“Alda” & More Cool German Slang Words To Learn

If you’re out in any town in Germany feeling lonely and so cold, all you have to do is find a cute, shaded spot at a park and start people-watching. Then, you can see what people do best and you can also hear their fun and interesting, even possibly intriguing conversations. Now, that’s a very German thing to do. Hah. Just kidding. That is actually rude. So don’t do it. Don’t ever do it. In fact, listening to private conversations in Germany (or on any planet) is not nice, so try not to snoop around and listen to private talks.

However, there is something wonderful about conversations and the words people use, especially in German. Not to mention, if these conversations are exclusively yours, they are even more special. Because sometimes, these conversations use a lot of code words. Other times, these conversations use a lot of slang terms. In a way, you can say that these conversations hold the golden key to a world of German stories you’ve never heard of before. But these German stories wouldn’t be inherently German without the use of German slang words. Right? Well, here’s a mini glossary of German slang for you.

• nonsense: Quatsch (kwusch)
• is everything okay: Alles klar? (ah-les kluhr)
• idiot: Horst (horst)
• what’s up: Alles fit? (ah-les fit)
• loser: Lusche (loh-scheh)
• rich showoff: Bonze (bon-zeh)
• money: Kohle (koh-leh)
• know-it-all: Besserwisser (bes-ser-fis-ser)
• cute: putzig (put-zik)
• to chill: chillen (chillen)
• cheeky: kess (kas)
• hello: hallöchen (ha-lo-schen)
• yes and no: jein (yein)
• no: nee (nee)
• hey: na (nah)
• wicked: abgefahren (ab-geh-fah-ren)
• sure: klar (klahr)
• great: klasse (klas-seh)
• no way: Auf keinsten (awf kayn-sten)
• cool: geil (gayl)
• take care: Mach’s gut (mak’s gut)
• dude / mate: Alter (al-ter) / Alda (al-dah) / Alta (al-tah)
• awesome: Eins A (ayns ah)
• get lost: hau ab (haw ab)
• hi: moin (moyn)
• dude: Digga (dig-guh)