German Winter Sports Vocabulary
This set covers the gear and places you need for a day on the mountain: der Skianzug and die Skihose to wear, der Skilift and der Sessellift to get up the slope, and die Piste to get back down. One trap for English speakers: der Schlitten is a sledge you ride on snow, but rodeln is the verb for actually doing it, so 'we sledged down the hill' becomes wir sind den Hügel hinuntergerodelt, not a form of Schlitten at all.
Learn these 17 words
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All 17 words
plural: die Schlitten
sledge
Die Kinder fahren mit dem Schlitten den Hügel hinunter. — The children ride the sledge down the hill.
plural: die Schlittschuhe
ice skate
Wir kaufen neue Schlittschuhe für den Winter. — We are buying new ice skates for winter.
plural: die Snowboards
snowboard
Er fährt gern mit dem Snowboard. — He likes riding the snowboard.
plural: die Eisbahnen
ice rink
Wir gehen am Samstag auf die Eisbahn. — We're going to the ice rink on Saturday.
plural: die Pisten
ski slope
Die Piste ist heute sehr glatt. — The slope is very slippery today.
- rodelnA2
to sledge / to toboggan
Wir wollen heute Nachmittag rodeln gehen. — We want to go sledging this afternoon.
plural: die Skis
ski
Gehen wir am Wochenende Ski fahren? — Shall we go skiing this weekend?
plural: die Skianzüge
ski suit
Der Skianzug hält mich schön warm. — The ski suit keeps me nice and warm.
plural: die Skifahrer
skier
Der Skifahrer fährt sehr schnell die Piste hinunter. — The skier goes down the slope very fast.
plural: die Skigebiete
ski resort/area
Das Skigebiet hat viele verschiedene Pisten. — The ski resort has many different slopes.
plural: die Skihosen
ski pants
Meine Skihose ist wasserdicht und warm. — My ski pants are waterproof and warm.
plural: die Skikurse
ski course
Ich habe letzten Winter einen Skikurs gemacht. — I did a ski course last winter.
plural: die Skilifte
ski lift
Wir nehmen den Skilift auf den Berg. — We take the ski lift up the mountain.
plural: die Skischulen
ski school
Meine Tochter lernt in der Skischule Skifahren. — My daughter is learning to ski at ski school.
plural: die Sessellifte
chairlift
Der Sessellift bringt uns bis zur Spitze. — The chairlift takes us to the top.
plural: die Skibrillen
ski goggles
Ohne Skibrille kann ich bei Sonne nichts sehen. — Without ski goggles I can't see anything in the sun.
plural: die Skistöcke
ski pole
Er hat einen Skistock beim Sturz verloren. — He lost a ski pole during the fall.
How to learn this set
Nine of these words share the root Ski-, so once you lock in der Ski, you can predict the rest: der Skianzug (suit), die Skihose (pants), der Skistock (pole), die Skibrille (goggles), der Skikurs (course), die Skischule (school), der Skifahrer (the person doing it), and das Skigebiet (the whole resort area). Drill these as a family rather than as separate flashcards: cover the Ski- prefix and quiz yourself on just the second half, since that's the part that actually changes meaning. Keep der Schlittschuh (ice skate) and der Schlitten (sledge) next to each other too, since they look similar but go to completely different activities. For der Skilift versus der Sessellift, picture the difference: one drags you, the other seats you, and that image will stop you mixing them up.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ski pronounced like the English word ski?
No. German Ski is pronounced 'shee', with a sh-sound at the start, not a plain s. This carries into every compound: Skianzug, Skifahrer, Skischule all start with that 'sh' sound.
What's the difference between Skifahrer and Snowboarder in German?
Skifahrer literally means 'ski-driver' and refers to a skier; someone on a snowboard is usually just called ein Snowboarder, a direct loanword. German built its own compound for skiing but simply borrowed the word for snowboarding.
Why are there so many Ski- words in German?
German builds vocabulary by stacking a base word onto compounds instead of inventing new roots, so once you know der Ski, words like die Skihose, der Skistock, and die Skibrille follow the same pattern and are easy to guess.
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