German food vocabulary: 60 words, from das Brot to die Rechnung

60 German food words

Learn each noun together with its article: die Butter, not just Butter. The article shows the gender, and the gender decides the endings on every word around it. This is the word pack the Contos web app uses for flashcard review.

Der, die or das? Clues hidden in the food words

No rule covers every noun, but this list has some reliable patterns. Most words ending in -e are feminine: die Banane, die Tomate, die Karotte, die Zitrone, die Erdbeere, die Suppe, die Tasse, die Flasche, die Serviette. Many words ending in -er or -el are masculine: der Teller, der Kellner, der Zucker, der Pfeffer, der Löffel, der Apfel.

• Exceptions to learn by heart: die Butter, die Gabel, die Kartoffel and die Zwiebel are feminine although they end in -er or -el; das Messer is neuter.
• Words ending in -chen are always neuter: das Hähnchen, and das Brötchen (the bread roll every German bakery sells).
• Alcoholic drinks are mostly masculine: der Wein, der Sekt, der Schnaps. The big exception is das Bier. Water and milk do not follow the drinks: das Wasser, die Milch.
• Meals built on das Essen stay neuter: das Mittagessen, das Abendessen. Das Frühstück is neuter too.

Compound nouns: the last word decides

German joins nouns into one word, and the compound takes the gender of its last part. Sometimes a linking -n- or -s- appears in the middle.

Plurals, and words with none

Plurals change in several ways: das Ei → die Eier, der Apfel → die Äpfel, das Glas → die Gläser, die Tomate → die Tomaten, die Kartoffel → die Kartoffeln. Words ending in -er or -el often stay the same: der Teller → die Teller, das Messer → die Messer, der Löffel → die Löffel, der Kuchen → die Kuchen.

Brot or Brötchen, and when Germans eat what

Das Brot is a loaf or a slice of bread; das Brötchen is a roll, and it is what most Germans eat at breakfast. In the first chapter of the Contos flagship series, a flatmate comes home with exactly that:

The meal words map onto the day. Das Frühstück is breakfast, das Mittagessen is lunch, and das Abendessen is dinner. Many families eat a cold evening meal of bread, cheese and cold meats, called das Abendbrot. In between, especially at the weekend, there is Kaffee und Kuchen: coffee and cake in the middle of the afternoon.

Regional words you will hear

• die Karotte is understood everywhere, but in the north many people say die Möhre.
• das Hähnchen is the chicken on your plate; in Bavaria and Austria it is das Hendl. The live animal is das Huhn, which also appears in die Hühnersuppe.
• das Brötchen has local names: die Semmel in Bavaria and Austria, die Schrippe in Berlin.
• der Pfeffer is the spice. The vegetable, a bell pepper, is die Paprika.

How do you order and pay in German?

Ordering mostly uses the accusative, because the food is the object of nehmen, bestellen or haben. Only masculine nouns change: der Salat becomes den Salat, ein Kaffee becomes einen Kaffee. Feminine and neuter nouns look the same as in the dictionary.

The story sentences use the same verbs. Here a baker has two cakes to make, and the word order shows off the accusative: the object comes first, and den marks it as the thing being ordered.

Why the list says Hunger haben, not hungrig

The list gives Hunger haben for hungry, because that is how Germans say it: Ich habe Hunger (I have hunger), and Ich habe Durst (I'm thirsty). The adjective hungrig is correct, but it sounds less natural in conversation. For praising food, see how to say delicious in German; for the end of the meal, how to ask for the bill.