How do you say soup in German?

It’s what warms you up on a cold day, starts a formal dinner, or comforts you when you’re sick. In German, it’s die Suppe. This is your German Word of the Day - simple, soothing, and served all across German-speaking kitchens.

The noun Suppe means soup, and it’s one of the 1000 most frequently used nouns in German. Whether it’s a rustic lentil soup or a clear consommé, Suppe is a word that shows up often - in both daily meals and idiomatic expressions.

It’s a feminine noun, so we say die Suppe (want to master gender once and for all? Our video lesson teaches you the patterns that make it stick).

Pronunciation

Suppe is pronounced [ˈzʊpə]

• Sup - a z sound plus a short u, as in “put” (the double pp keeps the u short)

• pe - a soft “puh”

• Stress on the first syllable: SÚPpe

Example sentences

• Die Suppe ist noch heiß.The soup is still hot.

• Ich habe eine Gemüsesuppe gekocht.I made a vegetable soup.

• Willst du noch einen Teller Suppe?Do you want another bowl of soup?

Nuance and usage tips

🥣 Suppe refers to a wide range of liquid-based dishes, from broths to creamy purees.

🍲 Common varieties:

• Hühnersuppe - chicken soup

• Gemüsesuppe - vegetable soup

• Linsensuppe - lentil soup

• Tomatensuppe - tomato soup

• Kürbissuppe - pumpkin soup

• Rindfleischsuppe - beef soup (a clear broth is a Brühe)

🍽️ Common phrases:

• eine Suppe löffeln - to eat soup

• ein Haar in der Suppe finden - to find fault with something (literally: to find a hair in the soup)

• sein eigenes Süppchen kochen (ugs.) - to pursue your own agenda

• jemandem die Suppe versalzen - to spoil someone’s plans (literally: salt someone’s soup too much)
  die Suppe auslöffeln - to face the consequences (literally: to spoon up the soup you made)

How does this word come up in real conversations?