How to Flirt in German (Plus: A bit of German Romance)
In love with a German? Ready for romance in Germany? If you need a little help on how to flirt with German, look no further than these easy phrases to use the next time you meed someone very special ❤️ Let’s flirt in German!
In celebration of Valentine's Day, Fluent is in love today and I want to teach you some fun little expressions to tell your loved one. German is not often considered a romantic language, so you may find it surprising that Germany actually had a whole romantic period in history! As a country of castles, hills and walkers this was a great time for poetry and passionate writing. You can check out more about them in Caspar David Friedrich's paintings and love letters from Goethe, a beloved German writer. You might have heard of Goethe? He wrote Faust and came out with some excellent one liners - a bit like a German Shakespeare.
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Set the scene for a German romance and get to know some useful expressions. I'm pretty loved up this year, so for me these three words will never get old.
3 Ways to Say "I Love You" in German
1) Ich liebe dich (I love you)
A classic - with these three words you won't put a foot wrong.
2) Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (my entire heart is yours)
No matter if you are romancing a woman or a man, this wonderful line is guaranteed to stir up happy emotions - My Whole Heart is Yours should be said over the soundtrack of this Youtube clip so that you know you'll definitely score the full romance points.
3) Ich möchte für immer bei dir sein (I want to be with you forever)
"I want to be with you forever." Ahh, that's the start of a great proposal..<3
3 Loving Nicknames to call your partner in German
1) Mein Schatz (My treasure) - it’s what I call my husband!
2) Mein Schneckchen (My little snail!)
3) Meine Herzallerliebste/Mein Herzallerliebster (My heart's favourite - adapt for feminine or masculine)
And if you're currently on the lookout for a new date, there is something I can do to help you. Try these:
The Top 3 German Conversation Starters (for Singles)
1) Ich spreche normalerweise keine Frauen/Männer an, aber.. (I don’t usually chat up women/men, but…)
The greatest way of humbling yourself and bringing in a compliment at the same time is to say "I would never do this, but for YOU it's a different story." Complimenting the person should come next, for example "du siehst so nett aus!" (you look so nice!).
2) Komm, wir brennen zusammen durch! (Let’s run away together!)
For the adventurous among you, this call for your love to run away with you could bring up romantic images of freedom, open road and romance. Perfect for suggesting a wild date...er...in the park.
3) Hi, sag mal, was hältst du denn vom Essen/Design/Kaffee hier? (Say, what do you think about the food/design/coffee here?)
Asking the other person's opinion is guaranteed to get you a response, and also some natural German language practice!
No matter where you are or if you're single or in love, I wish you a wonderful Valentine's Day!
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6 odd Moselle slang expressions they teach in no German class
Hello language lovers, yes it's a late blog post today. I'm writing this in Germany after a weekend full of family goodness: a wedding, a lot of time with a small child, and then a long-awaited new life came into this world. All is well then. And on the linguistic front, I have noticed that, once I return all of my good grammar goes out of the window. Wanna know why?
German dialects are strong
The German language plays host to a range of dialects as varied as the country they are from. This place used to be so scattered in different kingdoms and duchies that even across a few miles the language would have varied strongly.
Are strong dialects cool?
To this question, I would vote quite an emphatic yes. I love being able to understand Mosel German, and in the UK I like hearing the differences between a Scouse (someone from Liverpool), a Geordie (someone from Newcastle) and a Londoner. Dialects, just like language choices, are all about identity.
In celebration of all that dialect goodness, here are your essential Mosel phrases - if you ever want to sound local around Trier, make sure you say one.
- Bei dich
This is used where high German would say "zu dir". Note how we use the dative case after the word "bei", so that indicates that the usually stationary "bei" (at) is being used as a "zu" (to).
Example: Ja, ich komm morgen bei dich. (yes, I'll come to yours tomorrow)
- Was ist das denn für Zahnpasta?
Hmm, this one is quite odd indeed. Jumbly word order meets omission of indefinite article and mixes in nicely with a "für" thrown in. The correct German version of asking this would be "Was für eine xx ist das?", meaning "What type of xx is this?"
- dem Leon sein
The Genitive case, who needs it around here!? Why not just cut it and randomly use dative + possessive? Really, this will make you sound so local. Practice now, then keep it quiet from your German teacher.
Example: Ich will das T-Shirt anziehen, aber das ist dem Ludwig seins. (I want to wear the T-Shirt but it's Ludwig's).
- langsam
You know this one, it means slow. But when you talk to little kids around here, we also want them to be quiet. I guess it's the Mosel musicality, basically telling a child to go "Adagio".
- die Kerstin
This slang phenomenon is common all over Germany - basically we put a "the" in front of the first name of whoever we're referring to. It's quite informal and very common among children and friends.
- ich hab 20 kilo abgeholt
We really prefer "holen" to "nehmen" around here, and even use it where no other German would think that holen is a thing that you do...you lose weight, that's abholen (yep, abnehmen in your dictionary), you take medication, that's einholen. Read up about it here (in German language, but it's high German!).
That's it for today guys, I hope you enjoyed the short insight into how Germans really speak. Use these liberally if you want to tear up the rulebook, but never with "Sie", because slang and the polite form of address don't mix.
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