100 useful German adjectives and their opposites

Knowing adjectives in German will help you describe things and have richer conversations in the language. Learning German adjectives as pairs of opposites is an effective way to anchor vocabulary in your memory. If you memorize each word together with its antonym, you’re doubling the amount of new German adjectives you acquire and strengthening your recall thanks to the mnemonic device of pairing. The following list of German adjectives is based on frequency of use in conversation and how useful the words are to language learners of all levels. So, enjoy our long list of 100 useful German adjectives and their opposites for you to learn and reference!

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GERMAN	ENGLISH	OPPOSITE	ENGLISH
ähnlich	similar	unähnlich, verschieden	different
alt	old	jung, neu, modern	young, new, modern
angenehm	enjoyable	unangenehm	unpleasant
anwesend	present	abwesend	absent
bekannt	known, famous	unbekannt	unknown
besser	better	schlechter	worse
bestimmt	specific, definite, certain	unbestimmt	indefinite
bunt	colorful	einfarbig	plain, monochrome
dankbar	grateful	undankbar	ungrateful
deutlich	clear, distinct, obvious	undeutlich	indistinct
dick	thick, fat	dünn	thin
direkt	direct, straight	indirekt	indirect
ehrlich	honest	unehrlich	dishonest
eigen	own, proper	uneigen, fremd	strange, external
einzeln	single, individual, lone, odd	viel, zusammen	a lot, together
elegant	elegant	unelegant	inelegant
empfindlich	sensitive	unempfindlich	insensitive
eng	tight, narrow, close, snug	weit	loose, far
erfahren	experienced	unerfahren	inexperienced
fest	firm	locker, weich	loose, soft
flach	flat, shallow	steil, tief	steep, deep
fleißig	diligent	faul	lazy
frei	free	unfrei	unfree
freundlich	friendly	unfreundlich	unfriendly
froh	glad	traurig	sad
geduldig	patient	ungeduldig	impatient
geizig	stingy	großzügig	generous
gemeinsam	together	allein	alone
gemütlich	Comfortable, cozy	ungemütlich	uncomfortable
genau	exact, accurate, precise	ungenau	inaccurate
gerade	straight, right, even, direct	ungerade, krumm	odd, crooked
geschickt	clever, skillful, adept	ungeschickt	clumsy
gesund	healthy	ungesund, krank	unhealthy, sick
gewiss	certain, sure	ungewiss	uncertain
glatt	smooth	rau	rough
gleich	equal, similar	ungleich, verschieden	unequal, different
glücklich	happy	unglücklich	unhappy
groß	large, big	klein	small, tiny
gut	good	schlecht, böse	bad, evil
halb	half	ganz	whole
hart	hard	weich	soft
häufig	frequent, common	selten	rare
heiß	hot	kalt	cold
hell	bright	dunkel	dark
hoch	high, tall	tief	deep
höflich	polite	unhöflich	impolite
horizontal	horizontal	vertikal	vertical
hungrig	hungry	satt	full, fed up
interessant	interesting	uninteressant, langweilig	uninteresting, boring
kaputt	broken	ganz	whole, all, complete
klar	clear	unklar	not clear, obscure
klug	smart, intelligent	unklug, dumm	imprudent, stupid
lang, lange	long	kurz	short
laut	loud	leise	quiet
letzter, letzte, letztes	last	erster, erste, erstes	first
lustig	funny, amusing	unlustig, ernst	not amusing, unfunny, serious
mein	my	dein	your
möglich	possible	unmöglich	impossible
müde	tired	wach	awake
nah	close	fern	remote
nass	wet	trocken	dry
national	national	international	international
natürlich	natural	unnatürlich	unnatural
normal	normal	unnormal	abnormal
offen	open, open-minded	geschlossen, verschlossen	closed, locked, closed off, secretive
öffentlich	public	privat	private
ordentlich	neat, tidy	unordentlich	disorderly, messy, unkempt
persönlich	personal, private	unpersönlich	impersonal
positiv	positive	negativ	negative
praktisch	practical, handy, useful	unpraktisch	impractical
pünktlich	punctual, prompt, on time	unpünktlich	unpunctual, tardy
recht	right	unrecht	wrong
reich	rich	arm	poor
richtig	right, correct	falsch	false, not correct
rund	round	eckig	angular, square
sanft	gently	unsanft	rude, ungentle
sauber	clean	dreckig, schmutzig	dirty
schnell	fast	langsam	slow
schön	beautiful	hässlich	ugly
schwer, schwierig	hard, difficult	leicht, einfach	easy, simple
sicher	safe, certain, sure	unsicher	unsure
sozial	social	unsozial	antisocial
spät	late	früh	early
spitz	pointed, sharp, spiked	stumpf	dull
sportlich	sporty, athletic, fit	unsportlich	unathletic, unsporting, out of shape
stark	strong	schwach	weak
süß	sweet	sauer	sour, angry
sympathisch	sympathetic	unsympathisch	unsympathetic
teuer	expensive	billig	cheap, inexpensive
treu	loyal, true, faithful	untreu	unfaithful
unterschiedlich	different, diverse, varied	gleich, identisch	same, identical
viel	many, a lot	wenig, gering	little, low
voll	full	leer	empty
vorsichtig	careful, cautious	unvorsichtig	careless
wahrscheinlich	probable, plausible	unwahrscheinlich	improbable, unlikely
wertvoll	precious, valuable	wertlos	worthless
wesentlich	essential, significant	unwesentlich	inessential, insignificant
wichtig	important	unwichtig	unimportant
wild	wild	zahm	tame
zufrieden	satisfied, content, happy	unzufrieden	dissatisfied, discontent, unhappy

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Jakob Straub

Jakob is a freelance writer in Barcelona, Spain, and his favorite books have pages all empty. As an expert storyteller, he publishes creative fiction in English and German and helps other authors shape their manuscripts into compelling stories. Thanks to an expertise in a wide range of topics such as writing, literature and productivity to marketing, travel, and technology, he produces engaging content for his clients. Apart from the escape that books offer, Jakob enjoys traveling digital nomad style and stays active with climbing and hiking. Find out more about him on his website or on Goodreads.