Today's words · 🗳️ Elections & politics
Read the headlines: 10 German words for politics
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At election time, once you can read the posters on every lamppost, the news suddenly gets interesting.
Before an election, lampposts all over Germany fill up with party posters. The evening news is full of Koalition, Bundestag and Regierung, and at lunch your colleagues ask each other, quite seriously, “Wen wählst du?”
Today's ten words come up in every German political news story. With them you can follow the headlines and start joining in when colleagues talk politics. 🗳️
📋 The ten words at a glance
- die Wahl — election; choice
- wählen — to choose; to vote; to dial
- die Partei — (political) party; party (to a contract)
- die Stimme — voice; vote
- die Regierung — government
- die Politik — politics; policy
- der Politiker — politician
- der Bundestag — Bundestag (German federal parliament)
- der Bundeskanzler — Federal Chancellor
- die Koalition — coalition
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
die Wahl
[VAHL]election; choice(Pl. die Wahlen)
📌 Am Sonntag ist die Wahl.
→ The election is on Sunday.
💡 The noun of wählen (to choose) 🗳️ An election is just a big choice.
Bonus I have no choice = Ich habe keine Wahl.
wählen
[VAY-len]to choose; to vote; to dial(wählt – hat gewählt)
📌 Wen hast du gewählt?
→ Who did you vote for?
💡 To vote, to pick from a menu, even to dial a number — all wählen ☎️
Bonus Who did you vote for? = Wen hast du gewählt?
die Partei
[par-TIE](political) party; party (to a contract)(Pl. die Parteien)
📌 Welche Partei wählst du?
→ Which party are you voting for?
💡 From Latin pars (part): a group that speaks for one part of society 🏛️
⚠ False friend! A party you go to is die Party.
die Stimme
[SHTIM-uh]voice; vote(Pl. die Stimmen)
📌 Sie hat eine schöne Stimme.
→ She has a beautiful voice.
💡 Your voice and your vote are the same word — use it! 🎤
Bonus The verb stimmen = to be right: Das stimmt! (That's true!)
die Regierung
[reh-GEE-roong]government(Pl. die Regierungen)
📌 Die Regierung plant neue Gesetze.
→ The government is planning new laws.
💡 regieren (to govern) + -ung = the people who govern 🏢 -ung, so die.
die Politik
[po-li-TEEK]politics; policy((pl. rare))
📌 Ich interessiere mich nicht für Politik.
→ I'm not interested in politics.
💡 From Greek polis (city-state) 🏛️ English politics without the s, with a k.
Bonus The adjective: politisch — politische Themen
der Politiker
[po-LEE-ti-ker]politician(Pl. die Politiker (f: die Politikerin))
📌 Viele Politiker sprechen über das Klima.
→ Many politicians talk about the climate.
💡 Politik + -er = someone who does politics 👔 Stress on ‘LEE’.
Bonus A female politician is die Politikerin.
der Bundestag
[BOON-des-tahk]Bundestag (German federal parliament)(Pl. die Bundestage)
📌 Der Bundestag hat das neue Gesetz beschlossen.
→ The Bundestag has passed the new law.
💡 Bund (federation) + Tag (an old word for assembly) 🏛️
⚠ This Tag doesn't mean ‘day’ — it's the old sense, ‘assembly’.
der Bundeskanzler
[BOON-des-kants-ler]Federal Chancellor(Pl. die Bundeskanzler (f: die Bundeskanzlerin))
📌 Der Bundeskanzler hält heute eine Rede im Bundestag.
→ The Chancellor is giving a speech in the Bundestag today.
💡 Bund (federation) + Kanzler (chancellor) 🇩🇪 Same Bund as in Bundestag.
Bonus President: der Bundespräsident · minister: der Minister
die Koalition
[ko-ah-li-TSYOHN]coalition(Pl. die Koalitionen)
📌 Die beiden Parteien haben sich auf eine Koalition geeinigt.
→ The two parties have agreed on a coalition.
💡 From Latin for ‘growing together’ 🤝 Several parties form one government.
Bonus to form a coalition = eine Koalition bilden
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
In German federal elections you get two votes. The first (Erststimme) goes to a local candidate, the second (Zweitstimme) to a party. That's why you'll hear questions like “Wem gibst du deine Zweitstimme?” before an election.
One party rarely wins a majority on its own, so after an election parties usually spend weeks negotiating a Koalition. Each party has a colour, and coalitions are often nicknamed after their colour combinations.
Elections are usually held on a Sunday, and many people vote early by post (Briefwahl). EU citizens living in Germany can vote in local elections, but only German citizens can vote for the Bundestag. 🗳️
✅ Quick quiz
Q. A colleague asks, “Welche Partei wählst du?” Which question means roughly the same?
- ① Gehst du heute auf eine Party?
- ② Wie ist deine Stimme?
- ③ Wen wählst du bei der Wahl?
Show the answer
③ Wen wählst du bei der Wahl?
A Partei is a political party, not a party you go to, so the closest question is Wen wählst du bei der Wahl?
Find one German news headline today and count how many of today's words you can spot. 📰
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 📈 Prices & the economy