German Opposite Words & Adjectives | Study.com

Physically Descriptive Adjectives

First they started with some simple words that could describe physical aspects of things:

Adjective
Pronunciation
Translation

groß
grohss
big

klein
kliyn
small

heiß
hiyss
hot

kalt
kahlt
cold

lang
lahng
long

kurz
kuhrts
short

dick
dihk
fat

duenn
dünn
thin

They started playing the game and decided to add a rule: each time you matched a pair correctly you had to use them together in a sentence. Here are some sentences they came up with:

• Unser Haus ist groß, dein Haus ist klein. (Our house is big, yours is small).
• Im Sommer ist es heiß aber im Winter ist es kalt. (In the summer it’s warm but in the winter it’s cold).
• Was sieht am besten aus, Haar das lang oder kurz ist? (What looks better, hair that is long or short?).
• Ein Bruder ist dick, der andere Bruder ist dünn. (One brother is fat, the other brother is thin).

Translation: Summer is hot but winter is cold.

More Descriptive Adjectives

Then they came up with a some richer words that can be physically descriptive or not.

Adjective
Pronunciation
Translation

alt
ahlt
old

jung
yuhng
young

reich
riysch
rich

arm
ahrm
poor

schnell
SCH-nehll
fast

langsam
lAHNG-sahm
slow

dunkel
DUHN-kehl
dark

hell
hehl
bright/light

• Der Mann ist alt aber der Junge ist jung. (The man is old but the boy is young).
• Ohne Geld bin ich arm, mit Geld bin ich reich. (Without money I’m poor, with money I’m rich).
• Der Hase ist schnell aber die Schildkröte ist langsam. (The hare is fast but the tortoise is slow).
• Das Wohnzimmer ist dunkle and die Küche ist hell. (The living room is dark but the kitchen is bright).

Subjective Adjectives

How about some words that depend on the person’s opinion?

Adjective
Pronunciation
Translation

hübsch
HUE-bsch
beautiful

hässlich
HEYSS-lisch
ugly

glücklich
GLUHCK-lisch
happy

traurig
TROW-rihg
sad

langweilig
LAHNG-wiy-lich
boring

interessant
IHNTEHR-ehs-sahnt
interesting

teuer
TOY-ehr
expensive

billig
BIHL-lig
cheap

• Diese Schuhe sind echt teuer, ich kaufe die andere, sie sind billig. (These shoes are expensive, I’ll buy the others, they’re cheap).
• Der Hund ist immer glücklich, die Katze ist immer traurig. (The dog is always happy, the cat is always sad).
• Wir denken das Buch langweilig ist aber unser Lehrer denkt es interessant ist. (We think the book is boring but our teacher thinks it is interesting).
• Er denkt die Stadt hübsch ist aber sie denkt es hässlich ist. (He thinks the city is beautiful but she thinks it is ugly).

Practice

Now they’ve finished matching cards and making up sentences they want to see how well they’ve remember the words so they test each other. Lars reads a word and his two roommates, John and Adam, take turns giving him the antonym.

Lars: John,was ist das Gegenteil von alt? (John, what is the opposite of old?)

John: Das Gegenteil ist jung. (The opposite is young)

Lars: Sehr gut! Adam, was ist das Gegenteil von traurig? (Very good!, what is the opposite of sad?)

Adam: Einfach! Es ist glücklich (Easy! It is happy)

Lars: Perfekt! John, das Gegenteil von klein? (Perfect! John, the opposite of small?)

John: Ich glaube es groß ist. (I think it is big)

Lars: Das Stimmt! Okay, zum Letzten, Adam, das Gegenteil von hässlich? (That’s right! Okay, last one. Adam, the opposite of ugly?)

Adam: Ich denke hübsch das Gegenteil von hässlich ist. (I think pretty is the opposite of ugly).

Lara: Wahnsinn! (Awesome!)

Translation:Young is the opposite of old

Lesson Summary

A good tip when learning new adjectives is to always look up and learn that adjectives antonym. If you get really good at it like Lars and his friends, as soon as you hear an adjective you’ll be able to come up with its opposite without even really thinking.

If someone says groß (big) you’ll instantly think klein (small), or you read that something is dick (fat) you’ll know the opposite, or das Gegenteil (pronounced GEHG-ehn-tiyl), is dünn. Maybe your friend tells you you’re taking too long, you’re being langsam (slow), you can disagree and tell them you are in fact being schnell (fast).

To get you started on your journey of habitually learning adjectives and their antonyms here’s a table of the ones you learned today.

Adjective
Translation
Antonym
Translation

groß
big
klein
small

heiß
hot
kalt
cold

alt
old
jung
young

reich
rich
arm
poor

teuer
expensive
billig
cheap

lang
long
kurz
short

glücklich
happy
traurig
sad

schnell
fast
langsam
slow

dick
fat
dünn
thin

dunkel
dark
hell
bright/light

langweilig
boring
interessant
interesting