Ep 71 Learn German City Words: Streets, Squares, and More
2026-06-05 26 min
Description & Show Notes
šļø Learn German City Words: Streets, Squares, and More
In this episode, youāll learn useful German vocabulary for talking about cities, streets, public transport, and the places around you. We cover common words you are likely to see in German-speaking cities, including streets, squares, houses, traffic lights, buses, trams, underground trains, and more.
Youāll also discover some interesting vocabulary differences, including Austrian and German words for sidewalks, the special Viennese word āPalais,ā and why the word āPlatzā can have several different meanings depending on the situation.
š§ Better German Podcast+ ā Exclusive Podcast & Community š
š§ Better German Podcast+ ā Exclusive Podcast & Community š
In the community you find the list of words (and some extra) mentioned in this episode, as well as the Better German Starter Course!
Also: Get early access to exclusive episodes, all podcast resources in one place, and the chance to ask questions and more!š Join here: https://bettergerman.info/community
Thereās also a free version if you just want to get started.
Ā šInterested in Taking a Course? - Free Placement Exam:
Free Placement with exam/questionnaire, personal program, and interview to confirm placement and answer any questions. Courses are online, include materials, and combine self-study and live lessons. Pricing starts at ā¬100/month, depending on your program. šTake the placement exam: https://bettergerman.info/testĀ
Also: Get early access to exclusive episodes, all podcast resources in one place, and the chance to ask questions and more!š Join here: https://bettergerman.info/community
Thereās also a free version if you just want to get started.
Ā šInterested in Taking a Course? - Free Placement Exam:
Free Placement with exam/questionnaire, personal program, and interview to confirm placement and answer any questions. Courses are online, include materials, and combine self-study and live lessons. Pricing starts at ā¬100/month, depending on your program. šTake the placement exam: https://bettergerman.info/testĀ
šÆ In this episode:
ā¢ City vocabulary for everyday situations
ā¢ Streets, alleys, squares, and boulevards
ā¢ Traffic lights, crossings, and intersections
ā¢ Houses, high-rises, and skyscrapers
ā¢ Public transport vocabulary
ā¢ Austrian vs. German word differences
ā¢ Why German words can have multiple meanings
ā¢ Simple ways to practice and remember new vocabulary
ā¢ Streets, alleys, squares, and boulevards
ā¢ Traffic lights, crossings, and intersections
ā¢ Houses, high-rises, and skyscrapers
ā¢ Public transport vocabulary
ā¢ Austrian vs. German word differences
ā¢ Why German words can have multiple meanings
ā¢ Simple ways to practice and remember new vocabulary
š§ Better German Podcast+ - Exclusive Podcast and Community
Early access exclusive PLUS content via your own private feed, all podcast resources in one place, ask questions and more. Free version is available if you just want to get started.
Early access exclusive PLUS content via your own private feed, all podcast resources in one place, ask questions and more. Free version is available if you just want to get started.
š Join here: https://bettergerman.info/community
Free Placement with exam/questionnaire, personal program and interview to confirm placement and answer any questions. Courses are online, include materials and combine self study and live lessons. Pricing starts at ā¬100/month, depending on your program. š Take the placement exam: https://bettergerman.info/test
š Free Live Workshop | https://bettergerman.info/workshop
š Website | https://bettergerman.info
ā¶ļø YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@Better-German/
šµ TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@susibettergerman
š Pinterest | https://www.pinterest.com/susibettergerman
āļø Contact | podcast@bettergerman.info
š Start from Episode 1 | https://bettergerman.info/1
ā Enjoyed this episode?
A quick review or share helps more people find the podcast.
Transcript
Welcome to this Better German
podcast episode which is about words
about the city, things like City
street, house, things like that.
And I'm glad to be back.
I haven't been recording for a while, but
I was very busy currently recording videos
for my course for the Get Talking course.
And I'm very proud to say that I had.
The curriculum is now finished, except for
maybe just little, little bits and pieces.
And the Get Talking course now has
about 400 lessons in seven modules
and it is a complete curriculum
using the Better German method.
So it's a very hands on speaking
first method as you know, if
you're following the podcast.
And I was really, really working
hard and making sure that you
get you need so you can speak.
Probably the biggest challenge
is, was to exactly figure out
what do you need and what will be
left out at this point in time.
we have put together the things
that you need, that you can use and
have to have so you can speak about
your surroundings, that you can
express what you want, what you use.
You can tell something about the
past, can speak about your plans and.
And then from then on out, learning German
will be most of my students that come
to me, if they've done courses before,
learn and some of them like grammar
more than others, but they're learning
and they're sitting there, they're
kind of waiting for it to suddenly make
click and then they can start speaking.
Well, the thing is it
doesn't work like that.
You have to start practicing
to speak at the very beginning.
And I've only recently realized
that even many teachers don't know
they weren't taught that they were.
Like the philosophy seems to be that
you kind of lecture them and you tell
them how the language is built and then
somehow it will fall into like into place
and then people will start speaking.
But there is something missing here
that most people need and that is
the actual practice of speaking and
that is what this course is all about
So now let's finally jump
into today's subject.
And today's subject is city.
Is a city like words around the city?
Let's get started.
So the first word is city.
"die Stadt."
"city."
"die Stadt."
"The city."
Now repeat everything that
I say from now on after me.
Not everything, just the words.
"Stadt"
"Stadt"
And then the street
"die StraĆe"
"the street"
Die StraĆe.
And then we have a word that is
kind of like historically used
for a smaller street or an alley
or maybe a lane, and that we call
"die Gasse"
"the alley" or "lane"
I have included that because it is
part of many, many street names.
So you could have a street
that is called HauptstraĆe.
That would be the main street.
Very often, like, we have the name
one of the districts of Vienna.
And.
And for example, one of the districts
of Vienna is called the Wieden.
And then you have the Wiedner HauptstraĆe.
And Gasse is also the part
of a lot of street names.
For example, there is another street that
I'm just picking this randomly that comes
into my mind, and it's called Lƶwengasse.
It's Lions Alley or
Lion's Lane, I suppose.
Good.
So you know what that is.
So the next one in that line is a square,
"der Platz"
"the square"
Now, der Platz can be a square, like
Stephansplatz.
Steven's square is the square right
in the middle of the city center in
Vienna, where the biggest church, the St.
Stephen's Cathedral, is.
It's called Stephansplatz,
which is Stevens Square,
maybe worth mentioning here.
Platz is a very, very interesting
word because it can mean a lot of
other things just other than square.
So, for example, it can be space.
"I need more space on my table"
"Ich brauche mehr Platz auf meinem Tisch"
Like, I need more space on my
table or something like that.
That's.
Or "There is no space here."
"Hier ist kein Platz."
Like there is no kein Platz.
Or it could be a seat, like a in a.
I don't know, in a car, like.
Or even on a plane and so on.
So maybe I have to do a separate episode
at some point just about this word.
This is, by the way, one of the
things that I'm also talking about
in this month's plus episode.
So there is the Better German Plus
which gives you a monthly bonus episode.
So in this monthly bonus
episode, I'm speaking about the
German learning tricky bits.
So one of the tricky bits.
I'm spoilering it now.
One of the tricky bits is
that's actually not even just
a German learning tricky bit.
That's a language tricky bit, and probably
the biggest tricky bit of them all.
And that is the fact that
words have different meanings.
So one word, like, in this case, Platz,
can have very different meanings.
And.
And in between different languages,
it can be, let's say you have
this one word in English, "table."
And the table can be the thing that you're
sitting at and working at or eating from.
And then it could be like a table, like
an overview of things, like a table
of symbols or something like that.
And that is in German.
So the first one is
"Tisch"
"table" [the furniture]
and the other one is
"Tabelle"
"table" [as in chart or overview]
So that can be tricky.
So.
And all of these words have different
meanings, but they're not the same.
It's not like one English word
with three meanings doesn't have
one translation with one German
word with the same three meanings.
So each of these meanings could
have a different translation.
And that is one of the
tricky parts tricky bits.
I'm gonna give a few more
examples in that episode.
The way of dealing with it is to learn
a lot of vocabulary as fast as you can.
And actually to start learn
vocabulary, like when you.
Let's say when.
When you are a little bit more advanced
and not just a complete beginner, you stop
at some point learning from vocabulary
lists, then maybe you read a text, and
then if there is a word that you need to
look up, you look it up in a dictionary.
And you do not only look and learn,
like, look for the meaning that you
need in that context and learn that
meaning, but you also learn the others.
So that is basically how
you're handling tricky bit.
The biggest thing is to understand
that it is there and to make it a
habit of learning, like, vocabulary
and understand that this is
something that will never stop.
If you decide you want to
learn German and you want to
continue to learn German, maybe
Learning German or any
language is never completed.
It's not a thing that stops.
It's not like you go and you do a
course and then finally you have
whatever exam and then you're done.
It's not like you go home from
school graduation and throw
away your books and burn them.
Yes.
I mean, you can do that,
but if you want to be really
good, then you cannot do that.
Like, my native language is German.
I work with German a lot.
I write in German, I write articles
in German, I write books in German, I
translate, and I continuously learn.
I use a dictionary, learn
more and more words.
So anyway, that's a tricky bit.
There is meanings to a
lot of different things.
Let's continue.
So the next word is a very
interesting one, I think.
It's a word for a street
that has trees on both sides.
There is no direct translation
to it into English.
And the word in German is
"die Allee"
"die Allee"
It sounds like alley,
but it is not an alley.
It's a street, usually a big street,
like a boulevard or something.
And it has trees on both sides.
Good.
Then a traffic light is
"die Ampel"
"die Ampel"
Then a zebra crossing is
"der Zebrastreifen"
"der Zebrastreifen"
And an intersection is
"die Kreuzung"
"die Kreuzung"
And a sidewalk.
Like where?
Or pavement would be the British word.
I also have two words in German.
So
the word that probably German
Germans, like people that live
in Germany would rather say is
"der BĆ¼rgersteig"
"der BĆ¼rgersteig"
So a BĆ¼rger is a citizen.
And Steig is kind of like
something that you step on.
So it's kind of like where the
citizens can walk, I suppose.
And then in German,
sorry, in Austria, we say
"der Gehsteig"
"der Gehsteig"
Gehen means to walk.
It's kind of like the walking
place or something like that.
Then
the next word, that is a very obvious one.
That's the word, the
German word for house.
And it's very similar.
"das Haus"
"das
And then let's do a couple of more.
By the way, this is a very long list.
I'm not going to cover.
Be able to cover all of
this in this episode.
This is a list that is actually
part of the Get Talking course.
Bigger part.
And going to put a as like an
actual vocabulary list that you
can get if in the get talking.
No, sorry.
In the Better German community.
So there is a free tier available, but
the Better German community is actually
the Better German podcast community.
then there is a list.
I'm going to put into the Better
German podcast community in
the resources section, so you
can go there and download it.
If you're part of the Better German
podcast community, check it out.
There is a free tier available,
Viennese specialty for
something that would probably
be a mansion or a townhouse.
So these were traditionally houses
from rich people or noble people
that usually had castles somewhere.
And then for certain times of the
year, they wanted to be living
in the city and they had a nice
representative house there.
And in Vienna, these were "Palais"
"Palais"
That sounds like palace.
And it has the same base, but it's
not really necessarily a palace.
Palace.
nice, very nice house.
"Das Palais."
"Das Palais."
So in Vienna we have a lot of Palais.
And.
And many of them are museums
or maybe government buildings
or some of them are still privately owned.
Some of them contain apartments,
but all of them look very nice.
Okay, next one.
So a high rise or a high house, kind
of like a house with many stories
is called
"das Hochhaus"
"das Hochhaus"
Hoch means high.
House means house.
So das Hochhaus.
And then the next one, a very high one,
like a skyscraper, which is usually
like a building of 50 floors or more.
We don't have so many
in Vienna, but we have.
We have them.
So.
And it is called
"der Wolkenkratzer"
"der Wolkenkratzer"
So in English it's called a skyscraper.
In German, "Wolke" is a cloud.
So der Wolkenkratzer is a
cloud scraper, basically.
All right, and then we have the
"der Bus"
"der Bus"
and
"die StraĆenbahn"
"die StraĆenbahn"
In
many Austrian, German and
Swiss cities there is a tram.
And of course we have buses.
And then also many, not quite as
many as trams have underground lines.
And in Vienna it is.
And in, I think in all of the
German speaking cities it is called
the
"U-Bahn"
"U-Bahn"
"U", like the letter after "T".
"U Erste."
"U" in German.
And "U" standing for underground,
which is underground.
So literally, or actually
the full name would be the
"Untergrundbahn"
"Untergrundbahn"
So that would be the
underground railway, but.
Or underground But we usually
just call it the U-Bahn.
The train.
A train connecting cities is
"die Bahn"
"die Bahn"
And then if you want to use an underground
or tram or bus, you need a ticket.
And we call it
"der Fahrschein"
"der Fahrschein"
That is kind of like the riding
ticket, I suppose.
A Schein is kind of like a document.
So basically the riding document.
Okay, and let's do two more that fit here.
So the stop, like the stop where
the train or the bus stops is
"die Haltestelle"
"die Haltestelle"
And that's literally the
"Halten" means to stop.
And "Stelle" is a place.
So the stopping place.
"Die Haltestelle"
"Die Haltestelle"
And then the platform,
like in a train station.
The platform is
"der Bahnsteig"
"der Bahnsteig"
Alright, so let's repeat
those words again.
I'm gonna say them.
I'm gonna say the English
words and the German words
and I want you to repeat both.
"City."
"Die Stadt."
"Die
Stadt."
"Street."
"Die StraĆe."
"Die StraĆe."
"A
small street or lane."
"Die
Gasse."
"Die Gasse."
"A square, like a place in the city."
"Der Platz."
"Der Platz."
"And a street with trees on both sides."
"A big street, usually."
"Die Allee."
"Die Allee."
"A traffic light."
"Die Ampel."
"Die Ampel."
"A zebra crossing."
"Der Zebrastreifen."
"Der Zebrastreifen."
"An intersection."
"Die Kreuzung."
"A townhouse or mansion is das Palais."
"Das
Palais."
"Das Palais."
"A high rise."
"A house with
a lot or quite a few of
floors is das Hochhaus."
"Das Hochhaus."
"Das Hochhaus."
"And then a very high building with
50 floors or more ā skyscraper."
"Der Wolkenkratzer."
bus,
tram, die StraĆenbahn."
"Die StraĆenbahn."
"Underground ā U-Bahn
train or train line ā die Bahn."
"Die Bahn."
"A ticket like for public transport."
"Der Fahrschein."
"Der Fahrschein."
"A stop, like for the bus
or tram or so on and so on."
"Die Haltestelle."
"Die Haltestelle."
"And then the platform in the
train station is der Bahnsteig."
"Der Bahnsteig."
Alright, so I suggest.
Here's what I suggest
for you to practice this.
Keep repeating this.
You can, if you're on the podcast
episode, like on the phone or on the
computer, you can look at the transcript.
There's.
I always upload transcripts so you can
see also how these things are written
and that can help you.
And then you can actually also write
them down yourself in a vocabulary book.
And then first step is to just
repeat saying them until you can say
them easily, pronounce them easily.
If you're not sure you can come back
to the episode, listen to it again,
repeat it again, and then do that.
The most important thing in the beginning,
and it stays an important thing always is
to expand your vocabulary because without
words you don't have anything to say.
So in order to do that, you
need to practice those words.
The easiest way of doing that is making
sentences, using the word in sentences.
You get a good idea on
how to do that in the.
In the Better German Starter Course.
The Better German Starter
Course is included in the
Better German Podcast Community.
So if you sign up for the Better
German Podcast Community, you can
do the Better German Starter Course.
There is a free tier available too.
for the Better German Community
and then you can get an idea.
I'm sorry, I was a little bit
distracted because I think I need
to take care of my dog now because
he's running around me in circles
and starting to disconnect things.
So I hope this was helpful for you
and if it is, let me know hopefully
have a great time in the city.
Maybe in a German speaking city.
Talk to you soon.
Bye bye.