False Friends Trivia Quiz

Answer: to get, to receive, to have

"Bekommen" (bekommt - bekam - hat bekommen) = to get, to receive, to have; to become = "werden" (wird - wurde - ist geworden). That's why a German native speaker might say in a restaurant "Can I become a steak?" instead of "I'd like to have a steak". You might even get the reply: "Never, I hope!" Pretty funny thing :)

Answer: sensitive

"Sensibel" = sensitive; sensible = "vernuenftig, sinnvoll". That's a really tricky one - I mixed these two up until I was about 14. You might come across a German saying things like "Your words didn't hurt me, I'm not that sensible".

Answer: verstaendnisvoll, mitfuehlend

"Sympathisch" = nice, pleasant, friendly; sympathetic = "verstaendnisvoll, mitfuehlend". Though this one is tricky, it doesn't cause as many misunderstandings as others, as a nice person mostly is also sympathetic.

Answer: Formel, Schema

"Formular" (das Formular - pl. die Formulare) = form; formula = "Formel" (die Formel - pl die Formeln), e.g. "eine chemische Formel" = a chemical formula. And yes, "Formula 1" is "Formel 1" in German. Incidentally, note "das Schema" (pl. die Schemata) - "scheme, outline" with its intruiguing, Grecian plural.

Answer: Leichenbestatter

"Unternehmer" (der Unternehmer/die Unternehmerin - pl. die Unternehmer/die Unternehmerinnen) = entrepreneur; undertaker = "Leichenbestatter" . Strangely enough, "unternehmen" (unternimmt - unternahm - hat unternommen) = to undertake. So this time it is clearly the "fault" of the English language that the verb and the noun do not match. Ein Unternehmer unternimmt, but an undertaker does not undertake...

Answer: valid

"Gültig" = valid; guilty = "schuldig". If you hear someone say "My passport is guilty until September 2003", this person is most likely a German who wonders why everyone starts to laugh :)

"Gültig" can also be spelled "gueltig". Umlauts (ä, ö, ü) can always be converted to a non-diacritical format (ae, oe, ue) if the actual umlaut is not available, e.g. on an English keyboard.

Answer: perhaps, possibly

"Eventuell" = perhaps, possibly; eventually = "schliesslich, letzten Endes". Not as funny as others, but still likely to cause confusion.
(Note the English "in the eventuality of ..." - which may help you).

Answer: high school, grammar school

You can't really translate "Gymnasium" (das Gymnasium - pl. die Gymnasien) into English, as there's no real equivalent in the public sector in most of Britain due to the different school systems. You need to attend a Gymnasium in order to pass your Abitur (das Abitur or formerly "das Abiturium" - which is now archaic), the kind of graduation you need if you want to go to university.

The English gymnasium means "Turnhalle, Sporthalle" in German. You might say that every Gymnasium has a gymnasium :) "Kindergarten" (der Kindergarten - pl. die Kindergaerten) is a German word anyway, I hope you didn't choose that!

Answer: eigentlich

"Aktuell" = current, latest; actual = "eigentlich". If a German talks about "the actual news" he or she probably means the latest news.

Answer: Meinung

Of course, he should have said was "my opinion is the following...". "Meinung" (Die Meinung - pl. die Meinungen) = opinion; meaning = "Bedeutung". The other multiple choice possibilities are complete nonsense in this context :) However, for the sake of completeness; "die Mine" (pl. Minen) is the kind of mine that explodes and also a pit; "die Miene" (pl. Mienen) means "look(s) on a person's face" and "die Minne" (no pl.) means "love" in the context of medieval German poetry.