SchoolSubjects and opinions

School subjects

How well can you remember the German for various school subjects – die Fächer?

Giving opinions

Here are some opinions of subjects and reasons for liking them or disliking them.

Wie findest du Mathe? – What do you think of maths?

• zu schwierig - too hard
• einfach - easy
• langweilig - boring
• ich habe gute Noten - I get good marks/grades
• ich bin schwach - I am weak/bad
• ich bin stark - I am strong/good
• der Lehrer erklärt alles deutlich - the teacher explains everything clearly
• total sinnlos - totally pointless
• unheimlich interessant - incredibly interesting
• ich verstehe kein Wort - I don't understand a word
• nutzbar - useful
• ich habe nichts gegen... - I have nothing against...
• die Lehrerin ist sehr streng - the teacher is very strict
• der Lehrer ist immer hilfsbereit - the teacher is always helpful
• zu viele Hausaufgaben - too much homework
• ... ist okay - ... is OK
• es ist mein Lieblingsfach - it's my favourite subject
• das geht - it's OK

Did you know?

Ich habe gute Noten – I get good marks

The work of German schoolchildren is graded with numbers rather than letters. 1 is the best mark and 6 is the worst. These are the grades:

1. sehr gut – very good
2. gut – good
3. befriedigend – satisfactory, fair
4. ausreichend – sufficient, pass (just)
5. mangelhaft – unsatisfactory, fail
6. ungenügend – inadequate, extremely poor, fail

The marks for all pieces of homework and Klassenarbeiten – assessment tests – are added and averaged to give a Durchschnittsnote, so your mark for the year may be 2,3 or 1,5.

If you do not receive an overall pass mark, you have to sitzen bleiben – repeat the year (literally: to stay sitting).

In Austria the grades are 1-5 and it is rare to repeat the year.

In Switzerland, it is the reverse with 6 being the best grade. However, the year may have to be repeated if a student's marks are too low.