How do you talk about the Wind in German?

It’s what rustles the trees, pushes clouds across the sky, and makes your umbrella flip inside out. In German, wind is called der Wind - a short, strong word you’ll hear in daily weather reports and everyday speech.

The noun Wind means wind, and it’s one of the 1000 most frequently used nouns in German. Whether you’re planning your day, listening to the news, or talking about climate and energy, you’ll run into this word often.

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

Pronunciation

Wind is pronounced [VINT].

• The W sounds like an English V,
• The -ind rhymes with “mint,”
• The stress is on the only syllable: Wind.

The word is crisp and simple - just like a breeze.

Example sentences:

Der Wind weht heute sehr stark.The wind is blowing very hard today.

Sie liefen gegen den Wind.They walked against the wind.

Nuance and usage tips

Wind means exactly what it does in English: moving air. But like in English, Germans also use it metaphorically. When a situation becomes difficult or people face opposition, they might say:

• Gegenwind bekommen - to encounter pushback or resistance
• Der Wind hat sich gedreht - the wind has turned (i.e., the situation has changed)
  jemandem den Wind aus den Segeln nehmen - to take the wind out of someone’s sails

It also appears in many compound nouns:

• Rückenwind - tailwind (literal or figurative support)
• Gegenwind - headwind
• Windstärke - wind strength (used in weather forecasts)
• Windenergie - wind energy
• Windrad - wind turbine

Grammatical case examples: