Today's words · 🎨 Hobbies
Painting, knitting, collecting: talk about your hobbies in 10 German words
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The quickest way to make German friends isn't talking about the weather — it's talking about hobbies.
First day at language school, and the teacher asks: ‘Was machst du in deiner Freizeit?’ Everyone answers easily, but when it's your turn, all you can come up with is ‘Ich… Netflix?’ Even though you actually draw and knit!
Today's ten words are for talking about hobbies. Reading, drawing, collecting, crafting, playing an instrument: with these, introducing yourself gets much more interesting and conversations last longer. 🎨
📋 The ten words at a glance
- das Hobby — hobby
- die Freizeit — free time, leisure
- lesen — to read
- malen — to paint
- zeichnen — to draw
- sammeln — to collect, to gather
- basteln — to make (crafts), to do handicrafts; to tinker
- stricken — to knit
- das Instrument — (musical) instrument; tool
- die Freizeitbeschäftigung — leisure activity, pastime
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
das Hobby
[HOB-ee]hobby(Pl. die Hobbys)
📌 Mein Hobby ist Fotografieren.
→ My hobby is photography.
💡 Straight from English hobby 🎯 Start with Mein Hobby ist… and you're done.
⚠ The plural is die Hobbys, not ‘Hobbies’.
die Freizeit
[FRY-tsite]free time, leisure((no pl.))
📌 Was machst du in deiner Freizeit?
→ What do you do in your free time?
💡 frei (free) + Zeit (time) = free time 🏖️ Word for word!
Bonus in meiner Freizeit = in my free time
lesen
[LAY-zen]to read(liest – hat gelesen (irregular))
📌 Ich lese jeden Morgen die Zeitung.
→ I read the newspaper every morning.
💡 It originally meant to pick up or gather 📚 Reading is gathering letters.
⚠ Irregular: du liest, er liest / hat gelesen
malen
[MAH-len]to paint(malt – hat gemalt)
📌 Meine Tochter malt gern.
→ My daughter likes painting.
💡 Painting with colours is malen 🖌️ A painter is der Maler.
⚠ Drawing lines with a pencil is zeichnen.
zeichnen
[TSYKH-nen]to draw(zeichnet – hat gezeichnet)
📌 Meine Tochter zeichnet gern Tiere.
→ My daughter likes drawing animals.
💡 From Zeichen (sign, mark), related to English token ✏️ You make marks on paper.
Bonus A drawing is die Zeichnung
sammeln
[ZAM-eln]to collect, to gather(sammelt – hat gesammelt)
📌 Mein Sohn sammelt Briefmarken.
→ My son collects stamps.
💡 Sounds a bit like ‘sample’ — collect a sample of everything 🧸 Briefmarken sammeln = collecting stamps.
Bonus A collection is die Sammlung
basteln
[BAST-eln]to make (crafts), to do handicrafts; to tinker(bastelt – hat gebastelt)
📌 Die Kinder basteln Sterne aus Papier.
→ The children are making stars out of paper.
💡 Paper, scissors, glue — let's make something ✂️ Every German child's favourite lesson.
Bonus Handy verbs: kleben (to glue), schneiden (to cut)
stricken
[SHTRIK-en]to knit(strickt – hat gestrickt)
📌 Meine Mutter hat mir einen warmen Schal gestrickt.
→ My mother knitted me a warm scarf.
💡 From an old word for tying knots 🧶 Tie enough knots and you've got a scarf.
Bonus Crochet is häkeln
das Instrument
[in-stroo-MENT](musical) instrument; tool(Pl. die Instrumente)
📌 Spielst du ein Instrument?
→ Do you play an instrument?
💡 Same as English instrument 🎸 Just stress the end: in-stroo-MENT.
Bonus Use spielen: Ich spiele Klavier.
die Freizeitbeschäftigung
[FRY-tsite-buh-shef-tee-goong]leisure activity, pastime(Pl. die Freizeitbeschäftigungen)
📌 Lesen ist meine liebste Freizeitbeschäftigung.
→ Reading is my favourite pastime.
💡 Freizeit + Beschäftigung (activity) = something to do in your free time 🧩 Long, but it clicks together like Lego.
Bonus It ends in -ung, so it's die.
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
At the heart of German hobby life is the Verein, a club or society. There's one for almost everything: football, choir, photography, gardening. People joke that when three Germans get together, they found a Verein.
Want to try something new? Look up your local Volkshochschule (VHS), a community adult-education centre. It offers evening and weekend courses in things like pottery, cooking and languages.
Crafting (basteln) also follows the seasons in Germany. People make star decorations at Christmas, and in autumn children often make their own lanterns (Laterne) for St Martin's Day. ⭐
✅ Quick quiz
Q. A new colleague asks: ‘Was machst du in deiner Freizeit?’ What's the best answer?
- ① Ich zeichne gern und spiele Gitarre.
- ② Ich arbeite bis 18 Uhr.
- ③ Ich bin 30 Jahre alt.
Show the answer
① Ich zeichne gern und spiele Gitarre.
Freizeit means free time, so the answer should be about your hobbies.
Make three sentences about yourself today with ‘In meiner Freizeit … ich gern.’ and say them out loud! 🎨
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 🏋️ Exercise & gym