How do you say Coincidence in German?

When something happens unexpectedly - good or bad - or when life takes a strange turn, Germans call it a Zufall. It’s the word for those moments where no one was planning anything, but something happened anyway.

The noun Zufall means coincidence, chance, or accident (in the sense of happenstance), and it’s one of the 1000 most frequently used nouns in German. It comes up in stories, conversations about fate, and even science.

It’s a masculine noun, so we say der Zufall.

Pronunciation

Zufall is pronounced approximately [TSOO-fal], with long u and short a.

• Zu sounds like “tsoo” (German z = ts),
• fall has a short German a, not the vowel in American “fall,”
• Stress is on the first syllable: ZU-fall

It sounds like something light dropping from the sky - which fits its meaning.

Example sentences:

• War das Zufall oder Schicksal?Was that chance or fate?
• Der Zufall wollte es so.It happened by chance. (Literally: “Chance willed it so.”)

Nuance and usage tips

Zufall comes from zufallen - to fall upon, to happen by chance. It’s all about things that aren’t planned.

1. Everyday coincidence
   • Was für ein Zufall! - What a coincidence!
   • Zufallsbegegnung - chance encounter
   • reiner Zufall - pure chance
2. Scientific / philosophical context
   • nach dem Zufallsprinzip - at random
   • Zufallsverteilung - random distribution
   • Zufallsvariable - random variable
3. Fate or fortune
   • Der Zufall spielt oft eine große Rolle im Leben.“Chance often plays a big role in life.”

Its antonym could be Absicht (intention, feminine) or Plan (plan, masculine).