In German Chancellor Angela Merkel's address to the nation last month (March 2020), she mentioned social distancing a number of times, using the German noun der Abstand.

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Wir müssen aus Rücksicht voneinander Abstand halten.

Out of consideration, we have to keep a distance from each other.

Caption 30, Coronavirus - Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel

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... mindestens eineinhalb Meter Abstand zum Nächsten.

... a distance of at least one and a half meters from each other.

Caption 33, Coronavirus - Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel

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Im Moment ist nur Abstand Ausdruck von Fürsorge.

At the moment, distance is the only way to express care.

Caption 42, Coronavirus - Fernsehansprache von Angela Merkel

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Let's take a look at der Abstand as used in some other contexts.

Der Abstand zum Bordstein ist zwar etwas groß.

The distance to the curb is indeed somewhat large.

Caption 48, Richter Alexander Hold - Richtig parken

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... und immer Abstand halten von Sylvie van der Vaart,

... and always maintain distance from Sylvie van der Vaart,

dann kann gar nichts schiefgehen.

then nothing at all can go wrong.

Captions 29-30, Barbara Schöneberger - Das Roter-Teppich-Einmaleins

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Wenn das rot eingezeichnet ist, sehen Sie hier den Abstand.

If this is shown in red, you see the interval here.

Caption 40, Bildverarbeitung - Sirius Advanced Cybernetics in Pforzheim

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So, und der Abstand hier, der beträgt dann eben zwanzig Zentimeter.

So, and the distance here, it then amounts to just twenty centimeters.

Caption 38, Die Pfefferkörner - Gerüchteküche

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Der Abstand is usually translated as "distance," though as you see above, other terms such as "interval," "space," or "gap" are sometimes more appropriate, depending upon the context. 

Further Learning
There are a number of different German words that can be translated into the English word "distance," depending upon the specific contexts in which they are used. Go to Yabla German and find some more examples of der Abstand, then take a look at some of the other words expressing "distance," such as die Entfernung and die Ferne. As a reward for your diligent studies, take a 5-minute break and watch actor Christoph Waltz give talk show host Jimmy Fallon a quiz on long German words, it's pretty funny!

Like English, 45% of which comes from French or Latin language sources, German has many French loan words or Gallicisms. If you can learn to recognize words in your native English as having a French origin, there is a fair chance that they are used in German. 

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In last week's lesson, we took a look at some of the more commonly used German words with a French origin. These have obvious French word endings such as -ment, -ion, or -age. This week, let's take a look at some more French-derived words in German that also have English counterparts.

Vor genau sechsundsechzig Jahren befreite die Rote Armee die Überlebenden des Nazi-Vernichtungslagers Auschwitz.

Exactly sixty-six years ago the Red Army liberated the survivors of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz.

Captions 1-2, Holocaust-Gedenktag - Gespräch mit jüdischen Schülern

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The German word for "army," die Armee, comes from the French word armée. Note that the German capitalizes the noun as per German grammar rules and has dropped the accented letter E. 

„Die Süßigkeit“ ist etwas Süßes: Gummibär, Kaugummi, Bonbon.

"Candy" is something sweet: a gummy bear, a [piece of] chewing gum, a bonbon.

Caption 6, Deutschkurs in Tübingen - Verben der 3. Kategorie - Part 2

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The German Bonbon can be the masculine der but is most commonly the neuter das. The French bonbon is literally "good good," from what a child might say when they see some candy!

Aktualisieren Sie bitte das Budget.

Please update the budget.

Caption 47, Berufsleben - das Vorstellungsgespräch

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Das Budget is the same word "budget" in French and English as well, though the French and German both render the T silent.

Ein bisschen Weihnachtsdekoration, so Engel... -Dekoration, ja.

A little bit of Christmas decoration, such angels... -Decoration, yes.

Captions 22-23, Unterwegs mit Cettina - auf dem Bruchsaler Weihnachtsmarkt

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The word "decoration" in English is closer to the French décoration, but then most hard C sounds in German utilize the letter K!

Das ist tatsächlich ein Hotel in Berlin mit einem ganz verrückten Konzept.

This is, in fact, a hotel in Berlin with a completely crazy concept.

Caption 2, Berlin - Indoor-Camping im „Hüttenpalast“

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The French word hôtel is spelled with a circumflex accent on the O, and of course pronounced entirely differently.

Ich bin bei der Firma SAC Applikations-Ingenieur.

I am an applications engineer for the company SAC.

Caption 2, Bildverarbeitung - Sirius Advanced Cybernetics in Pforzheim

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The German der Ingenieur provides another fairly rare example of the soft G pronunciation in German. It's spelled nearly the same as the French ingénieur. 

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Further Learning
As a general rule, French words found in German are spelled the same, or nearly the same, as the French words found in English, but are pronounced in a German manner and written according to German grammatical rules—with nouns capitalized, for example. Take a look at this list of Gallicisms in German and go to Yabla German to find other real-world examples of the words used in videos.