130+ Animals in German

Knowing some animal vocabulary in German is infinitely useful for talking about nature, the world at large and even interactions in day-to-day life.

You might have reviewed a basic list of tiere (animals) in German that include “cat” and “dog.”

But in this post, get ready to learn over 130 animals in German and over 20 verbs, animal parts and phrases.

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Bauernhoftiere (Farm Animals)

Bauernhoftiere (farm animals) are some of the first animal names that children learn in school.

So they’re the first ones we’re going to learn in German! These animals live on der Bauernhof (the farm) and are cared for by der Bauer (the farmer).

German	English
das Pferd	The horse
das Pony	The pony
die Kuh	The cow
das Schwein	The pig
der Hahn	The rooster
die Henne	The hen
das Schaf	The sheep
die Ziege	The goat
der Esel	The donkey
der Truthahn	The turkey
die Gans	The goose
die Ente	The duck
das Lama	The llama
das Rentier	The reindeer
der Büffel	The buffalo
der Waschbär	The raccoon
der Schwan	The swan
der Adler	The eagle
das Opossum	The possum

Haustiere (Common Animals and Pets)

Unless you live on a farm, you’re much more likely to see the following group of animals in your everyday life. You might even have one of these animals as a Haustier (pet).

In fact, 45% of all German households had at least one pet in 2019. Imagine the lengthy conversations in German that you could have with native speakers about their beloved furry (or scaly) companions!

German	English
der Hund	The dog
die Katze	The female cat
der Kater	The male cat
das Kaninchen / der Hase	The rabbit
der Goldfisch	The goldfish
das Meerschweinchen	The guinea pig
das Frettchen	The ferret
der Hamster	The hamster
die Schlange	The snake
der Vogel	The bird
der Fisch	The fish
die Eidechse	The lizard
der Frosch	The frog
die Chinchilla	The chinchilla

Waldtiere (Forest Animals)

The German-speaking regions have a variety of wildlife and that includes a good amount of Waldtiere (forest animals). Most of the animals in this list could be found there. 

Some of these might surprise you and be a little less common, such as wolves or moose. But they’re slowly making a comeback, either through conservation efforts or through natural causes.

German	English
der Fuchs	The fox
der Luchs	The lynx
der Hirsch	The deer
der Bison	The bison
der Elch	The moose
der Steinbock	The ibex
der Bär	The bear
der Wolf	The wolf
der Waschbär	The raccoon
das Stinktier	The skunk
der Dachs	The badger
der Igel	The hedgehog
der Maulwurf	The mole
das Wildschwein	The boar
die Eule	The owl
die Fledermaus	The bat
das Eichhörnchen	The squirrel
der Kojote	The coyote
die Taube	The dove
die Taube	The pigeon

Insekten und Schädlinge (Insects and Household Pests)

If only we lived in a world where only cats, dogs and other cute animals populated our homes. But we don’t! Sometimes we get an unwanted housemate, known as der Schädling (pest).

There are also some helpful and friendlier insects in this list as well. 

German	English
die Maus	The mouse
die Ratte	The rat
die Spinne	The spider
das Insekt	The insect
die Ameise	The ant
die Fliege	The fly
die Mücke / die Stechmücke / der Moskito	The mosquito
die Kakerlake	The cockroach
die Wespe	The wasp
die Biene	The bee
die Zecke	The tick
der Käfer	The beetle
der Marienkäfer	The ladybug
die Raupe	The caterpillar
der Schmetterling	The butterfly
der Leguan	The iguana
der Gecko	The gecko

Wassertiere / Meerestiere  (Aquatic Animals/Sea Animals)

Germany is a land full of lakes and rivers.

In the north, it borders the Nordsee (North Sea) and the Ostsee (East Sea). Germany is also home to many Flüsse (rivers), most notably the Rhine, Danube and Elbe rivers that run through many German cities and towns. 

As such, Germany is home to many Wassertiere (aquatic animals), both in its local waterways and in its Aquariums (aquariums) and Tierpark (zoos).

German	English
der Otter	The otter
der Krake / der Tintenfisch / der Oktopus	The octopus
Der Kalmar / der Tintenfisch	The squid
der Delfin	The dolphin
der Wal	The whale
der Hai	The shark
die Krabbe	The crab
der Hummer	The lobster
der Seelöwe	The sea lion
die Robbe	The seal
das Walross	The walrus
die Qualle	The jellyfish
der Stechrochen	The stingray
der Aal	The eel
der Pinguin	The penguin
der Seestern	The starfish
der Seelöwe	The sealion
die Krabbe	The shrimp
das Seepferdchen	The seahorse
die Seekuh	The manatee

Zootiere (Zoo Animals)

A visit to a Tierpark (zoo) will expose you to animals from all over the world. Germans love going to the zoo, and there are zoos in many of Germany’s big cities such as Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt.

German	English
der Papagei	The parrot
der Löwe	The lion
der Gepard	The cheetah
der Tiger	The tiger
der Eisbär	The polar bear
der Affe	The monkey
der Menschenaffe	The ape
der Gorilla	The gorilla
das Känguru	The kangaroo
das Erdmännchen	The meerkat
der Elefant	The elephant
das Zebra	The zebra
die Giraffe	The giraffe
das Nilpferd	The hippopotamus
das Krokodil	The crocodile
das Nashorn	The rhino
der Strauß	The ostrich
die Schildkröte	The turtle
der Pfau	The peacock
der Alligator	The alligator
der Panther	The panther
das Kamel	The camel
der Flamingo	The flamingo
der Panda	The panda
die Hyäne	The hyena
die Wildkatze	The wildcat
die Antilope	The antelope
der Koala	The koala
der Leopard	The leopard
die Trägheit	The sloth
der Tukan	The toucan
das Chamäleon	The chameleon

Tierbabys  (Baby Animals)

Animals, while cute, are always cuter when they’re babies! As in English, German has specific words for animals when they’re young.

German	English
das Ei	The egg
der Welpe	The puppy
das Kätzchen / das Katzenbaby	The kitten
das Entchen	The duckling
das Lamm	The lamb
das Kalb	The calf
das Fohlen	The foal
das Hirschkalb	The fawn
das Schweinchen	The piglet
das Küken	The chick

Note that the ending -chen can be added to many nouns to make them diminutive (referring to the smaller version of something).

As in the cases of die Katze (the cat) and die Ente (the duck), we get the words das Kätzchen (the kitten) and die Entchen (the duckling).

This can also be added to other nouns such as das Hündchen (the little dog) and das Mäuschen (the little mouse) to describe the younger or smaller version of the animal.

Keep in mind, however, that by adding the ending -chen to animals, they automatically become neuter in gender despite what their previous grammatical gender was. This means that these nouns will take the definite article das (the) in the nominative case.

For example:

der Tisch (the table) → das Tischlein (the little table)

Where possible, you also need to add an umlaut to the first vowel in the diminutive: 

die Maus (the mouse) → das Mäuschen (the little mouse)

Tierkörperteile  (Animal Body Parts)

Animals—regardless of what language is being used to talk about them—have different body parts than us.

German	English
die Schnauze	The snout
das Maul	The mouth/the muzzle
der Schwanz	The tail
die Pfote	The paw
der Pelz	The fur
die Feder	The feather
der Flügel	The wing
das Horn	The horn

Common Verbs and Phrases Related to Animals in German

Finally, animals also have different needs than humans, and these require special verbs that describe the caring for and interacting with animals.

Some of these verbs can be extended to humans, but some are specifically for animals and will be pointed out as such in the list.

German	English
Sich um etwas kümmern	To take care of something
Füttern	To feed
Streicheln	To stroke
Spazieren gehen / Gassi gehen	To take for a walk
Spielen	To play
Sich putzen	To groom itself
Striegeln	To groom an animal
Fressen	To eat

In addition to having different body parts than humans, animals also eat differently in German than they do in English.

While we use the verb essen (to eat) in German to talk about the act of humans eating, the verb fressen (to eat) must be used to talk about an animal eating.

While fressen is commonly used to describe the act of an animal eating, it can also be used to mean “to gobble” or “to gorge” when a human is eating.

Despite being a different verb, fressen conjugates similarly to the verb essen. Check out the verb conjugation pattern here. Pay particular attention to the er, sie, es (he, she, it) conjugation of the verb:

• Ich fresse (I eat)
• Du frisst (you eat)
• Er, Sie, Es frisst (he, she, it eats)
• Wir fressen (we eat)
• Ihr fresst (you all eat)
• Sie fressen (they eat)

How to Practice Animal Vocabulary in German

Now that you’ve learned all these words and phrases to talk about animals in German, you’re going to need a way for it all to sink in!

Luckily, there are many places online where you can practice them all.

Digital Dialects

Digital Dialects offers a challenging, interactive online game for learning German animal vocabulary. Who doesn’t love a game that’s fun and educational, after all?

FluentU

Sporcle

Sporcle has a quiz for practicing the spelling of a variety of German animals.

German spelling can be tricky, so this resource will prove to be very beneficial for learners who are looking to improve their writing skills.

ToLearnFree

ToLearnFree offers a few quizzes for practicing.

The first allows you to practice farm animals, and the second is specifically for practicing baby animals. The third quiz will help you practice aquatic animals.

 

Now that you’ve learned over 130 words and phrases related to animals in German, you’re on your way to the lion’s share of German fluency!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)