German Getting Dressed & Laundry Vocabulary
This set covers the everyday cycle of clothes: putting them on with anziehen, taking them off with ausziehen, and then washing, drying, and folding them with die Waschmaschine, trocknen, and falten. One thing that trips up English speakers immediately: German splits "wear" into two separate verbs, anziehen for the act of dressing and anhaben for simply having something on, where English just uses "wear" for both.
Learn these 15 words
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All 15 words
- anziehenA1
put on clothes
Ich muss mich noch anziehen. — I still need to get dressed.
plural: die Waschmaschinen
washing machine
Die Waschmaschine läuft schon seit einer Stunde. — The washing machine has been running for an hour.
- bügelnA2
to iron
Kannst du mir dieses Hemd bügeln? — Can you iron this shirt for me?
- faltenA2
to fold
Er faltet die Handtücher ordentlich zusammen. — He folds the towels neatly.
plural: die Reißverschlüsse
zipper
Der Reißverschluss meiner Jacke klemmt manchmal. — The zipper of my jacket sometimes gets stuck.
- trocknenA2
to dry
Die Wäsche trocknet draußen an der Sonne. — The laundry is drying outside in the sun.
plural: die Wäscheklammern
clothespin
Ohne Wäscheklammern fällt die Wäsche herunter. — Without clothespins the laundry falls down.
plural: die Wäschekörbe
laundry basket
Der Wäschekorb ist schon wieder voll. — The laundry basket is already full again.
plural: die Wäscheleinen
clothesline
Sie hängt die Hemden an die Wäscheleine. — She hangs the shirts on the clothesline.
- anhabenB1
wear, have on
Gestern hatte Julia ein rotes Kleid an. — Yesterday Julia was wearing a red dress.
remove, take off
Willst du den Mantel nicht ausziehen? — Don't you want to take off your coat?
- nähenB1
to sew
Meine Mutter näht ihre Kleider selbst. — My mother sews her clothes herself.
laundry, underwear
Ich muss heute noch Wäsche waschen. — I still need to wash laundry today.
to drape / cloak
Sie drapieren den Stoff elegant über die Schultern. — She drapes the fabric elegantly over her shoulders.
plural: die Schürzen
apron
Die Köchin trug eine weiße Schürze in der Küche. — The cook wore a white apron in the kitchen.
How to learn this set
Notice that anziehen and ausziehen share the same root ziehen (to pull) with opposite prefixes, so once you know one, the other is nearly free. All the laundry-room objects in this set (die Waschmaschine, die Wäscheklammer, der Wäschekorb, die Wäscheleine) are compounds built on Wäsche, so learn Wäsche cold first and the rest become recognizable rather than new. For the higher-level verbs like drapieren, hüllen, and säumen, drill them with a concrete object each time (hüllen sich in eine Decke, einen Rock säumen) since they're rarely used without one.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between anziehen and anhaben in German?
Anziehen is the action of putting clothes on, while anhaben describes the state of wearing them. Ich ziehe eine Jacke an (I'm putting on a jacket) versus Ich habe eine Jacke an (I have a jacket on).
Is Wäsche the same as Wäscheleine?
No. Die Wäsche just means the laundry itself, the pile of clothes to be washed or dried. Die Wäscheleine is the physical clothesline you hang that laundry on.
Why is der Reißverschluss masculine?
There's no logical reason, German noun gender for objects is mostly arbitrary and has to be memorized with the word. Reißverschluss literally breaks down into reißen (to tear/rip) and Verschluss (fastener), and it inherits its gender from Verschluss, which is masculine.
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