For some people, winter in particular is a time of coziness, which may involve indoor activities such as knitting and sewing. Of course, arts and crafts are something you can engage in all year round. We've looked at fine arts before, but today let's look at German words for various creative hobbies. 

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First of all, we have activities such as knitting, sewing, crochet, and embroidery:

Sie hatte gestrickt und vergessen, ein Mahl zu bereiten.

She had been knitting and had forgotten to prepare a meal.

Caption 14, Janoschs Traumstunde: Der Wettlauf zwischen Hase und Igel

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Er verbrachte seine Tage damit zu nähen.

He spent his days sewing.

Caption 7, Märchen - Sagenhaft: Das tapfere Schneiderlein

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Im Nebenjob sind die Oberkommissare Häkelhelden und häkeln Mützen für den guten Zweck.

In their sideline jobs, the chief commissioners are crochet heroes and crochet caps for a good cause.

Captions 4-5, Häkelhelden: Polizisten im Einsatz

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Sie vertrieben sich die Zeit mit Stickerei, Lesen und Kartenspiel.

They passed the time with embroidery, reading, and card games.

Caption 56, Das Mittelalter im Südwesten: Ritter und Burgen

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Of course, not all creative hobbies involve textiles:

Mittlerweile machen wir eben Schmuck und, äh, es gibt jetzt ein Parfum von Herr von Eden.

In the meantime, we have started making jewellery and, uh, there is now a perfume by Herr von Eden.

Caption 13, Jonathan Johnson: Herr von Eden

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Bauernmalerei, Blaudruckerei, Schmiede, Töpferei, Weberei.

Farm painting, indigo printing, blacksmith's, pottery studio, weaving studio.

Caption 2, Berlin: Domäne Dahlem

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Hier kommen wir nun zum Stand mit der Keramik.

Here we come now to the stand with the ceramics.

Caption 34, Deutsch mit Eylin: Umzug nach Ottensen

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Ach ja, und hier sind natürlich auch noch die Pinsel zum Aquarellkasten.

Oh yes, and here are, of course, the paintbrushes for the watercolor box, too.

Caption 56, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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The word "hobby" has been adapted into German as das Hobby, though you also might hear people talk about their Lieblingsbeschäftigung. When we speak about crafts in German, we tend to specify with das Kunsthandwerk rather than simply saying die Kunst.

Further Learning

Do you do any handicrafts or have creative hobbies? In addition to looking on Yabla German, you can use an online dictionary like LEO.org to get a translation for your hobbies. 

Let's talk about office supplies that are not specifically related to the ever-present digital devices in the workplace and at school. With the shift to digital over the last 30 years, we don't use nearly as many office supplies (like paper) as we used to, and perhaps this is good for the environment in some ways. But it's still important to know the words for some of these everyday objects if you ever plan to go to Germany to work or to study! Some words, like der Kugelschreiber (ballpoint pen), you probably know already, so let's take a look today at some items that may be new to your vocabulary.

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Fangen wir mal an mit dem Tacker. Das ist ein kleiner Bürotacker, mit dem kann man Seiten zusammenheften.

Let's start with the stapler. This is a small office stapler, with which you can staple pages together.

Captions 9-11, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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The German word for "stapler" is der Tacker, and an office stapler is der Bürotacker. Der Tacker is what is called a false friend, because it sounds like an English word that has a different meaning: Although you use der Tacker to affix staples, the German word for "staple" is die Heftklammer. This can be especially confusing since the German word for "tack" is der Tack or die Reißzwecke, and a "thumbtack" is der Reißnagel. Note too, that the verb for the act of stapling something together is zusammenheften.

Und das hier ist Klebeband. Auf Deutsch sagen aber fast alle „Tesafilm“, obwohl Tesa eine Marke ist.

And this here is adhesive tape. In German, however, almost everyone says "Tesafilm," although Tesa is a brand.

Captions 68-70, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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The noun das Klebeband can mean any kind of adhesive tape, thus it's easier to distinguish the clear adhesive type by calling it by its brand name der Tesafilm. It's usually just called Tesa for short, and in this form the noun gender is neuter. In American English, we often use "Scotch tape" for clear tape, and the British often use the term "Sellotape"—both of which are brand names too!

Das sind nämlich Haftnotizen, aber jeder sagt „Post-its“, weil wir eben auch ganz oft englische Wörter verwenden,

Specifically, these are sticky notes, but everyone says "Post-its" because we also very often just use English words,

Captions 40-41, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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The German word for a sticky note is die Haftnotiz. It's also called der Klebezettel or der Haftzettel. But it's also nice to know that Germans often use the same word for the name brand Post-its that we often use for sticky notes. By the way, it's a neuter noun: das Post-it.

Schreibmaterialien wie zum Beispiel Briefpapier, Briefumschläge wie dieser oder Schreibblöcke sind aus Papier gemacht.

Writing materials such as, for example, stationary, envelopes like this one, or notepads are made of paper.

Captions 17-18, Eva zeigt uns: Materialien

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Gender-wise, these nouns are das Schreibmaterial, das Briefpapier, der Briefumschlag, der Schreibblock (also der Notizblock), and das Papier.

Und hier hab ich ganz viele Buntstifte: dicke Buntstifte, zum Malen oder etwas hervorheben.

And here I have a lot of colored pencils: thick colored pencils for drawing or highlighting something.

Captions 65-66, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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This one is easy to remember, as you probably already know the noun der Bleistift for "pencil." So it's logical that the adjective bunt, which means "colorful," is paired to make the word der Buntstift.

Hier ist eine Schere, brauch ich auch immer, um irgendwas zu schneiden.

Here's a pair of scissors, I always need these, too, to cut something.

Captions 63-64, Deutsch mit Eylin: Dinge auf meinem Schreibtisch

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It's taken me years to make myself use a German singular verb with die Schere, because in English, we always use the plural "The scissors are..." and not "The scissor is..." But in German, die Schere is a singular feminine noun, so you always say Die Schere ist... By the way, scissors are not just a topic in office supplies, you will find them playing an important role in many classic German fairy tales, such as Rapunzel and Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot.

Further Learning
Make a list of the English office supply words mentioned above, then see if you can translate them correctly into German, paying close attention to the nouns' genders. Then go to Yabla German and watch the videos above to get a better overview of the words you just learned!