vocabulary

Gen Z German: the slang your textbook won't teach you

2026-10-01

You've done the textbook. You can order coffee, ask for directions and talk about your hobbies. Then a German teenager looks at their phone and says "Digga, das ist bodenlos", and you're lost.

Textbooks teach standard German, and that's the right place to start. But the German you hear on the bus, in group chats and on TikTok runs on a second vocabulary that changes every few years. This post is your field guide. The phrases come from our Gen Z slang video on the Pretzel YouTube channel, and you can find all 35 of them, with example sentences and audio, on the Gen Z slang phrase page.

We'll cover what the words mean, how casual each one is, and the most important skill of all: knowing when not to use them.

First, a word about register

Slang isn't one big bucket. On our phrase pages every expression carries a tag that tells you how casual it is, and that tag matters more than the translation.

teen slang: used mostly by people under 25, among friends. From a 45-year-old it can sound like a dad trying too hard (which can also be the joke).
very casual: everyone uses it with friends and family, but not with your landlord or in a job interview.
city slang: comes from the multiethnic neighborhoods of big cities like Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhr area, with roots in Turkish, Arabic and English. Linguists call one version of it Kiezdeutsch ("neighborhood German"). Much of it has spread to teens all over the country.

Keep those three in mind as you flip through the cards below. The colored label on each card is its register.

12 phrases to start with

Tap to flip. The label tells you how casual each one is.

Digga [teen slang]: Bro Example: Digga, wo warst du die ganze Nacht? (Bro, where were you all night?)
Ehre! [teen slang]: Respect! Example: Du hast den Platz für die Oma frei gemacht? Ehre! (You gave your seat to the grandma? Respect!)
Ehrenmann / Ehrenfrau [teen slang]: A real one. Example: Er hat mir sein letztes Ladekabel gegeben. Absoluter Ehrenmann. (He gave me his last charging cable. An absolute real one.)
Das crazy. [teen slang]: Huh, wild. (polite 'okay') Example: Mein Lehrer hat heute erzählt, dass er Pilze sammelt. – Das crazy. (My teacher told us today he collects mushrooms. – Huh, wild.)
Rede! [teen slang]: Facts! / Say it louder! Example: Pizza zum Frühstück ist das Beste. – Rede! (Pizza for breakfast is the best. – Facts!)
Schere [teen slang]: My bad. Example: Oh, ich hab deinen Döner gegessen. Schere. (Oh, I ate your döner. My bad.)
Gönn dir! [very casual]: Treat yourself! Example: Ich hol mir noch einen dritten Döner. – Gönn dir! (I'm getting a third döner. – Treat yourself!)
bodenlos [teen slang]: Unbelievable (in a bad way). Example: Er hat Schluss gemacht, per Sprachnachricht. Bodenlos. (He broke up with her by voice message. Unbelievable.)
safe [teen slang]: For sure! Example: Kommst du Freitag mit? – Safe! (Are you coming Friday? – For sure!)
Ich feier das. [very casual]: I'm here for it. Example: Du trägst Crocs zur Hochzeit? Ich feier das. (You're wearing Crocs to the wedding? I'm here for it.)
Lauch [teen slang]: Such a twig (mildly mean). Example: Er schafft keine einzige Liegestütze, so ein Lauch. (He can't do a single push-up, such a twig.)
Alman [city slang]: So German (joking). Example: Er trennt seinen Müll in sieben Tonnen und trägt Socken in Sandalen. Typisch Alman. (He sorts his trash into seven bins and wears socks with sandals. So German.)

Reacting to things

Most slang exists to react, and German teens have a reaction for everything.

Das crazy. grammatically shouldn't work (it's missing an "ist"), which is part of the charm. The tricky bit is the tone: said flatly, it's a polite "huh, wild" for something you don't care about. Said with wide eyes, it's genuine amazement.

Rede! literally means "Speak!", and you shout it when someone says something you completely agree with. It's the German "Facts!" or "Say it louder!".

bodenlos means "bottomless": something so bad it has no floor. Broke up by voice message? Bodenlos.

Ich feier das. literally "I'm celebrating that", means "I'm here for it". You can feier anything: an outfit, a song, a bold decision to wear Crocs to a wedding.

Respect and praise

Ehre! (honor) is a one-word "respect!". Someone gave up their seat on the bus, paid for the pizza or finished a marathon: Ehre!

Ehrenmann and Ehrenfrau describe a real one, someone decent and loyal. The pair was Langenscheidt's German Youth Word of the Year in 2018, and they're still everywhere.

Läuft bei dir! ("it's running for you") is praise for someone on a winning streak, and often ironic when things are clearly going badly. Gönn dir! ("treat yourself") gives someone permission to enjoy something, and you'll hear it from adults too.

Talking about people

Digga is "bro" or "dude", for anyone, regardless of gender. It is usually traced back to Hamburg, as a form of "Dicker" (literally "fatty", affectionately "buddy"), and German rap carried it across the country.

Lauch (leek) is a skinny guy who skips leg day, and arm day, and every day. It's mildly mean.

Alman is the Turkish word for "German". In slang it's a playful label for someone extremely German: socks in sandals, trash sorted into seven bins, cash only. It's mostly affectionate teasing, but it is teasing, so read the room.

Apologizing and checking out

Schere (scissors) is a quick "my bad". Nobody fully agrees on where it came from, which is very slang of it. Ich bin raus means "I'm out": of the plan, the group chat or the conversation. Kein Plan is a shrug in two words: "no clue".

Fine or risky?

Knowing a word is half the job. Knowing who you can say it to is the other half. Here are six situations; decide whether the slang fits.

Who can you say it to?

Read the situation and decide: does the slang fit, or is it risky?

Your 16-year-old cousin tells you the concert got canceled. You say: "Digga, das ist bodenlos!" Fine. Perfect. Family your age or younger, a small outrage: this is exactly where Digga and bodenlos live.
First day at a new job. You greet your manager with "Was geht ab, Digga?" Risky. Too much, too soon. Start with "Hallo" or "Guten Morgen" and let your coworkers set the tone.
A friend orders a second dessert and looks guilty. You say: "Gönn dir!" Fine. That's what Gönn dir! is for: permission to treat yourself, from people over 40 as well.
Your professor asks when you'll hand in your paper. You write back: "Kein Plan." Risky. Kein Plan is friends-only. In an email to a professor, write "Das kann ich leider noch nicht genau sagen."
Your roommate puts the house keys in the fridge again. You call them verpeilt. Fine. Very casual, but friendly. Calling yourself verpeilt works too.
At the gym, you call a stranger who can't lift much a Lauch. Risky. Lauch (leek, as in a skinny twig) is mildly mean even among friends. To a stranger, it's just rude.

Test yourself, video style

In our videos, each phrase gets a few seconds on screen before the meaning appears. Here's the same game with ten phrases from the set. Some are new slang, some are old classics. Don't overthink it.

What does it mean?

Ten phrases, ten seconds each. Switch the timer off if you'd rather take your time.

Rede!: Facts! / So true!. Literally "Speak!". You shout it when someone says something you completely agree with.
Schere: My bad. Literally "scissors". Used as a quick, half-joking sorry.
bodenlos: Unbelievable (in a bad way). Literally "bottomless": something so bad it has no floor.
Lauch: A skinny, weak guy. Literally "leek". Thin, pale and not very strong. Mildly mean.
Kek: LOL. From gaming chat. Not to be confused with der Keks (cookie).
sturmfreie Bude: Having the place to yourself. Literally "a storm-free pad": no parents around. This one is decades old.
Schnapsidee: A dumb idea. An idea that sounds brilliant at 2 a.m., probably after a Schnaps.
Ich hab Schiss.: I'm scared.. Very casual and a little crude, but used by everyone, not only teens.
Hau rein!: Take care! Later!. Literally "hit it". A casual goodbye between friends.
Das geht steil!: It's going off!. Something (a party, a song, a video) is really taking off.

Old slang in new clothes

Did you notice that sturmfreie Bude and Schnapsidee felt a little different? That's because they're old. Plenty of what people call "youth slang" has been around for decades: Kohle (money), pennen (to sleep), abhängen (to hang out), zocken (to play video games, originally to gamble) and Schiss haben (to be scared). Your German teacher said them, and so did their parents.

That's actually good news. The newest words (the ones that show up in "Youth Word of the Year" polls) come and go fast. The older layer is stable, understood by every age group and much safer to use. If you only learn one layer, learn that one.

Myth or fact: German slang

Seven claims about how German teens talk. Which ones hold up?

"Ehrenmann" and "Ehrenfrau" were once chosen as Germany's Youth Word of the Year. Fact. Langenscheidt's Jugendwort des Jahres 2018. It means a real one: someone decent and loyal.
Kohle (money), pennen (to sleep) and abhängen (to hang out) were invented by Gen Z. Myth. Your German teacher's parents used them. Slang lists always mix brand-new words with decades-old classics.
Only boys say Digga. Myth. Everyone says it among friends. It's casual, not gendered.
A lot of German youth slang comes straight from English. Fact. safe, crazy, lost, cringe and chillen are all in daily use, often with German grammar attached: "Das crazy."
"Alman" is the Turkish word for "German". Fact. In German slang it jokingly means someone very, very German: sandals with socks, seven trash bins, Feierabend at 5 sharp.
Using slang in a job interview shows you're fluent. Myth. It mostly shows you don't know the setting. Fluency includes knowing when not to use slang.
"Das crazy" always means you're impressed. Myth. Often it's a flat, polite "huh, okay" for something you don't care about. Tone of voice tells you which.

Where German slang comes from

Most new German slang comes from four places. English is the biggest: chillen, cringe, safe, lost and random are used with German grammar on top ("Das war so random"). Turkish and Arabic reached German through the big-city neighborhoods: Wallah (I swear), Yalla (come on, let's go) and Alman are understood by teens far beyond Berlin. Gaming and streaming gave us kek and zocken. And German rap spreads all of it at high speed.

Every year, the publisher Langenscheidt runs a public vote for the Jugendwort des Jahres (Youth Word of the Year). Recent winners include lost (2020), cringe (2021) and smash (2022). Teens like to joke that nobody actually says the winners, which tells you a lot about how fast slang moves.

Slang in the group chat

Written slang has its own shorthand. kp is kein Plan, vllt is vielleicht (maybe), hdl is hab dich lieb (love you, for friends and family), and lol is as international as it gets. And if a teen ends a text with mfg (mit freundlichen Grüßen, the stiff "sincerely yours" of business letters), they are being sarcastic.

How to use slang without trying too hard

Listen first. Use a word only after you've heard it a few times in a real situation, from people your age.
Mirror your group. If your friends say Digga, you can too. If they don't, it'll stand out.
One at a time. "Digga, das crazy, Ehre, Rede!" in one sentence sounds like a parody.
Never in writing that matters. Emails to your landlord, your Ausländerbehörde appointment and your job application stay in standard German.
Watch the tags. "very casual" is safe with friends of any age. "teen slang" is for the under-25 crowd. "city slang" depends on where you are.

To hear the phrases in action, watch the video on our YouTube channel, then go through the full list of 35 phrases with audio and example sentences. And if you'd rather start with the everyday basics that everyone uses, our post on how Germans actually talk has 25 of them in real dialogues.

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