German Adjective Opposites
Double your adjective vocabulary by learning opposites together, and avoid the classic traps with alt, leicht and hell.
Adjectives are easiest to remember in pairs. Learn groß with klein and you get two words for the price of one.
A few pairs work differently from English, so watch alt, leicht and hell.
Size and age
Alt has two opposites: jung for people and animals, neu for things.
Size
- großkleinbig – small
- langkurzlong – short
- hochniedrighigh – low
- breitschmalwide – narrow
- dickdünnthick, fat – thin
Age
- altjungold – young (people)
- altneuold – new (things)
Mein Opa ist alt, aber er fühlt sich jung.
My grandad is old, but he feels young.
Die Wohnung ist klein, aber hell.
The flat is small but bright.
Everyday qualities
Leicht and schwer each have two meanings: light or easy, heavy or difficult.
Quality
- gutschlechtgood – bad
- schönhässlichbeautiful – ugly
- teuerbilligexpensive – cheap
- leichtschwereasy, light – hard, heavy
- schnelllangsamfast – slow
- lautleiseloud – quiet
- vollleerfull – empty
- richtigfalschright – wrong
Der Test war zum Glück leicht.
Luckily the test was easy.
Das Restaurant ist gut, aber teuer.
The restaurant is good but expensive.
Weather, time and feelings
Weather and time
- warmkaltwarm – cold
- helldunkellight – dark
- nasstrockenwet – dry
- frühspätearly – late
People and feelings
- glücklichtraurighappy – sad
- müdewachtired – awake
- starkschwachstrong – weak
- gesundkrankhealthy – ill
Im Winter wird es früh dunkel.
In winter it gets dark early.
Ich bin heute total müde.
I'm totally tired today.
Opposites with un-
Many adjectives form their opposite with the prefix un-. The stress then falls on un-.
un- opposites
- freundlichunfreundlichfriendly – unfriendly
- bequemunbequemcomfortable – uncomfortable
- wichtigunwichtigimportant – unimportant
- möglichunmöglichpossible – impossible
- praktischunpraktischpractical – impractical
- ruhigunruhigcalm – restless
Der Stuhl ist sehr unbequem.
The chair is very uncomfortable.
Das ist leider unmöglich.
Unfortunately, that's impossible.
Common mistakes
✗
Mein Handy ist jung.✓ Mein Handy ist neu.
Things are neu; people and animals are jung.
✗
Das Zimmer ist sehr leicht.✓ Das Zimmer ist sehr hell.
A bright room is hell; leicht means light in weight.
✗
Die Musik ist zu hoch.✓ Die Musik ist zu laut.
For volume, use laut and leise.
Questions learners ask
What is the opposite of 'alt' in German?
Jung for people and animals, neu for things: ein junger Mann, ein neues Auto.
What's the difference between billig and günstig?
Both mean cheap, but billig can suggest poor quality. Günstig sounds positive, like 'good value'.