“Airing it out”
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Hello everyone,
Day 2 of the epic Advent Calendar – the first real calendar treat of the year :).
And behind today’s door is an activity that is an essential part of German culture.
No, not drinking beer.
And no, not being extremely well dressed either, in case you were thinking that. Come on… at least one of you has to have been thinking that. Please. We’re really trying to be fashionable.
“No you’re not.”
Well, okay. We’re not.
But anyway, the activity that I mean that is part of German culture is… drumroll…
lüften
Those of you who have lived in Germany are probably now like “Oh yeah, I know that one.” :).
But for those who don’t know: lüften is the German verb for airing out a room.
It’s based on the noun die Luft, which means air, and it’s basically about opening the window to let fresh air in and old air out.
And Germans do this quite a LOT.
Like… every day, in countless offices across Germany, someone walks in and says stuff like this:
- Uhhh… wir müssen unbedingt mal lüften.
- Uhhh… we really have to air the room.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Habt ihr was dagegen, wenn wir mal lüften?
- Would you have a problem if we open the window for a bit?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Habt ihr heute schon gelüftet?
- Have you aired the room already today?
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And it doesn’t matter if it’s below freezing outside – lüften has to be accomplished!
I think part of the reason for why lüften is so ingrained in people’s minds is that Germany overall is not all that big on air conditioning. I mean, we know the concept of course, but for me for instance, if I were to build a house, it wouldn’t even cross my mind to add one.
This may well be a European thing actually, but the large majority of homes in Germany do not have air conditioning.
Which is also why you can often find the verb lüften in rental agreements.
- Der Mieter ist verpflichtet, die Wohnräume regelmäßig zu lüften, um Schimmel zu vermeiden.
- The tenant has the obligation to air out the room regularly, so as to avoid the growth of mold.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I’d actually bet that people have fought in court over whether or not someone did proper lüften.
And like with almost any verb in German, of course there are a few “versions” of lüften, each for a specific type. Like auslüften for instance, which is about an object that contains a lot of “smells” that’s then left to air out.
- Die neue Matratze muss 24 Stunden auslüften.
- The new mattress has to air out for 24 hours.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Or belüften and entlüften which are more technical sounding words you might find in the context of a lab or a legal document.
But the most “German one” is probably stoßlüften, which basically means “burst airing” and it’s about opening ALL the windows ALL the way, but only for a short period of time. That’s how you should air your rooms in winter because that way, you lose less heat than if you leave a window cranked open all the time.
“But, but… it’s below freezing outside.”
Silence!!
All the windows are to be open completely!! Such is the way of the stoßlüften.
I think some of you might think I’m kidding and that this is a niche term no one ever uses.
So instead of giving you an example sentence with stoßlüften, let me just show you a few of the search results you get when you look for “richtig stoßlüften”.
There are many many more!!
Like I said… lüften is an essential part of German culture and at least if you live in Germany, you should definitely add this word to your active vocabulary. And to your daily routine too :).
So, that’s it for today. Let me know in the comments if you have any experience with the German lüften and if it was a culture shock or anything. And also, let me know how it is in your country. Do you lüften? Do you also have hundreds of articles about the correct technique?
I’m really curious to hear your stories, so I’ll hopefully see you in the comments below.
And in either case, have a great day and bis morgen :)
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Love this article Emanuel! I was born and raised here in the northeastern part of the U.S. and was introduced to lüften on several extended trips to Switzerland and Germany.
However, my husband is from the island of Puerto Rico where fans (ceiling and floor fans) run in nearly every room, year round. Since living here in the northeast US, he also has to have fans on in even the coldest of temperatures, otherwise he can “smell” the stale air. It’s not common for him or me for that matter to want to open a window in below freezing and worse, below zero (F) temperatures, but man, those fans are cranking all the time. And he HAS to have the AC on in the warmer months WITH the fans. It’s quite the mechanical circus!
I’m more inclined to prefer the lüften, auslüften and stoßlüften over AC and fans, but after a couple of decades, I’m getting used to the fans… well, most of the time!
Last night in Canberra (Australia) I was opening windows and doors because outside temperature had dropped from its maximum for the day of (about 31⁰C) to about what it was inside, when my son, who lived in Germany for a while, arrived and exclaimed “Stoßlüften.” Surprised that I didn’t need an explanation.
It occurs to me that a major reason for Stoßlüften in winter is to remove products of combustion in open fires (wood, coal, or anything else) or unflued gas heaters and cookers. The main two are CO₂ & H₂O. A lot is said of carbon dioxide these days, but the water is rarely mentioned. In a dwelling it will condense on windows, walls ceilings and furnishings so regular Stoßlüften is very sensible. Combustion also produces CO (carbon monoxide) which is toxic, so Stoßlüften could be life saving.
I think in Germany, the main reason for most people is indeed humidity and mold prevention. My mom still heats with coal, so there’s the combustion thing too. And people who have a fireplace in their house of course, but that’s rare.
how interesting!
really enjoyed the more cultural aspects of this post and all the tidbits in your responses to the comments (the getting your utility bill one year/half a year later is SO WEIRD)
absolutely crazy about most places not having AC though, I absolutely NEED climate control to live
-me, an American who loves “AC set so cold that [you] literally need a scarf when going into a store there in summer”
Lüften was definitely part of Germany 101 when I first moved to Berlin. I feel like you also have some debates about how to lüft among ze Germans, at least in a shared space.
We’ve brought it back with us for our times in the States. Even in north Texas, there’s a pretty good chunk of the year where it’s really nice to have the windows open, although if you don’t have screens on enough of them, it’s pretty hard to durchlüften without being eaten by bugs.
It was -13°C this morning here in Munich when we got up. We may have… underachieved somewhat in our lüfting.
Oh, and I know I’ve mentioned this before, but das Fenster (an-)kippen is one of our go-to bits of American expat Denglisch:
Awesome, I hope it picks up :)
It did catch on in Serbian, to open a window “na kip” and in Bosnia we used to say “na oberliht”, as in Oberlicht – not sure why “Licht” got involved though
“Oberlicht” is this the word for a ceiling roof that you usually don’t really want to open fully because it would rain in. But you open it just a crack. It’s got its name because it’s “light from above”.
“na kip”… I’ll have to check if they also use it in Bulgaria. That’s so random :D
We don’t lüften so much here in the states, but I spent a lot of my childhood in France, and much to my family’s horror I DO open the windows regularly, even if it’s freezing and snowing outside. Man oh man do I get complaints! But… there you have it, lüften is good for you! Go, Germany go!
We Luft here by opening up our doors as well as windows! We have a 150 year old farm house with 3 doors and most windows painted shut!
Wow, why are they painted?
Good question! It only takes a coat of paint to seal wood together if you aren’t careful. We actually replaced some with storm windows because it’s only 1 pane of glass. Oh, we have 4 doors! 3 front doors -(two porches) wondering what the builder was thinking, lol.
Ohhhh, I misunderstood it. I though the pane was painted so you couldn’t look outside. But you mean the paint made it so you can’t open them.
Natürlich, lol
Great post. I live in Boston and spend several months each year in Berlin with family and friends. So yes, I have a lot of experience with regular airing of a flat. Even in the dead of a Boston winter, I have windows open for various lengths of time – and usually follow the guidelines as set by one of the many German government agencies. It’s a really good idea!!
Wait, there’s government guidelines??
I made a photo about 7 years ago that was at the home of a Berlin relative. I tried to put it here but this site would not send it. The text is: Vier mal täglich sollten Sie jeweils so lange stoßlüften. There are pictures of calendar months plus times the windows should be open during the four openings: Dez-Feb = 5 Min, Mär + Nov = 10 Min, Mai + Okt = 20 Min, Juni-Aug = 30 Min. I assumed this was from some government agency but really do not know.
wow!
I had to learn about “lüften” when I came to Germany (from Australia). And yes, it was in our rental contract. Of course the landlord doesn’t care if you have fresh air or not; the landlord is afraid of the dreaded “Schimmel”, which, once in the substance of the ceiling/walls, is very hard and costly to get rid of. In one of the search results above, “Vorbeugung von Schimmel” is mentioned. In winter if you don’t air the room, the condensation builds up and, added to a lovely toasty-warm room temperature, creates the perfect room climate for mould to feel at home in.
It is an issue indeed. I had mold in my old apartment and the new one looks to have some mold prone corners as well.
In some buildings you can’t avoid it though… a tradesman ones said “Wärmescheide” when I asked what I can do to prevent the mold I had, which basically means… you can’t prevent it. You can just remove and contain it.
Stoßlüften is very cultural verb ! Thank you.
I wonder if lüften can be used for drying something to air in.
In Japan you put a duvet, or sometimes a mattress (much thinner one) hang outside when the sun is warm enough to make them fluffy.
And I do lüften in our bedroom every morning no matter which season it is. Fresh air always helps!
You can “auslüften” a duvet by hanging it outside but that’s more about getting the stuffy smell out than making it fluffy.
Greetings to Japan, I’m really happy to get a comment from over there, because it’s so rare :)
Interesting concept! Here in the UK we do sometimes open the window every now and again to get some air moving, but it’s definitely not as big of a thing and I’ve never seen it in freezing weather haha.
A massive thank you to the generosity of the sponsors and Emanuel to let me be a member without paying! I’ve wasted some of my membership by being an idiot and missing the email but I’ll be sure to make up for it with the amazing resources available. I’ve already felt my German improving with only 2 articles a week, so with unlimited, I’ll be unstoppable:))
Thank you again, you guys make this site a little gem <3
It‘s not a thing in Australia. Maybe because it is not cold enough. Where I am from the lowest temperature is usually 12 degrees celcius. What most Australians find, in European houses, is that they are too hot. It is weird that it may be freezing outside but you have to take your jumper off and wear only a t shirt inside
Wow, that’s interesting. How cold is Australian AC in summer though? Is it US cold, catching a cold cold? Or is it “normal”?
What do you mean? Is it that you want to know what temperatures you prefer your AC to be? I myself prefer evaporated cooling where you open the windows and doors the temperature often is about 23. It doesn’t work well in humid conditions and outside temperatures of over 35
What I meant is that the cooling AC in the United States is set to so cold that I literally need a scarf when going into a store there in summer :).
And I was wondering if Australian buildings are equally cooled down in summer.
I think it’s gotten less extreme with prices going up everywhere. I don’t remember the last time I walked into a wave of cold, but I can think of several places that were uncomfortably warm. Movie theaters especially.
I believe that deep down I am at least part German because I have to have my frische Luft daily. I feel like in the US, lots of people keep their windows closed year round. Of course most of us do have A/C, but that’s no excuse. The air may be cool, but it’s still stale.
Rather than a lüften, I tend to keep a window cracked all the time, even in the winter. In nice weather, like on a breezy day in the spring or fall, I will open all the windows and doors and then have a mega lüften. The house smells so nice when I do that. Some older folks grew up with a lüften tradition, but many others (like my mother and my mother-in-law) grew up believing that drafts will make you catch a cold, and/or invite rapists, burglars, etc. to come in through the open window. They never opened their windows, ever.
Oh, grandmas here are also concerned about drafts causing a cold. But it’s those light drafts from a cracked open window. Not the mega draft of a stoßlüften :D
I do watch me some football from time to time, but I have never heard this particular expression.
How many wide pass plays in a row would be needed to call it “airing it out”?
You are just too funny, I can’t! >.<
Silence!!
One of my first memories when I moved to Germany in 2017, was my sister-in-law airing out the house before she went to bed at 2 in the morning – she was a night owl. But I learned to call it querlüften… which actually isn’t listed in LEO!
I grew up in the US, and my folks had a big house. Before turning on the central AC, we would open all the windows early in the morning and a huge attic fan would suck the cold air throughout the house! Would you call that obenlüften, hinauf- oder herauflüften? It was fairly unusual, so I thought you might like the description.
“querlüften”… yeah, I bet there are more variations out there, but the core theme here is creating a draft throughout the apartment.
Never heard of an attic fan, but that sounds awesome :).
I think “durchlüften” would still be the word to go for. The point of the act is really to create a current, and not so much that the air goes “up”.
Though I think attic fans in the US are mostly about cooling, rather than “airing” in the Germanic sense. The idea is to suck a bunch of cool morning air into the house and attic space to give you a buffer against the heating during the day, so the AC in theory works better (and most American houses have incredibly inefficient AC – a topic for another time…)
Ich lüfte oft, fast immer in der Nacht im Bettzimmer, obwohl wir haben Klimaanlage. Meine Mutter und Großmutter (Kanadier) waren besessen von frischer Luft. Vor allem nach viel Kochen, bestehe ich darauf stoßlüften. Nach 40 Jahren hat mein Mann aufgehört, sich zu beschweren, und jetzt fast bevorzugt frische Luft. :-)
– “bestehe ich darauf, stoßZUlüften” … ein trennbares Verb :)
Ich hasse offenes Fenster beim Schlafen. Nicht wegen der Temperatur, aber ich habe dann immer das Gefühl, es gibt Zug :D.
I am from Romania and yes, we are big on airing the whole house, usually by stoßlüften, first thing in the morning. And I swear mothers can smell if you don’t do it! Like my mom would come visit me and immediately ask “did you open the windows today?”.
Also very few people have dryers in their homes and it’s normal for people, even those living in apartment buildings, to have drying racks on the balcony or outside the window. I got a lot of sh*t from my mom for not drying my clothes outside. Would that count as auslüften? I don’t know.
Thanks for the article! I just discovered this blog and it feels like a Christmas present.
Yeah, moms do have a sense for how often you “lüften” :).
I love drying clothes outside, because they just smell better that way.
In winter, it doesn’t work though. But a dryer is one of the appliances that I don’t think I’ll ever own. Such a waste of space.
And honestly, nothing beats the smell and feel of bed sheets that were dried in the yard or on the balcony.
Very few people do it in Berlin, but it’s very common in Bulgaria, where I have been many times over the last few years.
When you bring a large banana spider back to bed – hitchhiking on the bed sheets drying outside – it changes one’s thought process. :)
Oh hell yeah, I would never dry anything outside. But we only have boring small spiders in middle Europe, so it’s save :)
Hello Em – a small piece of American sports culture for you: in American football, throwing a pass on each play to quickly move the ball down the field (especially near the end of the game if a team is behind in the score) is called “airing it out”. Any football fan would recognize this term. Cheers!
I do watch me some football from time to time, but I have never heard this particular expression.
Maybe now that I am aware of it, I’ll start noticing it :)
How many wide pass plays in a row would be needed to call it “airing it out”?
Usually when an offense “airs it out” it’s more about passing often or big long downfield passes. You can’t pass downfield more than once on a play (or a “down”). I would associate this term more with a really long pass, say over 30 yards downfield)
Ohhhh, okay, so “airing it out” refers to one individual play. I understood that it meant a series of plays, so that it’s the overarching strategy.
Yes, it’s true that a long, successful pass play could be called “airing it out”, but it’s at least as common to use this expression to describe the strategy of passing on multiple plays (“downs”) – probably at least 3-4 in succession without mixing in a running play so as to quickly move down the field. It should be noted that this strategy is more risky than the more normal strategy of mixing running plays and (a few) passing plays, because with the run the ball is more secure since someone is (supposed to) be holding it at all times, rather than throwing it through the air where it could ( :-( ) be caught by a member of the opposing team. Hope this helps clarify – it’s a great sport !!
I agree, it’s very entertaining to watch, especially with friends.
And beer !!!
What’s “beer”? Is that also a football term?
Thank you for this! One question please: can you use this word in regards to discussions? In english, one might say “Let’s air this out.”, meaning let’s get everything out in the open.
Great question (and one I was hoping for)!!!
No, “lüften” only works for actually letting air into a room, not for “clearing the air” in a social interaction.
“lüften” does have a second meaning though and that is “to unveil”, with the veil being the direct object.
My father was Canadian. Growing up in New York City, he always had the window open in his room. Sometimes a glass of water would have a thin layer of ice during the winter in the morning.
Yup, sounds very Canadian :D