Order a Brötchen in Munich and you'll get one, along with a look that says "you're not from here". Locals ask for a Semmel. In Berlin it's a Schrippe, and in Hamburg a Rundstück. Same bread roll, four words.
Germany is a country of dialects, and even people who speak standard German use regional words every day. You don't need to speak Bavarian, but you'll want to understand it, especially in the south, where dialect is heard far more often than in the north.
One Thing, Many Names
| English | Standard / most common | South (Bavaria, Austria) | North and East |
|---|---|---|---|
bread roll | das Brötchen | die Semmel | die Schrippe (Berlin), das Rundstück (Hamburg) |
filled doughnut | der Berliner | der Krapfen | der Pfannkuchen (Berlin and the east) |
Saturday | der Samstag | der Samstag | der Sonnabend |
boy | der Junge | der Bub | der Junge |
potato | die Kartoffel | der Erdapfel (Austria, parts of Bavaria) | die Kartoffel |
chimney sweep | der Schornsteinfeger | der Kaminkehrer | der Schornsteinfeger |
butcher | der Metzger / der Fleischer | der Metzger | der Fleischer, der Schlachter |
bye | tschüss | servus, pfiat di | tschüss |
The Pfannkuchen trap: in Berlin and much of the east, a Pfannkuchen is a jam doughnut. Everywhere else, Pfannkuchen means a pancake. Ask for one in a Berlin bakery and expect something round and sugary, not flat.
In the Swabian south-west, add -le to almost anything: Häusle (little house), Spätzle (the egg noodles), Weckle (bread roll). It's the regional version of -chen.
Greetings by Region
Hello, in Bavaria and Austria
Grüß Gott
Hi and bye, in the south
Servus
Hello, in the north
Moin
Hello, in Switzerland
Grüezi
Bye, in Swabia
Ade
Practice these words
Grüß Gott
Moin works at any time of day, not just in the morning. It isn't from Morgen: it most likely comes from a Low German word for "good". People in Hamburg say Moin, and Moin moin already counts as chatty.
Grüß Gott is the standard polite greeting in Bavaria and Austria, in shops, offices and churches alike. It isn't especially religious in daily use. Saying Guten Tag there is fine, but Grüß Gott gets a warmer reply.
Bavarian You'll Hear
Bavarian is spelled the way it sounds, and that spelling doesn't play well with audio, so here it is with the standard German next to it.
| Bavarian | Standard German | English |
|---|---|---|
Griaß di! | Grüß dich! | Hello! (to one person, informal) |
Griaß eich! | Grüß euch! | Hello! (to a group) |
Pfiat di! | Behüt dich Gott! | Bye! |
Servus! | Hallo! / Tschüss! | Hi! / Bye! |
a Mass | eine Maß (ein Liter Bier) | a litre of beer |
a Brezn | eine Brezel | a pretzel |
Obatzda | angemachter Käse | a Camembert and butter spread with paprika |
a Madl | ein Mädchen | a girl |
a Bua | ein Junge | a boy |
hoid | halt | just, simply |
ned | nicht | not |
fei | (no direct equivalent) | really, mind you |
gell? | nicht wahr? | right? isn't it? |
Fei is the most Bavarian word there is. It adds emphasis or a gentle warning: Des is fei guad! "That's really good, you know!" Pass fei auf! "Do be careful!" Outsiders rarely get it right.
Gell? at the end of a sentence asks for agreement, like oder? elsewhere. You'll hear it all over the south, from Franconia to Baden: Schönes Wetter heut, gell?
Other Regional Words
| Word | Region | Means |
|---|---|---|
icke | Berlin | ich, I |
die Stulle | Berlin, north and east | a slice of bread with something on it |
der Schnack | north | a chat |
lütt | north | small |
schaffe | Swabia and the south-west | to work (standard arbeiten) |
der Jeck | Cologne, Rhineland | a carnival fool, or anyone a bit crazy |
ei verbibbsch | Saxony | well I never! |
Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue ("work, work, build a little house") is the Swabian motto, and people in the rest of Germany quote it to tease Swabians about thrift and hard work.
Dialect or Accent?
A dialect has its own words and grammar. Bavarian, Swabian, Saxon, Low German and Kölsch are dialects, and a broad one can be hard even for other Germans to follow.
An accent is standard German with a regional sound. Most Germans speak standard German at work and with strangers, and switch to more dialect with family and friends.
Telling the time differs too. In the south and east, viertel neun means 8:15 and dreiviertel neun means 8:45. The rules are in telling the time.
If you can't follow someone, it's fine to ask: Können Sie das bitte auf Hochdeutsch sagen? Nobody minds, and many people switch automatically once they hear you're not local.