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GERMAN WORD OF THE DAY

German Word of the Day: Der Schmetterling

Despite the notorious Youtube video, this word is particularly beautiful (and German sounding).

Published: 27 September 2018 06:59 CEST

German Word of the Day: Der Schmetterling

Photo: depositphotos

The German translation for ‘butterfly’ is, I must concede, rather less delicate than its English, Spanish (mariposa), or French (papillon) counterparts.

But Schmetterling has an interesting etymology. It derives from the east central German word schmetten, meaning ‘cream’, with the diminutive suffix -ling. It was believed that witches metamorphosed into butterflies to steal cream and other dairy products. Examples:

Es gibt ungefähr 20,000 Arten von Schmetterlingen weltweit.

There are about 20,000 species of butterfly around the world.

Der Schmetterling ist das Lieblingstier meiner Tochter.

Butterflies are my daughter’s favourite animal.

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Kätzchen and Büchlein: How to make German words smaller

Diminutives are forms of words that are used to express a smaller, younger or even cuter version of a noun. They are used a lot in German, so it’s definitely worth getting to know how they work.

In English, words often become diminutive by adding the suffix -let (e.g. drop becomes droplet, book becomes booklet). In German, the diminutive form (also called die Verkleinerungsform) is made by adding either -chen or -lein to the end of the word:

das Tier → das Tierchen

the animal → the little animal

der Stern → das Sternchen

the star → the little star

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to pick the right German language school for you

Nouns with a, o, and u change their vowel to ä, ö, and ü. The e at the end of the word is usually dropped.

die Katze → das Kätzchen

the cat → the kitten

die Torte → das Törtchen

the cake → the little cake

die Blume → das Blümchen

the flower → the little flower

A selection of little Törtchen on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Catherine Waibel

The diminutive with -lein is used for words ending in -ch:

der Tisch → das Tischlein

the table → the little table

das Buch → das Büchlein

the book → the little book

As you might have noticed, regardless of which gender the main noun is, the diminutive form is always neuter. See – told you it was simple!

Can you make any word a diminutive?

Pretty much. You can add the ending to any noun in German that is not itself a diminutive, e.g. Häschen (bunny) and Eichhörnchen (squirrel).

Common diminutives

There are many common German words that are diminutive, some of which you have probably been using without even realising it.

das Brötchen for example is the diminutive version of das Brot and means little bread.

das Mädchen, meaning girl, is actually a diminutive of the antiquated word die Magd meaning maid.

And lastly: Hallöchen! is a cute way to say hello there!

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