Animals in German
Everyday German
Names of common animals: der Hund, die Katze, der Vogel, der Fisch, das Pferd. Using articles (der, die, das) with animal words.
Learning Material
4 pagesCommon Animals in German
Tiere — Animals in German!#
Animals are called Tiere (say it like: TEER-eh) in German. One animal is a Tier (say it like: TEER). Children in Germany love to talk about animals, and learning animal words is a great way to grow your German vocabulary!
Pets — Haustiere#
Let's start with some common pets — Haustiere (say it like: HOWS-teer-eh):
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| der Hund | dair HOONT | the dog |
| die Katze | dee KAT-seh | the cat |
| der Fisch | dair FISH | the fish |
| das Kaninchen | das kah-NEEN-khen | the rabbit |
Did you notice the small words before each animal? Der, die, and das all mean "the" in German! German has three kinds of "the" — we will learn more about this soon.
Der Hund — the dog. Dös "Hund" remind you of the English word "hound"? A hound is a type of dog! These languages really are cousins.
Die Katze — the cat. This sounds a little like "cat" — just with different sounds at the end.
Der Fisch — the fish. This sounds almost exactly like English! Easy!
Farm Animals — Bauernhoftiere#
Here are some animals you might find on a farm:
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| das Pferd | das PFAIRT | the horse |
| die Kuh | dee KOO | the cow |
| das Schwein | das SHVYNE | the pig |
| die Ente | dee EN-teh | the duck |
Das Pferd — the horse. Say it: PFAIRT. The "pf" sound at the beginning is unique to German!
Die Kuh — the cow. This sounds just like "coo" — like a pigeon cooing!
Animal Sounds in German#
Did you know that animals "speak" differently in German?
- A dog says wau wau (not "woof woof"!)
- A cat says miau (just like English "meow"!)
- A cow says muh (like "moo"!)
Funny, isn't it? Try making animal sounds the German way!