“A friend in need is a friend indeed” – this and many other sayings highlight the prominence of friendships around the world. In German we say “Freundschaft ist des Lebens Salz” (friendships space the salt of life). Have actually you ever before wondered how to say girlfriend in German? We’ll show you 7 various ways that saying girlfriend in German and also dive deeper into the different cases in i m sorry you use it.

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Friend in German in ~ a Glance


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Freund/Freundin

You could have guessed it, Freund/Freundin is the most common word come say friend in German. If Freund refers to the masculine form, Freundin describes the mrs form. Freund/Freundin describes a close friendly relationship with the person.

Be careful, Freund/Freundin can also mean friend or girlfriend. This is most regularly the situation when the accompanied by the pronoun mein. Mein Freund/meine Freundin can additionally mean my boyfriend/girlfriend. To prevent confusion, usage ein Freund because that male and also eine Freundin because that a female. It simply method “a friend” and also it will certainly be clear you’re just referring come a platonic friend.

Kumpel

Kumpel , a gender-neutral word to describe a friend or a pal, is supplied in not blocked contexts. It defines a relationship simply as close together Freund/Freundin but is most often used among a younger male demographic.

Bruder

Bruder in German method brother, yet it is additionally a method of introduce to a close friend. That is supplied in casual context and also generally among young people. The is just used in between boys and men.

Kollege

The word Kollege can both typical friend in the same means that Kumpel go or it deserve to mean her actual work colleague. Girlfriend will recognize through the paper definition of the conversation even if it is the human being refers come a girlfriend or a work-related colleague.

Alter

Young Germans use transform to describe their friends and also acquaintances in very casual settings. It’s German slang provided in a similar method you would use median mate, dude, or bro. It’s an extremely colloquial and usually only offered by younger people.

Bekannter/Bekannte

A Bekannter/Bekannte is simply an acquaintance with whom friend don’t have actually much that a partnership at all.

Fremder/Fremde

A Fremder/Fremde is an actual stranger. When you have never met someone before, use Fremde/Fremder, when you have actually seen someone before but haven’t created a relationship, usage Bekannte/Bekannter.

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How come say my girlfriend in German?

The literal translation for my girlfriend in German is mein Freund for a male and meine Freundin because that a female. But as us mentioned, that is usually meant to describe a romantic partner like a boyfriend or girlfriend. Girlfriend.

There are a few ways to introduce your platonic friend to a group of people, without over there being any type of awkward misunderstandings. The many foolproof way is to include say eine Freundin Von Mir, which translates to “a girlfriend of mine”.


Levels the Friendship in German

Not every friends are equally close to us, and also the following German adjective can help you classify her friends from acquaintances come bosom bodies.

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GermanEnglish
Ein guter Freund/eine gute Freundin A good friend
Ein bester Freund/eine beste Freundin A best friend
Ein enger Freund/eine enge Freundin A close friend
Ein dicker Freund/eine dicke Freundin A great friend
Ein transform Freund/eine alte Freundin An old friend
Ein besonderer Freund/eine besondere Freundin A special friend

Conclusion

Freund is the most typical word for saying friend in German and also when you space unsure about the formality the the situation, the is her go-to expression. Freckles it up by making use of a funny adjective to further describe the relationship. Most world would agree the Germans no the easiest human being to befriend, castle aren’t as warm and also chatty together others yet once you have actually a German friend, they room in your life to stay.