Sorry! Search is currently unavailable while the database is being updated, it will be back in 5 mins!

New Year's Cleaning

Berliners have traditionally taken New Year's celebrations very seriously, so much so that in the past, I usually did my best to be away from Berlin on Silvesterabend. I remember one year in the early 2010s, I was walking to a friend's party a few streets away in Berlin-Kreuzberg and had three bottle rockets shot at me from apartment windows, narrowly missing my face before exploding. After that, I decided to never stay in Berlin again on New Year's. This year, of course, it would be socially irresponsible to travel in the midst of a Corona lockdown, so I am staying in Berlin.

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Until just a few years ago when the City of Berlin began doing more timely street cleaning, the first weeks of the new year found the sidewalks, bike paths, and street gutters strewn with broken bottle glass and soggy, smelly fireworks remnants. If there had been any snow or ice, this trash would sometimes remain clogging the sidewalks with debris until the snow had melted, as late as March. Luckily, after numerous citizen complaints, Berlin began cleaning the New Year's street debris within a week or two of the celebrations. Berlin may be terrible at building airports, but at least the city has proven itself capable of timely street cleaning!

 

So New Year's is not just a time to "cleanse" our lifestyle with resolutions—most of which we probably don't keep anyway—it is also a good time to clean up our own clutter in our house, basement, or storage unit. Let's take a look today at some German verbs that mean "to clean."

 

Kuck mal, wie das hier aussieht!

Look at the state of this place!

Mama, steh auf!

Mom, get up!

Wir müssen aufräumen. Komm, bitte!

We have to clean up. Come on, please!

Captions 21-23, Die Pfefferkörner - Alles auf Anfang

 Play Caption

 

The separable verb aufräumen (in British English "to tidy up") is a good word to use when you are generally cleaning up.

 

Ich muss die Küche aufräumen, den Abwasch machen,

I have to clean up the kitchen, do the dishes,

das Bad putzen, Staub saugen und Staub wischen.

clean the bathroom, vacuum and dust.

Captions 5-6, Hausputz - mit Eva

 Play Caption

 

Here aufräumen appears again, but what is the difference between that and putzen? As a rule, you can use putzen for cleaning your house or an item in your house such as your refrigerator or stove. But if you use aufräumen in the context of a refrigerator or stove, it would suggest that you were clearing out the fridge or clearing off some pans from the stove rather than properly cleaning them. So for proper cleaning rather than just "picking up" or "tidying up," putzen is the better word choice. 

 

Doing the dishes may be den Abwasch machen, as in the above example, but you can also say das Geschirr spülen or das Geschirr abwaschen. As for vacuuming (or "hoovering" in British English) with der Staubsauger, you may write that as the noun and verb Staub saugen or the nonseparable verb staubsaugen.

 

Wir reinigen hier mindestens zweimal am Tag komplett durch,

We clean through here, completely, at least twice a day

und wir reinigen auch die ganzen Ställe und Zwinger,

and we also clean all of the stalls and cages

nachdem sie benutzt worden sind.

after they have been used.

Captions 29-30, Frankfurter Flughafen - Animal Lounge

 Play Caption

 

The German adjective rein, which means "pure," is suggested in the verb reinigen, and thus reinigen has specific contexts too: 

 

Dadurch sollen die Steine helfen, die Luft zu reinigen.

Thus, these stones should help to purify the air.

Caption 15, Schadstoffarme Straßen - Neue Gehwegplatten für reinere Luft

 Play Caption

 

The verb reinigen also means to give something a thorough cleaning. How and what is being cleaned determines which verb to use. It would not really work, for example, to use aufräumen in this context!

 

Further Learning
Read the Yabla German lesson Around the House and watch the Yabla video Hausputz with Eva to learn more about German cleaning words in different contexts. 

Around the House

Many of us are spending much more time at home than usual right now, and are therefore acutely aware of how much work it takes to keep a household running. For those of you who might be looking for a way to procrastinate, let's look at how to talk about household chores in German. 

Die Hausarbeit is the German word for "chore." You may know this word already, as it refers to a written work that students complete in order to get credits for a class (similar to a "term paper"). In this case, however, it is related to der Haushalt ("the household"), and is literally translated as "housework."

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Ich sauge nicht so oft, ich hasse Hausarbeit.

I don't vacuum very often, I hate housework.

Caption 14, Nicos Weg - A1 Folge 47: Haushaltsarbeit

 Play Caption

 

Two important verbs to know are putzen, which means "to clean," and aufräumen, which means "to tidy up" or "to pick up." The command "Clean up your room!" is expressed with aufräumen, not putzen.

 

Ich finde schon, dass du häufiger putzen könntest

I do think you could clean more often

oder zumindest deine eigenen Sachen aufräumen könntest.

or at least pick up your own things.

Captions 24-25, Die Wohngemeinschaft - Probleme

 Play Caption

 

There is always so much to do! Here's a long list of chores, courtesy of Yabla's own Eva:

 

Ich muss die Küche aufräumen, den Abwasch machen,

I have to tidy up the kitchen, do the dishes,

das Bad putzen, Staub saugen und Staub wischen.

clean the bathroom, vacuum and dust.

Captions 5-6, Hausputz - mit Eva

 Play Caption

 

Hallo, heute will ich meine Wäsche waschen

Hello, today I want to do my laundry

Caption 1, Wäsche waschen - mit Eva

 Play Caption

 

A big topic in any German household is die Mülltrennung, which literally translates as "the separation of garbage" and refers to recycling. 

 

In Heidelberg wird der Müll in verschiedene Gruppen getrennt.

In Heidelberg, the garbage is separated into different groups.

Caption 14, Mülltrennung - in Heidelberg

 Play Caption

 

Wischen, fegen, Müll wegbringen. Drei Monate lang.

Mop, sweep, take out the garbage. For three months.

Caption 5, Großstadtrevier - Schatten der Vergangenheit

 Play Caption

 

Not all household tasks feel like chores, however. After all, for those who appreciate it, cooking can also be a real joy!

 

Kochen Sie eigentlich auch zu Hause selbst?

Do you actually cook at home yourself?

Caption 22, Ball des Weines - Franz Beckenbauer

 Play Caption

 

Further Learning
Watch the videos Hausputz - mit Eva or Nicos Weg - A1 Folge 47: Haushaltsarbeit in their entirety on Yabla German to learn even more useful phrases. To get the latest news from Germany and also work on your listening comprehension, you can listen to the first minute and a half of today's report from Deutsche Welle's Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten

Anheben vs. Aufheben

The separable verbs anheben and aufheben look very similar and have meanings related to the base verb heben, which is usually translated as "to lift," or "to raise," and is the Germanic root of the English verb "to heave."

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Let's first take a look at anheben

 

Heb einfach den Riegel an und komm herein!
Simply lift the latch and come inside!

Caption 48, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Rotkäppchen und der Wolf

 Play Caption

 

Die Hüfte hebt der Springer an,

The jumper lifts his hips

indem er die Hacken Richtung eigenes Kreuz drückt.

by pressing his heels toward his own lower back.

Captions 29-30, Olympische Spiele - Hochsprung

 Play Caption

 

Dazu hebst du ein Ski-Ende an und versetzt es auf die Seite.
For this, you'll lift the back of the ski and shift it to the side.

Caption 14, Skifahren lernen - Erste Vorübungen im flachen Gelände

 Play Caption

 

Dieses Bein anheben. Ah, ja, genau.
Lift that leg. Oh, yes, exactly.

Caption 17, TEDx - Lebenslange Fitness

 Play Caption

 

Anheben is used when you want something to be lifted just a little or for a short amount of time, such as asking somebody to lift up the sofa so you can vacuum under it.

 

Let's contrast that now with aufheben:

 

Oma, kann ich die Münze aufheben
Grandma, can I pick up the coin?

Caption 4, Ivana erzählt Witze - Fritzle und die Oma

 Play Caption

 

Fritzle, heb mich auf.
Little Fritz, pick me up.

Caption 14, Ivana erzählt Witze - Fritzle und die Oma

 Play Caption

 

Aufheben is usually translated as "to pick up" but can also mean "to save" in the sense of aufbewahren. It is also used in an idiomatic expression that can be useful: 

 

Ich hebe es mir für einen anderen Tag auf.
I'll save it for another day.

Caption 12, Hausputz - mit Eva

 Play Caption

 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning
In a forthcoming lesson we'll explore the differences between abheben and hochheben, yet more variations of the root verb heben. Das hebe ich mir aber für einen späteren Newsletter auf