debate on how best to talk about the world around us without creating the impression that certain jobs, professions or groups of people only consist of men. 

When used in German, therefore, gendern describes the practice of trying to make both genders visible in your speech – which will often involve adding the female form or female plural form (i.e. -in or -innen) in some way alongside the male one. However, even when it comes to finding the supposedly right way to gendern, even academics and linguists can’t quite agree on what that is.

What are my options when it comes to gendern?

There are many options in German for trying to speak in a gender neutral way – and even Duden, a standard High German dictionary, says people should be free to pick the one that suits them best.

One option is to use a pause while speaking and an asterisk, colon or underscore while writing, i.e. Schauspieler:innen (actors), Bauer*innen, (farmers) or Forscher_innen (researchers). The idea here is not only to consider both male and female genders, but also acknowledge people with a less clear-cut gender identity by adding the asterisk or space of some kind. However, it’s worth pointing out that this practice – and particularly the so-called Gendersternchen, or gender star / asterisk – does have its critics.

In fact, current Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) intends to ban using the gender star in public administration in Austria, an announcement made ahead of the 2024 election campaign. Even if enacted though, private businesses would be free to use it.

So it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it if you want to, but there are other options, such as:

  • Finding an alternative, gender-neutral formulation (i.e. Reinigungskräften instead of Putzfrauen)
  • Using a simple dash and/or a forward-slash (i.e. Polizist/-in)
  • Mentioning both genders alongside each other (i.e. Freunden und Freundinnen) 
  • Swapping between the genders while speaking 
  • Using either the male or female form as a generic term (a little like in English) 

If you want to simplify your speech or writing while still being politically correct, another option is to use an abbreviation in brackets after spelling something out the first time. For example, if you’re talking about lawyers you could say Anwalte und Anwältinnen and then add (AuA) to make it clear you’ll be using that abbreviation from now on.  

Others, meanwhile, simply say it makes speech clunky and doesn’t usually follow correct grammatic rules of the German language.

However, proponents of gendern argue that language has a profound impact on the way we think and see the world, and that making a small change to how we speak is a major step to a more inclusive and socially just world. For example, if a young girl grows up only hearing the male form of GP (Hausarzt), they argue, she may get the impression that this profession is only appropriate for men. If, on the hand, both genders are made visible, this can boost her self-esteem and her vision of what can be possible. 

READ ALSO: Austrian court moves to recognise third gender

Use it like this:

Es herrscht mal wieder eine Debatte über das Gendern in den Medien. 

There’s one again a debate about gendering in the media.

Meine Meinung nach ist gendern mehr sozial gerecht. 

In my opinion, gendering is more socially just.

SHOW COMMENTS