English has an endearing habit of turning animal names into verbs.
While this tendency isn’t as pronounced in German, animals do crop as verbs from time to time – and in numerous idioms. Getting to grips with a few of these is a great to build your vocabulary and make your German sound much more idiomatic and natural.
What does Äffen mean?
Der Affe in German means “the (male) monkey”. Die Äffin is a female monkey and Die Affen means “the monkeys”.
Much like the English verb “to ape,” the German verb äffen describes copying another person’s actions or mannerisms.
In addition, it often conveys a sense of playful or silly copying in the English sense of “monkeying about”.
Äffen can also mean to mislead or trick someone, adding a further, subtle difference between the two terms.
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Why do I need to know Äffen?
In part because the verb äffen is just a great reminder that learning a new language works best when it’s approached with a sense of fun – and that imitating native speakers is crucial for improving your pronunciation, intonation and vocabulary.
It’s also a reminder that it's often possible to learn two or three words for the price of one – in this instance, the word for “monkey”, the word for “to imitate” and the word for “to trick”.
German doesn’t convert animal names into verbs as often as English – there are no equivalents for “to badger”, “to swan about” or “to dog” for example – but there are a few more which are worth knowing, such as geiern, which comes from der Geier (vulture) and means to gape or leer greedily.
Another is krähen, related to die Krähe (crow), which means to crow or boast.
Beyond verbs, the German language is wonderfully rich in animal-related idiomatic expressions.
Anyone who has spent some time in the country will have heard der Angsthase (literally fearful bunny, or scaredy cat), der Pfennigfuchs (literally penny fox, or penny puncher) and der Partylöwe (literally party lion, or party animal).
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Another great expression is Er hat Schwein gehabt, which literally translates as “he had a pig” but actually means “he was lucky”.
Using these idioms can help make your German lively and expressive.
How to use Äffen:
Kinder äffen oft ihre Eltern nach, um zu lernen
Children often imitate their parents to learn
Hör auf, mich zu äffen – das ist nicht nett!
Stop copying me — it’s not nice!
Letzte Woche hat er mich geäfft und dann lachte er darüber.
Last week he mimicked me and then laughed about it.
Der Betrüger hat viele Menschen geäfft und ihnen Geld abgeknöpft.
The scammer tricked a lot of people out of their money.
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