Today's words · ⛷️ Winter sports
Hit the slopes: 10 German words for winter sports
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For a lot of Germans, winter isn't just cold — it's the season for heading to the Alps.
Big snowflakes are falling outside, and a German colleague asks: „Fährst du dieses Jahr Ski?“ Suddenly everyone is talking about lifts and slopes, and all you can do is nod along.
Today's ten words are the ones you need for winter sports. Skiing, sledging, skating, plus black ice and avalanche warnings — with these you can plan your winter and stay safe while you enjoy it. ⛷️
📋 The ten words at a glance
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
der Schnee
[SHNAY]snow((no pl.))
📌 Morgen soll es Schnee geben.
→ It's supposed to snow tomorrow.
💡 Same root as snow ❄️ Say it slowly and let it drift down: SHNAY.
⚠ No plural. ‘Lots of snow’ is just viel Schnee.
schneien
[SHNY-en]to snow(schneit – hat geschneit)
📌 Es schneit!
→ It's snowing!
💡 The verb from der Schnee 🌨️ The subject is always es: Es schneit!
Bonus to rain = regnen: Es regnet.
der Ski
[SHEE]ski(Pl. die Ski / Skier · = der Schi)
📌 Im Winter fahren wir Ski.
→ In winter we go skiing.
💡 Norwegian for ‘a piece of wood’ 🎿 Spelled Ski, sounds like ‘shee’!
Bonus to ski = Ski fahren
⚠ Plural: die Ski or die Skier — both are used.
die Piste
[PISS-tuh](ski) slope, piste; runway(Pl. die Pisten)
📌 Die blaue Piste ist ideal für Anfänger.
→ The blue slope is ideal for beginners.
💡 From French piste, a track 🏔️ Colour-coded by difficulty!
Bonus blau = easy, rot = intermediate, schwarz = difficult
der Skilift
[SHEE-lift]ski lift(Pl. die Skilifte)
📌 Am Skilift mussten wir eine halbe Stunde warten.
→ We had to wait half an hour at the ski lift.
💡 Ski + Lift, simply glued together 🚡 Same lift as in English.
Bonus A chairlift is der Sessellift.
der Schlitten
[SHLIT-en]sledge, sled, toboggan(Pl. die Schlitten)
📌 Die Kinder fahren mit dem Schlitten den Hügel hinunter.
→ The children sledge down the hill.
💡 A cousin of sled and slide 🛷 You slide down on a Schlitten.
Bonus to go sledging = Schlitten fahren or rodeln
der Schlittschuh
[SHLIT-shoo]ice skate(Pl. die Schlittschuhe)
📌 Im Winter laufen wir auf dem gefrorenen See Schlittschuh.
→ In winter we go ice skating on the frozen lake.
💡 Looks like Schlitten (sledge) + Schuh (shoe) = a gliding shoe ⛸️
Bonus to go ice skating = Schlittschuh laufen
die Eisbahn
[ICE-bahn]ice rink, skating rink(Pl. die Eisbahnen)
📌 In der Adventszeit gibt es auf dem Marktplatz eine Eisbahn.
→ During Advent there is an ice rink on the market square.
💡 Eis (ice) + Bahn (track) 🧊 Not ice cream — a rink!
das Glatteis
[GLAT-ice]black ice, icy roads(Sg.)
📌 Wegen Glatteis kam es heute Morgen zu vielen Unfällen.
→ Black ice caused many accidents this morning.
💡 glatt (slippery) + Eis (ice) ⚠️ You can't see it, which makes it dangerous.
Bonus jemanden aufs Glatteis führen = to trip someone up
die Lawine
[la-VEE-nuh]avalanche(Pl. die Lawinen)
📌 Wegen erhöhter Lawinengefahr wurde die Skipiste gesperrt.
→ The ski slope was closed because of the increased avalanche risk.
💡 la-VEE-nuh — hear the snow rushing down the mountain 🏔️ Possibly from Latin for ‘slipping’.
Bonus die Lawinengefahr = avalanche risk
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
Many Germans go skiing in the Bavarian Alps or across the border in Austria and Switzerland. School winter holidays differ from state to state, so resorts get especially busy when several states are off at once.
After a good snowfall, every local hill turns into a sledging run, and adults join in just as happily as kids. In winter, many towns also set up a temporary ice rink near the Christmas market.
When it snows, clearing the pavement outside a building is often the job of the owner or tenants. It depends on the town and your rental contract, so ask a neighbour or the caretaker. The scrape of shovels early in the morning is the sound of a German winter! ❄️
✅ Quick quiz
Q. A friend is going skiing for the first time. How do you recommend the beginners' slope?
- ① Die blaue Piste ist ideal für Anfänger.
- ② Wegen Glatteis gab es viele Unfälle.
- ③ Die Kinder fahren mit dem Schlitten.
Show the answer
① Die blaue Piste ist ideal für Anfänger.
Blue slopes (blaue Piste) are the easy ones, so this says ‘The blue slope is ideal for beginners’.
Look out of the window and describe today's weather in German. Es schneit? Or still kein Schnee? ⛄
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 📷 Photography