Today's words · 🎮 Video games
Game on! 10 German words for gamers
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Switch your game's language to German and studying turns into playing.
A German friend texts you: „Wollen wir heute Abend zocken?“ Zocken? After a dictionary hunt you realise it means ‘play games’. Then, mid-game, all you hear is „Noch eine Runde!“
Today's ten words come up constantly when people play. With them you can chat while gaming online with German friends and get the gist of a German game review. 🎮
📋 The ten words at a glance
- das Spiel — game; match
- zocken — (colloquial) to play (video) games; to gamble
- das Level — level (colloquial)
- der Gegner — opponent, adversary
- die Runde — round; lap; circle (of people)
- die Figur — figure (body shape); character; figure, shape
- der Avatar — avatar
- die Grafik — graphic, chart, graph; print (art)
- virtuell — virtual
- süchtig — addicted
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
das Spiel
[SHPEEL]game; match(Pl. die Spiele)
📌 Das Spiel endet 2:1.
→ The match ends 2–1.
💡 From spielen (to play) 🎲 Video games and football matches are both a Spiel.
Bonus video game = das Videospiel · computer game = das Computerspiel
zocken
[TSOK-en](colloquial) to play (video) games; to gamble(zockt – hat gezockt)
📌 Die Jungs zocken jeden Abend bis Mitternacht.
→ The boys play video games until midnight every evening.
💡 Sounds like button-mashing: tsok-tsok 🕹️ Casual for ‘play games’.
⚠ Slang, and it can also mean ‘gamble’. In formal settings use spielen.
das Level
[LEV-el]level (colloquial)(Pl. die Levels)
📌 Ich bin schon im fünften Level!
→ I'm already on level five!
💡 Straight from English ⬆️ Level up, same idea.
⚠ English-style plural: die Levels
der Gegner
[GAYG-ner]opponent, adversary(Pl. die Gegner (f: die Gegnerin))
📌 Unser Gegner im Finale ist sehr stark.
→ Our opponent in the final is very strong.
💡 gegen (against) + -er = the one against you ⚔️ Enemy or opponent.
Bonus final boss = der Endgegner
die Runde
[ROON-duh]round; lap; circle (of people)(Pl. die Runden)
📌 Ich laufe noch eine Runde im Park.
→ I'll run another lap in the park.
💡 Same root as round 🔄 One more round = noch eine Runde!
Bonus At the pub: eine Runde ausgeben = to buy a round
die Figur
[fee-GOOR]figure (body shape); character; figure, shape(Pl. die Figuren)
📌 In dem Buch gibt es viele interessante Figuren.
→ There are many interesting characters in the book.
💡 Like English figure: a shape or a person 🧍 A game character is a Figur too.
Bonus to look good = eine gute Figur machen
der Avatar
[ah-vah-TAR]avatar(Pl. die Avatare)
📌 Ich habe meinen Avatar im Spiel geändert.
→ I changed my avatar in the game.
💡 Sanskrit for a god appearing on earth 👤 Now it's you on screen.
⚠ Stress is on the last syllable in German.
die Grafik
[GRAH-fik]graphic, chart, graph; print (art)(Pl. die Grafiken)
📌 Die Grafik zeigt, wie stark die Preise gestiegen sind.
→ The graph shows how much prices have risen.
💡 From Greek graphein (to draw) ✏️ Like graphics.
Bonus Die Grafik ist super! = The graphics are amazing!
virtuell
[veer-too-EL]virtual📌 Wir treffen uns heute virtuell am Computer.
→ We're meeting virtually on the computer today.
💡 Twin of virtual 🥽 VR is virtuelle Realität.
Bonus die virtuelle Welt = the virtual world
süchtig
[ZUEKH-tikh]addicted📌 Er ist süchtig nach Computerspielen.
→ He's addicted to computer games.
💡 die Sucht (addiction) + -ig 🌀 Just one more level…
⚠ Use nach: süchtig nach Computerspielen
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
Gaming is huge in Germany. Cologne hosts gamescom, one of the world's biggest gaming fairs, usually in late summer, and gamers travel there from all over the world.
Games sold in Germany carry a large USK age rating on the box. The colour and number show at a glance which age the game is suitable for.
German gamer talk is also full of English. Words like leveln, looten and der Boss are used as they are, so if you game, you'll pick it up faster than you think. 🕹️
✅ Quick quiz
Q. You want to tell a friend you're totally hooked on this game. Which sentence is right?
- ① Ich bin süchtig auf das Spiel.
- ② Ich bin süchtig von dem Spiel.
- ③ Ich bin süchtig nach dem Spiel.
Show the answer
③ Ich bin süchtig nach dem Spiel.
süchtig always goes with nach + dative.
Next time you play, shout „Noch eine Runde!“ and „Der Gegner ist zu stark!“ out loud. Just don't get süchtig! 🎮
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 🔐 Accounts & security