German Daily Routine at Work — Feierabend Vocabulary
After this lesson you can describe your working day from morning to Feierabend.
Do this first: Separable verbs
German Daily Routine at Work — Feierabend Vocabulary
A working day in German is told with separable verbs: you stand up, the work starts, you stop, you finish for the day. Feierabend is a word English does not have.
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Kulturnotiz
Feierabend has no English translation because English-speaking work culture has no equivalent concept. It is the protected state after work, and it is respected: colleagues say Schönen Feierabend as they leave, and contacting someone during theirs is unusual. Germany also has one of the highest statutory holiday entitlements in Europe — a minimum of 20 days, with 28 to 30 normal — and taking all of it is expected, not a sign of low commitment.
Common questions
+What does Feierabend actually mean?
The end of the working day and the free time that follows. Ich habe Feierabend means "I'm done for the day"; Schönen Feierabend! is what you say to a colleague as they leave.
+Which routine verbs are separable?
aufstehen, anfangen, aufhören, einkaufen, fernsehen, mitkommen. They conjugate normally and send their prefix to the end of the clause — ich stehe um sechs auf.
+What is Homeoffice?
Working from home. It is a German-made English word, like Handy and Beamer — used constantly in German, and not understood by English speakers, who say "working from home" or "remote".
+What is a normal German working day?
It starts early — 8:00 is standard, 7:30 common — with a real Mittagspause taken away from the desk, and it ends at a defined time. Overtime exists but is not the default expectation.