How do you say “guess” in German?

In German, the word that represents trying to find the right answer to a question, by selecting the most plausible option is raten. Germans have a separate word for the act of doing so correctly: erraten.

Raten can also mean “to give advice”: Ich rate dir, zu warten. - I advise you to wait. Here dir is dative. For guessing, an answer can be an accusative object: Rate die Zahl! - Guess the number! Context and the construction tell you which meaning is intended.

Bonus Words

If you want to get more specific, you can use a few other words for “to guess”. For example, vermuten means “to assume”, schätzen means “to estimate”, annehmen “to suppose”, and ahnen “to suspect.” In casual speech, Ich schätze … is the everyday “I guess …”, and Rate mal! means “Guess what!”