German for Beginners

Lesson 15 - Von Kopf bis Fuß

From Head to Toe - Parts of the Body in German

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In this lesson we introduce: (1) vocabulary related to parts of the body (Körperteile) and talking about your health (die Gesundheit) and how you feel, (2) expressions related to that vocabulary and (3) the grammar of the dative reflexive case.

The German words for many parts of the body are similar or identical to English: der Arm, die Hand, der Finger, das Haar, das Kinn. (English is, after all, a Germanic language.) But of course they're not all that easy, and you still need to learn the genders of even the easy ones. (Don't ask me why a hand is feminine but a finger is masculine. It's pointless to worry about such things.)

One element of this lesson relates to the way that German-speakers talk about the body. In the classic film "Casablanca," Humphrey Bogart's character says to Ingrid Bergman: "Here's lookin' at you, kid." In the German version, that Americanism became "Ich schau dir in die Augen, Kleines." Instead of saying "your eyes," German tends to be more like the English expression "I'm looking you in the eye," using the definite article with the dative to show personal possession. In Part 3 of this lesson we'll look at that dative use and the dative reflexive. But first, let's learn the basic vocabulary of Körperteile (parts of the body).

In this glossary, the plural form is given only for those items that usually come in pairs or multiples (eyes, ears, fingers, etc.). You'll notice that our glossary runs from the top of the body (head) to the bottom (foot, von Kopf bis Fuß).

NEXT > Part 2 of Lesson 15 - More body vocabulary

MORE > Part 3 of Lesson 15 - Dative reflexive
MORE > Medical Vocabulary - Talking to the doctor

IDIOMS > Foot Idioms in German

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  Contents | Lesson 14 > Lesson 15 > Lesson 16

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