Today's words · 🌡️ Climate change
Understand the German news: 10 climate words
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These words turn up in German news almost every day — let's sort them out in one go.
You switch on the evening news and the presenter rattles off Hitzewelle, Dürre, Klimawandel. The screen shows parched fields, then flooded villages, but without the words you're just watching the pictures.
Today's ten words come up in every climate story. With them you can follow the headlines and take your weather small talk a step further. 🌍
📋 The ten words at a glance
- das Klima — climate; atmosphere
- der Klimawandel — climate change
- die Erderwärmung — global warming
- das Kohlendioxid — carbon dioxide (CO2)
- die Emission — emission (of pollutants)
- das Treibhausgas — greenhouse gas
- die Hitzewelle — heat wave
- die Dürre — drought
- die Überschwemmung — flood, flooding
- klimaneutral — climate-neutral, carbon-neutral
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
das Klima
[KLEE-ma]climate; atmosphere(Pl. die Klimas / Klimata)
📌 Das Klima hier ist mild.
→ The climate here is mild.
💡 Same root as English climate 🌡️ German keeps it short: Klima.
Bonus air conditioning = die Klimaanlage · working atmosphere = das Betriebsklima
der Klimawandel
[KLEE-ma-van-del]climate change(no pl.)
📌 Der Klimawandel ist eines der größten Probleme unserer Zeit.
→ Climate change is one of the biggest problems of our time.
💡 Klima + Wandel (change) = the climate changing 🔄
⚠ No plural — it's always der Klimawandel.
die Erderwärmung
[AIRT-air-vair-moong]global warming(Sg.)
📌 Die Erderwärmung führt zu immer mehr extremen Wetterereignissen.
→ Global warming is leading to more and more extreme weather events.
💡 Erde (earth) + Erwärmung (warming) = global warming 🌍 You can spot warm inside.
das Kohlendioxid
[KOH-len-dee-ox-eet]carbon dioxide (CO2)(Sg. · = das Kohlenstoffdioxid)
📌 Bäume nehmen Kohlendioxid aus der Luft auf.
→ Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
💡 Kohle (coal, carbon) + Dioxid = carbon dioxide 🏭
Bonus People usually just say CO2: ‘tsay-oh-TSVY’.
die Emission
[eh-mee-SYOHN]emission (of pollutants)(Pl. die Emissionen)
📌 Die Industrie muss ihre Emissionen in den nächsten Jahren halbieren.
→ Industry must halve its emissions in the coming years.
💡 From Latin emittere, ‘to send out’ 💨 What factories send into the air.
⚠ -ion, so it's die — and usually plural: die Emissionen.
das Treibhausgas
[TRIBE-house-gahs]greenhouse gas(Pl. die Treibhausgase)
📌 Methan ist ein besonders starkes Treibhausgas.
→ Methane is a particularly powerful greenhouse gas.
💡 Treibhaus (greenhouse) + Gas = greenhouse gas 🌿 Pure Lego.
Bonus the greenhouse effect = der Treibhauseffekt
die Hitzewelle
[HIT-tsuh-vel-uh]heat wave(Pl. die Hitzewellen)
📌 Während der Hitzewelle stiegen die Temperaturen auf über 38 Grad.
→ During the heat wave, temperatures rose to over 38 degrees.
💡 Hitze (heat) + Welle (wave) = heat rolling in like a wave 🥵
Bonus Es ist total heiß heute! = It's boiling today!
die Dürre
[DUE-ruh]drought(Pl. die Dürren)
📌 Wegen der Dürre ist die Ernte in diesem Jahr schlecht ausgefallen.
→ Because of the drought, the harvest was poor this year.
💡 From dürr (dry, withered) 🏜️ Hear the cracked earth: DÜR-re.
die Überschwemmung
[UE-ber-shvem-oong]flood, flooding(Pl. die Überschwemmungen)
📌 Die Überschwemmung hat viele Häuser im Tal zerstört.
→ The flood destroyed many houses in the valley.
💡 über (over) + schwemmen (wash away) = water spilling over and sweeping things away 🌊
Bonus das Hochwasser (high water, flood) is also common in the news.
klimaneutral
[KLEE-ma-noy-trahl]climate-neutral, carbon-neutral📌 Deutschland will bis 2045 klimaneutral werden.
→ Germany wants to become climate-neutral by 2045.
💡 Klima + neutral = no plus or minus for the climate ⚖️
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
Many German homes have no air conditioning. During a Hitzewelle, people keep windows and shutters (Rollladen) closed during the day, then throw them open at night or early in the morning.
Sorting your rubbish (Mülltrennung) is part of daily life: paper, packaging, food waste and general waste go in separate bins. Bin colours and rules vary a bit from city to city, so check your local guide when you move.
Lots of people cycle to work, and friends often discuss whether to take the train or fly. Climate is a good topic for getting a conversation going with Germans. 🚲
✅ Quick quiz
Q. The news says it hasn't rained for months and the fields have dried up. Which word did you hear?
- ① die Überschwemmung
- ② die Dürre
- ③ die Hitzewelle
Show the answer
② die Dürre
die Dürre = drought: a long time without rain that dries out the land.
Look up one German news headline today and count how many of today's words you can find. You'll be surprised! 🌍
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 😷 Pandemic & hygiene