Better German Podcast cover

Better German Podcast with Susi

Susanne Schilk-Blümel
Since 09/2023 43 episodes

Ep 44 - Describing Words in German: 16 Adjectives You Need!

2025-09-18

Description & Show Notes

In this episode of Better German, host Susi Blumel introduces 16 essential German adjectives—describing words like big, small, old, young, and more—that bring sentences to life. You’ll also learn what Germans call these words (Adjektiv and Eigenschaftswort), plus get practical pronunciation tips (especially for the German r). With examples, practice sentences, and a free PDF guide, this episode sets the stage for a whole series on adjectives—helping you describe the world in German with confidence. Don't forget to join the completely free Better German community, where you'll find the free PDF guides, courses, peer support, and more!

👉 Want to learn German in a way that finally makes sense? Join the Better German Community — it’s completely free and designed for real learners like you. Connect with others, join live lessons, and explore resources that actually help you move forward! You will also find all our courses tailored for real learners just like you!

Ready for a German Course?🤓
Start by booking a free appointment. You’ll fill out a short questionnaire, get a personalized learning plan, and do your first lesson together.

Want to make steady progress?📚
Our live courses are starting soon — check them out here.

Summary
The episode of the Better German is a good step forward if you want to go beyond nouns and verbs and start expanding your German vocabulary. Susi shows you how to use German adjectives — words that tell you what something is like. You’ll hear 16 common examples, such as warm, cold, cheap, expensive, and more. She also explains the German names for these words, gives simple tips for saying them correctly, and helps you practice with short sentences. The free PDF guide, which you can follow along and review later, is available inside the Better German Community, a free-to-join resource hub full of lessons, support, and more for learners!

Introduction
Welcome back to Better German! In today’s episode, Susi takes you into the world of adjectives—words that describe things, people, and experiences. Imagine being able to say not just “a table” but “a big table” or “a new table.” These small words change how you express yourself and make your sentences come alive. Susi also explains why Germans sometimes refer to them as Eigenschaftswörter and why mastering them is an important step in your German-learning journey.

🔎Key Topics: Adjectives in German
  • What adjectives are, and their role in both English and German
  • German terms: Adjektiv and Eigenschaftswort
  • Why are adjectives introduced across multiple episodes
  • 16 essential adjectives with examples, including:
     ▫️ groß / klein (big/small)
    ▫️ alt / jung (old/young)
    ▫️ kalt / warm (cold/warm)
    ▫️ schlecht / gut (bad/good)
    ▫️ schön (beautiful/nice)
    ▫️ neu (new)
    ▫️ teuer / billig (expensive/cheap)
    ▫️ stark / schwach (strong/weak)
    ▫️ laut / leise (loud/quiet)
  • Pronunciation tips: how to approach the German r
  • Regional variations and why not to worry about perfect R sounds
  • Download the free PDF guide for this episode in the Better German Community — it includes all the examples used. Grab it, listen along, and start practicing! 
  • Check out this Interactive German Movie Guide with suitable TV shows and movies with subtitles in your language, so you can start using movies to learn right away! Watching German movies and TV shows is great to help you learn German.
  • Listen to All The Episodes Published So Far!

✨ Join The Better German Community 
      Think you’re “bad at languages”? You’re not—the method was just wrong. Join the Better German Community and learn German in a way that finally makes sense.

📰  Sign Up for Our Newsletter
       Get Tips & Updates Straight To Your Inbox!

🌍 Explore Our Podcast Episodes
      New to the podcast? Head over to our podcast homepage to find other episodes you’ll love.

💬 Come See Our Approach For Yourself
      We believe in real understanding, not just memorizing grammar rules—come see how we do in this YouTube Video.

🎓 Ready to take your German to the next level?
       Click here to book your free first session and let’s get started! Find out which course is right for you!
      Whether you’re just starting or want to finally feel confident speaking German, we’ll build a personal learning path that fits you.


📲 Stay Connected and Follow Us On:
⭐ Enjoyed this episode?
      If you liked what you heard, give us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or share it with a fellow learner!

Transcript

" warm." It's "warm." So first of all, it's not said like "rrrrrrrr" ever and even, " rrr" not all the time. This particular word, like "warm," most cases, we will just say "wam," we won't even say the R, particularly in Austria and the more southern areas of Germany. But, technically if you want to speak very, very proper, you say "warm" that's true. Welcome to the Better German podcast. I am Susi Blümel, a German teacher and founder of Better German. This podcast helps to learn German in a simple and clear way. With useful words, clear sentence structures, pronunciation, and real life topics from daily life and culture. You'll also get tips for learning German and understanding how the language actually works. And when you're ready, we have a free community and courses to support you even more. Okay, welcome to this new episode of the Better German Podcast. In this episode, we're going to talk about words that describe things. So words like "big, small, tall," in English and we're going to learn them in German. So this type of words, by the way, even though I don't necessarily do that in my courses as I don't know where you're coming from, and I don't necessarily mean literally where you're coming from, but like, "what is your background in German? Have you learned any German?" and so on. I might as well mention this, this type of word is called "Adjectives" So adjectives are words to describe people or, things, objects, ideas, things like that. And in German, they're called, " Adjektiv" And that's the first thing. That's pretty straightforward because adjectives "Adjektives," but in German we have another word, which is actually a German word because, "Adjektiv" comes from Latin, and that is an, "Eigenschaftswort" and then I think it could be interesting. So, "Eigenschaft" is a quality, like how something is and, "wort" means "word." So, "Eigenschaftswort" is a word that gives the quality of something This is the first of a few episodes that we're going to have about this whole thing about "Eigenschaftswörter" because there is a few things to learn about "Eigenschaftswörter" in German. They have some changes depending on how you use them or in what you use them for, and we're going to go through the most important ones in several of these episodes. So in this episode, we're just going to go over 16 adjectives like big, small, and so on, and what they are. And then in episode 47, this one is episode 44. So in episode 47, we are going to make some sentences. And also in episode 53, probably 53, I'm not 100% sure these numbers could theoretically change, but I'm pretty sure that they should be stable. So episode 53 and episode 55, we're going to have a little more about how to use them in sentences Anyway, let's go into those adjectives. I'm going to say, the list, and I'm going to give you an example sentence, nevertheless, even though we're not going to go deep into sentences at this point in time. so I'm going to say the English word and I want you to repeat it, and then I'm going to say the German word and I want you to repeat it, and I'm going to give you an example. So, "big" "groß" "groß" So an example could be, " The book" or "The house is big." "Das Haus ist groß." "small. " klein" There is going to be a cheat sheet and I really suggest you to download it. This is going to be one for this episode and episode 47 together. So depending on when you're listening to it, it could be that it's not available yet, but I'm going to try making it available as soon as possible. So you can go to better german.info/ 44. Better German dot info slash 44. This is the, show notes for the episode 44. This is always the same pattern. You go to better German info and then slash and then the number of the episode so then you can see the, words. It could make things easier. Good. I'm going to carry on. "old" "alt." " alt" Like, "The picture is old." "Das Bild ist alt" "young" in German, "jung"" "jung" "The child is young," "Das Kind ist jung." " cold" "kalt." "kalt." " The coffee is cold." " Der Kaffee ist kalt." " warm." "warm" You write that exactly the same way. There's just a little different pronunciation. " warm," "The tea is warm." We didn't actually have tea or coffee, I never mentioned them in any previous podcast episodes. Usually I try to avoid that. However, I think they're simple enough so, "Der Tee ist warm" By the way, I want to say a little thing about the pronunciation of this. This is "warm" but, I realized that a few, particularly English speakers or maybe get afraid of this R sound, this "rrr" and you don't have to be, it's not that bad. So first of all, it's not said like "rrrrrrrr" ever and even, " rrr" not all the time. This particular word, like "warm," most cases, we will just say "wam," we won't even say the R, particularly in Austria and the more southern areas of Germany. But, technically if you want to speak very, very proper, you say "warm" that's true. However, there isn't even that many occasions where we even say that. So in many cases the R becomes like an "ah," or in this case, disappears altogether. It's "warm." And then I'm going to give you another tip still, if you want to learn it properly. It's very simple. You just take some water and you go to the sink and you pretend you just finished brushing your teeth, and you gurgle. And then you do go like, " rrrrrrr " and if you do the same thing without water, then you basically have the r. There is another way of saying this. This is at the front of the mouth, but nevermind. We don't even use that so much in German. So " rrrrrrrr." You just gurgle and then you can say "warm" Anyway, let's carry on. That was a little bit of a, thing going into pronunciation. I kind of did the detour from just the adjectives, just the words that describe, to the pronunciation. I hadn't actually planned that, but while I'm at it, I might as well tell you, that there is going to be a pronunciation course. This is a mini pronunciation course giving you the basics of the German pronunciation. So like all the alphabet and the, how do you say that typical German sounds. So you have a, a good chance to actually read and pronounce the things correctly. This is going to come up, so if you are, either on my newsletter list or in the community. Then you're going to be informed, once this is ready. I plan to do that in the next month or so. So depending on when, you are actually listening to the episode, maybe it's already there. Okay, good. So the last word we had was "warm" or the "wam" so let's continue, with a new set. You keep repeating the words after me please. So the English word "bad" in German is " schlecht " " schlecht" So if you say something like, " The movie is bad," I don't usually say that a lot, but anyway, there are bad movies. So you would say in German, "Der Film ist schlecht" " Der Film ist schlecht." Okay, cool. So next one as we're in pairs, maybe not surprisingly is, "good." And the good news is in German, this is very simple. This is, "gut " gut" For example, "The book is good," " Das Buch ist gut" Next one, for English, "beautiful" or "nice" in German. It's, " schön" " schön" So I could be saying something like, The weather is nice." That would be in German. "Das Wetter ist schön" Or I could say something like, "The girl is beautiful" "Das Mädchen ist schön" Next word. English, "new" In German " neu" " neu" That one is actually not a set. At least for new I'm going to give you the pair that kind of goes with it. And that would be in English, "old." And that's, "alt" " alt" And an example sentence for both of them. So for example, "The table is new," would be "Der Tisch ist neu" and for, "alt" "old," I could say, "My dog is old," " Mein Hund ist alt." Which is unfortunately true. I mean, he's not technically my dog, but anyway, the dog that I have most contact with, it's old. "alt" Good. So next sentence, that could come in handy when you go shopping, I suppose. "expensive" is "teuer." "teuer." And now this one you write T-E-U-E-R. So at the end you have an e and r, but we don't even say this R at all with an R sound. It is an "ah," and that is complete standard German pronunciation. "Teuer." We have this very often, so in case you get afraid of the "R," which I didn't even think of until recently, don't. There is absolutely no reason for it. Okay, good. So we could say something like, the room is expensive, in a hotel or something " Das Zimmer ist teuer" " Das Zimmer ist teuer" Okay, next word, "cheap" in German, "billig." "billig" So if I say something like, "Sugar is cheap." It's really unhealthy. So that's. Well, it's cheap, I suppose, that's in German, "Zucker ist billig" Okay, next couple, "strong" in German is "stark." "stark." So if I say, "My brother is strong." Then that would be, "Mein Bruder ist stark" "Mein Bruder ist stark" Next word is, "Weak." That's in German. " schwach " " schwach" So if I say, "The kitten is weak," Then that's in German, kitten is " Kätzchen" maybe not the easiest word, but you can do it "Kätzchen" " das Kätzchen ist schwach " And we are coming to the last couple of this Word List. So English, "loud" in German is surprisingly similar, "laut," " laut." Now, this word, "laut" by the way, also is a sound like as a noun, is a sound. Anyway here, "loud." "loud." So if I say, "The music is loud," That's in German, "Die Musik ist laut." And then we have, "quiet." "Quiet" in the sense of not loud is, "leise." And I could say something like, "Mein Haus ist leise" "My house is quiet." All right, so that's this list of today. In order for you to actually know these words, you would've to practice them. So, in our courses what we usually do is we make sentences with these words, like the sentences I made just more of them. And you make several sentences, three, four, maybe up to 10 sentences, and that will guarantee, or help that you will actually be able to use the word when you need it and you don't go, "Okay. Yes. Small. I've heard that word. I, I know that. Let me think. What was I going to say? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it. Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it. Oh, yes, " klein!" So you don't want that to happen because if, that happens and it happens to you with many words, then you're not going to be able to have a conversation. So you need to practice words and don't try to learn them verbatim, just practice them. Just do something with them. Write sentences, say sentences. Describe something. You could describe all of your room and try like what is in your room that is actually big. So, "Der Tisch ist groß," "Das Fenster ist groß." "Die Tür ist groß." Yeah, and actually if that is the first podcast episode you're listening to and you're a beginner, then I highly suggest to you that you go to the beginning of the podcast episode because I try to make all of these podcast episodes work by themselves, but still there is a flow. So if you go to the beginning, you will learn words that you could now use with those adjectives. Okay cool, stay tuned. Definitely come back. There is going to be a few more episodes if you are interested in adjectives. There is going to be, the episode 47, I said, which is going to be the practicing episodes, or it's going to give you more practice for this. Also, if you go ahead and download the worksheets that go with this, in the next episode, there is going to be some exercise on this. Otherwise, the next episode is actually about verbs. I'm going to tell you things like, "travel" in German, "reisen" and how you can say them " ich reisen" like, "I travel" and "you travel," and so on. So this is the next episode coming up, and then episode 47 is going to be, sentences with these exact words and download the freebie. And I hope you hear me again soon, and stay tuned. Bye-bye. I hope that in today's episode you learn something that gets you one step closer to mastering German. If you found it helpful, it would absolutely mean the world to me. If you could leave a five star review and whenever you're ready for more, just visit bettergerman.info.

Give us Feedback

Do you like the podcast and would like to say something? Do you have questions or tipps about the subject? We are happy to hear from you.

By clicking on "Send message", you agree that we are allowed to process your contact information for the sole purpose of responding to your inquiry. The form processing is handled by our Podcast Hoster LetsCast.fm. You can find more information on their Privacy page.

★★★★★

Do you like this Show?
Give us five stars on Apple Podcasts

2025 - Susanne Schilk-Blümel

Hosted by LetsCast.fm
Create your own podcast