Today's words · 📲 Social media & video
Speak social media in German: 10 words to know
A2B1B2
posten, liken, teilen — German social media words are easy… with a few little traps.
You've taken holiday photos with German friends. One asks ‘Lädst du die Fotos hoch?’, another says ‘Bitte nicht posten!’. Who knew one photo could start so much conversation?
Today's ten words are about social media and video. Many come from English, so they'll feel familiar, but they bend like German words. With them you can comment in German and chat about posts with friends. 📲
📋 The ten words at a glance
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
die sozialen Medien
[zoh-TSYAH-len MAY-dee-en]social media(only pl.)
📌 Viele Jugendliche informieren sich hauptsächlich über die sozialen Medien.
→ Many young people get their information mainly from social media.
💡 sozial + Medien = social media 📱 Nearly the same as English!
⚠ Always plural, and the adjective changes: in den sozialen Medien
das Video
[VEE-day-oh]video(Pl. die Videos)
📌 Schau mal, ich habe ein lustiges Video gefunden!
→ Look, I found a funny video!
💡 Latin for ‘I see’ 👀 You watch it, so it's a video!
Bonus to film a video = ein Video drehen or aufnehmen
posten
[POHS-ten]to post (on social media)(postet – hat gepostet)
📌 Sie postet jeden Tag Fotos von ihrem Essen.
→ She posts photos of her food every day.
💡 English post + -en 📸 Past participle: gepostet.
⚠ der Post = a post; die Post = the post office or mail.
hochladen
[HOHKH-lah-den]to upload(lädt hoch – lud hoch – hat hochgeladen)
📌 Ich lade die Fotos gleich hoch.
→ I'll upload the photos right away.
💡 hoch (up) + laden (load) = upload, piece by piece ⬆️
Bonus The opposite = herunterladen (to download)
teilen
[TY-len]to share, to divide(teilt – hat geteilt)
📌 Wir teilen uns eine Pizza.
→ We're sharing a pizza.
💡 Split into Teile (parts) 🍕 You can teilen a pizza or a post.
Bonus Sharing food uses sich: Wir teilen uns eine Pizza.
liken
[LY-ken]to like (on social media)(likt – hat gelikt)
📌 Das Video wurde schon über eine Million Mal gelikt.
→ The video has already been liked over a million times.
💡 Said just like English like 👍 Only the spelling goes German.
⚠ Odd-looking forms: er likt, hat gelikt
der Kommentar
[kom-en-TAHR]comment; commentary(Pl. die Kommentare)
📌 Unter dem Video gibt es viele nette Kommentare.
→ There are lots of nice comments under the video.
💡 English comment with a K 💬 Stress the end: -TAR.
Bonus to comment = kommentieren
der Follower
[FOL-oh-er]follower (on social media)(Pl. die Follower (f: die Followerin))
📌 Der Sänger hat auf Instagram mehrere Millionen Follower.
→ The singer has several million followers on Instagram.
💡 Straight from English 👣 The German verb is folgen.
Bonus folgen takes the dative: Ich folge ihr auf Instagram.
der Influencer
[IN-floo-en-ser]influencer(Pl. die Influencer (f: die Influencerin))
📌 Viele Firmen bezahlen Influencer für Werbung.
→ Many companies pay influencers to advertise.
💡 Borrowed whole; add -in for a woman: Influencerin ✨
Bonus die Werbung = advertising — look for it on sponsored posts.
viral
[vee-RAHL]viral📌 Das Video ging innerhalb weniger Stunden viral.
→ The video went viral within a few hours.
💡 It spreads like a virus 🦠 Stress the second syllable.
Bonus to go viral = viral gehen
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
Germans tend to be careful about posting other people's faces online. Before you share a photo of friends or, especially, children, it's polite to ask: ‘Darf ich das posten?’
German happily borrows English social media words and then conjugates them the German way: gepostet, gelikt, hochgeladen. A wave of online outrage is even called der Shitstorm in German.
Messenger group chats are everywhere in Germany too — parents of a school class, neighbours in a building and work teams often organise everything in one. 💬
✅ Quick quiz
Q. You want to tell a friend ‘I'll upload the holiday photos right away!’
- ① Ich lade die Fotos gleich hoch.
- ② Ich lade die Fotos gleich herunter.
- ③ Ich like die Fotos gleich.
Show the answer
① Ich lade die Fotos gleich hoch.
hochladen means to upload; herunterladen is the opposite, to download.
Next time you scroll, say each button out loud in German: liken, teilen, kommentieren! 📱
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 🛒 Online shopping