The German word for “to move”, in the sense of moving to a new house, flat, or city, is umziehen or just ziehen with the preposition nach.

The word for “to move in” is einziehen.

The word for “to move out” is ausziehen.

Examples

Wir sind letztes Jahr umgezogen. We moved last year.

Wir sind im Sommer nach Berlin gezogen. We moved to Berlin in the summer.

Ich ziehe am Donnerstag in die neue Wohnung ein. On Thursday I’m moving into the new apartment.

Ich ziehe morgen aus. I’m moving out tomorrow.

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Good to Know

The word umziehen can also mean “to change one’s clothes”, the word ausziehen can also mean “to undress”, and the word einziehen sounds quite similar to the word anziehen, which means “to put on clothes”. However, context and the reflexive sich/mich/dich usually prevent any confusion.

Ich ziehe mich erst an und dann ziehe ich ein. First I will get dressed and then move in.

Ich ziehe erst aus und dann ziehe ich mich aus. First I will move out and then I will take off my clothes.

About the Author Stephan

Stephan has been a professional language teacher since the early 2000s. He's been calling Berlin his home since 2006, when he started managing (and founding his own) language schools in addition to teaching German and English. He's the owner of Deutschable and loves writing about language, history, and game changers.

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