A Guide To Denglisch (B1) | English Words Used in German

At a glance

Denglisch is the everyday mix of Deutsch and English you'll hear all over modern Germany — words like Meeting, Deadline, Handy, gechillt. Some are direct loans, some are funny pseudo-anglicisms (Handy doesn't mean what you think it does). Learning it isn't optional — it's how Germans actually speak.

If you're learning German, you'll quickly notice that Germans pepper their everyday speech with English words. This mixture is called Denglisch, a portmanteau of Deutsch and English — and unlike most "decline of language" complaints, it really is something specific and identifiable.

In this article, we'll explain what Denglisch is, show you the most common Denglisch words, and walk through the typical sentence structures Germans use when mixing the two languages. Our goal is to help you feel comfortable — instead of confused — the next time you hear it in real life.

A quick note before we start: Denglisch isn't quite the same thing as a borrowed word. Plenty of words look English at first glance but mean something completely different in German (the classic Handy = mobile phone trap). For the broader category of "looks like English, isn't quite", see our companion piece on German false friends. And if you want the inverse — words that do line up neatly with English and give you free vocabulary — see our list of German-English cognates.

What is Denglisch?

Denglisch is when Germans drop English words or English-style phrases into their German sentences. Sometimes they even tweak the English words to make them behave like German ones — adding -en to turn a noun into a verb, picking a German article for an English noun, building a German plural ending onto a foreign root.

Denglisch is especially common in:

• Business and office life — see our list of German business vocabulary, which is shot through with Denglisch
• Technology and the internet — the entire German computer-vocabulary deck would lose half its cards without it
• Advertising — punchy and pseudo-cosmopolitan
• Youth language — overlapping heavily with German slang
• Social media — where the line between English and German is barely there

Some Germans love using Denglisch because it sounds modern and international. Others think it sounds lazy or unnecessary, and a small but vocal group considers it an actual threat to the language. Whatever your opinion, it's a real and stable part of how German is spoken today, and ignoring it will leave you stranded in a lot of normal conversations.

Very Common Denglisch Words

Here are some of the most important Denglisch words you will hear often:

You will also hear verbs made from English words:

Example sentences:

• Ich habe ein Meeting mit meinem Team.
• Kannst du mir bitte ein Feedback geben?
• Ich muss noch schnell eine App downloaden.
• Wir arbeiten heute im Homeoffice.

If most of these words feel familiar from a normal day at the office, that's the point — Denglisch is closest to native usage exactly where modern German is most plugged into international culture. Anyone preparing for a German job interview or working through office vocabulary should plan to encounter all of these at some point.

Typical Denglisch Constructions and Structures

When Germans use Denglisch, they often follow these patterns:

German Grammar + English Nouns

English nouns get parked inside normal German grammar. They take a German article (der, die, das) and pick up German plural endings — usually a tidy -s on the end, since most loanwords go through that route.

Examples:

• das Meeting → die Meetings
• der Job → die Jobs
• das Update → die Updates

So even if the word comes from English, it behaves like a German noun. Picking the right article isn't always obvious — Meeting is das (because it's a -ing form, treated like a neuter gerund), Job is der, App is die — and a wrong article in a Denglisch word grates exactly as much as a wrong article anywhere else. If picking the right article is your weak point in general, our breakdown of der, die, das is a good place to drill the underlying logic.

Making Verbs from English Words

Germans often add -en to an English word to create a German verb.

Examples:

• download + en = downloaden
• chat + ten = chatten
• updat + en = updaten

These verbs are then conjugated like regular German verbs:

• Ich downloade die Datei.
• Er chattet mit seinen Freunden.
• Wir updaten unsere Software.

Behind the scenes, this is the same pattern that powers any new German verb conjugation: the verb takes a regular -en infinitive ending and rides the standard present tense rails. The trickier question is what happens in the perfect — gedownloadet or downgeloadet? Both turn up; gedownloadet is now the more accepted form, but you'll see the other one in the wild.

Mixing English Phrases into German Sentences

Sometimes whole English phrases are dropped wholesale into a German sentence.

Example:

• Lass uns ein Meeting aufsetzen. (Let's set up a meeting.)
• Ich habe ein Call mit dem Chef. (I have a call with the boss.)

This is very common in offices and international companies in Germany — and it bleeds into how Germans express opinions and disagreements at work too. If you'd like a more controlled vocabulary for those situations, our roundup of German opinion phrases gives you native-sounding alternatives that won't make you sound like you're reading a LinkedIn post.

The Pseudo-Anglicism Trap

Some Denglisch words look English but mean something quite specific in German that English speakers wouldn't recognise:

• das Handy — a mobile phone (not a feeling of being handy)
• der Beamer — a projector (not a BMW)
• das Public Viewing — watching a sports broadcast on a big screen in public (in the US, this can mean an open-casket funeral viewing — proceed with caution)
• der Oldtimer — a vintage car (not an elderly person)
• der Smoking — a tuxedo
• der Shootingstar — a rising star (figurative, in business or culture)

These are the most fun part of Denglisch and the easiest to trip over. They overlap heavily with our list of German false friends, which goes deeper into the same trap.

Rules and Tips for Using Denglisch

• Always use the correct German article (der, die, das) for the English word.
• Add normal German endings for plurals — usually -s, but check first.
• Add -en if you want to turn an English word into a German verb, then conjugate it like a normal weak verb.
• Remember: not every English word is in use. Only certain words have become standard.
• When in doubt, don't invent. Wait until you've heard a German use the word in context first.

That last point is the one most learners trip over: Denglisch is real, but it's not a free pass to anglicise everything. Plenty of perfectly normal English words don't work in German, and using them can make you sound oddly foreign rather than fluent. The safe move is receptive first, productive later — recognise it everywhere, deploy it sparingly.

If you use Denglisch correctly, you'll sound noticeably more natural and modern when speaking German.

Conclusion

Denglisch is a stable, well-developed part of modern German rather than a passing fad. By learning the most common Denglisch words and understanding how Germans build them into their grammar, you'll feel a lot more confident in real conversations — especially in business, in tech, and with younger speakers.

Now that you know about Denglisch, listen carefully when Germans speak. You'll notice these words everywhere. And once you've absorbed the everyday Denglisch register, the next natural step is to round out the rest of your vocabulary with our collection of German learning articles and themed German vocabulary lists.