Hello everyone, 
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we will have a look at the meaning of:
alle
No need to beat around the bush here, alle looks a lot like the English all and the two words mean the same.
Except when they don’t.
Which happens quite sometimes.
And then there’s also this ganze thing. Which also means all. Sometimes.
Yeah… definitely something to clear up, so let’s friggin’ jump into it.
And let’s get one thing out of the way right away because it’s a BIG mistake: not at all is translated NOT translated with alle. It is translated as überhaupt nicht.
Alle does NOT MAKE ANY SENSE in that context.
- I don’t like German at all.
- Ich mag Deutsch überhaupt nicht. #sad
With that out of the way let’s first look at all that all and alle have in common and yes this phrasing was on purpose.
Alle means all, but with one big constraint: in German whatever is all has to be a plural.
- Ich habe alle meine Freunde eingeladen.
- I have invited all my friends.
- Alle Kinder gehen in die Schule.
- All kids go to school.
- “Hast du die Star Trek Filme auf DVD?”
“Ja, ich habe alle.” - “Do you have the Star Trek movies on DVD?”
“Yeah, I got them all.
If the thing you talk about is just one thing as in all my life or all my body, alle is not the correct word. In these cases you have to use ganze.
- I was up all night.
- Ich war die ganze Nacht auf.
- I was working all week.
- Ich habe die ganze Woche gearbeitet.
- I have enough of all that stuff.
- Ich habe genug von dem ganzen Zeug.
If you are not sure as to what the difference is then check whether you can replace all by the whole and if so ganze is your word.
Now what about non-countable things like water or money… feels strange to label money as non countable by the way but you cannot have 3 moneys so… :). Anyway… in these cases you can use either one so alle or ganze is fine with the little adjustment of taking away the e of alle.
- Ich habe in Vegas all mein Geld verloren.
- Ich habe in Vegas mein ganzes Geld verloren.
- I have lost all my money in Vegas.
As you can see in the example above alle and ganze are in different positions… not that I am going to explain that difference… I mean of course I know… it’s just… well… uhm… we have more important things to do.
So let’s get back to alle and talk about that a little more because it also often occurs as everyone… and it can dress up in cases.
- Alle finden das Konzert gut.
- Everyone likes the concert.
- Ich gebe allen ein Stück Kuchen.
- I give a piece of cake to everyone.
Now what is the difference to the other everyone – jeder/s/e/m/.. you may ask? Well, I think the shortest answer is that alle focuses on the group as a whole while jeder puts a little more emphasis on each individual. Important to realize is that alle is a plural so the verb has to be used in the they-form. For jeder it would be the he-form.
By the way, if you have to say everything or you are using all in sense of everything you have to add a little s to alle to get the correct translation… alles, and this is a singular word.
- Ich habe alles vergessen.
- I have forgotten everything.
- Das alles macht keinen Sinn.
- All that makes no sense.
- Alles ist relativ.
- Everything is relative.
And just as all is relative so is the word alle… yeah that expensive transition-seminar starts to pay out…. In sense of time alle is the translation of every.
- My phone is ringing every 5 minutes.
- Mein Telefon klingelt alle 5 Minuten.
Thus far we are not so far away from all as we all… sorry just can’t resist… know it. But the following meaning sure as shit is. Beeeehooooooold:
- Wir hatten drei Kuchen aber jetzt sind alle alle.
And yet again German has easily won the stupid looking phrase of the day. The sentence is correct, understandable and might be uttered this way in daily conversation. But what does it mean? We had 3 cakes but now they are all all? No! Because the second alle means finished in this case. There is not really a good one word translation for this meaning of alle in English. You would use a phrasing like out of something or all gone instead. Examples:
- Mein Geld ist alle.
- I am out of money.
- Meine Zigaretten sind alle.
- My cigarettes are all gone.
- “Gibt es noch Suppe?”
“Nein, die ist leider alle.” - “Is there some soup left?”
“No, it is all gone unfortunately.”
It is even used for persons in a way.
- Ich bin total alle.
- I am totally exhausted.
To wrap this up I want to give you 2 of the many useful idioms with alle.
- All in all…
- Alles in allem…
Just to make sure… it is alles as the English all could be technically replaced by everything and it is allem because it is case 3. Why is it case 3? Because it is in and we are talking about a fixed location here. No idea, what I just said? Don’t worry… I will get to it my On-line course and then it won’t be any miracle anymore.
The second idiom comes very handy in inner city traffic:
- Hast du sie noch alle?
- Der hat sie doch nicht mehr alle!
Garnished with a little “du Idiot!” you have a formidable version of
- Are you mad?
- He is nuts!
And just because the construction might be a little confusing, here is the blue print… just fill in the person of your choice. The words in parentheses are options for the sound. They do not really mean anything here. You may use all three at once
- ____ hat sie (doch)(wohl) nicht (mehr)alle!
And thus we have reached the end. Das war alles für heute.
If you want, you can take our little quiz and see how much you remember :).
And as always, if you have questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
Another germ from you! You really have an unsually clarifying way of explaining subtle things! I now got why they say “alle 5 Minuten” when you have put it after examples with “everything” ans said “alle” also means “every”.
Hey Emanual,
Ich habe mal eine Frage: du sagst dass man “all” nur verwendet mit Dinge die man nicht zählen kann (so wie Geld und Wasser) sonst soll man “alle” benutzen. Aber als ich ein Lied von Eisbrecher gehört hatte, war es mir aufgefallen dass sie da das Folgende singen: “Trotz all meiner Taten, die Hölle muss warten”.
Nun frag ich mich ob das wohl richtig ist denn Taten kann man doch zählen? ( eine Tat, mehrere Taten) Oder irre ich mich jetzt?
Vielen Dank im Voraus!
Oh gut beobachtet. Das habe ich übersehen. “All meine” + zählbare Sachen klingt etwas poetisch aber man findet es hier und da auch noch in der Alltagssprache… vor allem in so semi-festen Wendungen wie “trotz all…”
Hier ein Beispiel:
Ich hab’ all meine Teller abgewaschen.
Ich hab’ alle meine Teller abgewaschen.
Der erste Satz klingt ein bisschen so, als wären es VIELE Teller. Der zweite ist auch ok für 3 Teller, der erste nicht. Also, vielleicht muss man es so verstehen, das “all meine Taten/Versuche” so viele sind, dass man sie nicht zählen kann, bzw. dass es wirklich wirklich viele waren.
Ich könnte auch sagen “Trotz aller meiner Taten” aber das andere klingt besser.
Also… all + artikel + zählbare Sachen klingt gut und klingt nach viel Sachen.
Ich habe all die Bücher abgegeben, die ich mir ausgeborgt hatte.
I returned all those books I had borrowed from the library.
Ich habe alle Bücher abgegeben, die ich aus der…
I returned all books…
Ich hoffe, das hilft.
Klingt auf jede
Ah okay! Alles klar! Ich mag den ” Es sind soviele, dass man sie nicht zählen kann” Gedanke. Das hatte ich mich auch schon gedacht aber ich war mich nicht sicher ob man das wirklich so interpretieren könnte :)
I have recently started learning German. I stumbled upon your blog. It’s brilliant. Now I visit it everyday and learn something new.
You have truly made learning fun !
Thank you so much :)
xoxo
Awesome!… have fun looking around :)
Dig your style! Today for the first time I have accidentally come across of your blog and I am going to visit here again and again. Ciao!
That’s cool to hear :)
Love the site……..is the following correct?
Ich habe allen alle meine Süßigkeiten gegeben.
(I gave all my candy to everyone.)
Danke!
Yes, grammatically it is perfect… it sounds a bit odd because it Kind of sounds as if everyone got all your candy … as in … every single one…but actually… probably ít’s just me to feel that way :)
Hey Emmanuel
Warum ist es “ich habe allen etwas gegeben” und noch “Alles in allem”? Weil das erste ohne eine Präposition ist, und das zweite mit “in” ist?
Beide sind übrigens Dativ… Richtig?
Genau… “allen” ist Dative plural, und die Funktion ist “Rezipient”… wie in “Ich habe DIR etwas gegeben”
Thank you for providing such a nice service to those of us who want to improve our German. Well Done!! George
What are the cases of alle? (Accusative, dative etc?)
For example, why is it: Ich gebe allen ein Stück Kuchen.
instead of allem or alle?
Great question!
The tricky thing is that there is “alles” and “alle” “Alles” is singular and means “eveything” and “alle” is plural and means “all” as in “all the people”. And of course both can get all cases:
nominative:
– Alle sind ruhig.
– All are quiet.(everyone is quiet)
– Alles ist ruhig.
– All is quiet.
Accusative:
– Ich sehe alle.
– I see everyone/all of them.
– Ich sehe alles.
– I see everything.
Dative:
– Ich gebe allen ein Stück Pizza.
– I give a slice of pizza to everyone.
– Ich gebe allem volle Konzentration.
– I dedicate full focus to everything.
Genetive:
– Das ist aller Leute Wunsch.
– no idea :)… I think it doesn’t exist
Hope that helps
Ich vermute, dass du “expensive” und nicht “expansive” verwenden zu wollen.
Expensive = teuer
Expansive = vast, far reaching
Dein Blog ist super. Es ist dreieinhalb Monate her, dass ich Deutsch beginne zu lernen und ich mach viel Spaß dabei. Jetzt will ich bei der Goethe Institut in Kapstadt eine Reihe von Vorlesungen laufen, weil ich auch gern die Sprache üben will.
Viele grüße aus Südafrika
Ah danke… das ist einer meiner Standardfehler. Den gibt es bestimmt noch mehrmals hier auf dem Blog.
Ein paar kleine Korrekturen:
– Es ist dreieinhalb Monate her, dass ich beginne….
Hier muss du Vergangenheit benutzen. Und es klingt besser mit “anfangen”
-… her, dass ich angefangen habe, Deutsch zu lernen.
– Ich mach viel Spaß dabei.
Das heißt “I’m cracking a lot of jokes while at it”… das ist gut aber bestimmt nicht, was du sagen wolltest. Besser:
– Ich habe viel Spaß dabei
– … eine Reihe von Vorlesungen laufen…
Das “laufen “ist komisch. Besser wäre
– “in ein paar Vorlesungen gehen”/”ein paar Vorlesungen besuchen”
“Vorlesungen” sind eigentlich auch mehr so “college lectures”. Der Professor spricht, alle anderen sind ruhig und hören zu. Für Sprache würde man glaube ich einfach “Kurs” sagen.
Auf jeden Fall wünsch ich dir viel Spaß dabei :)
I’m confused as to the meaning of “___ hat sie nicht alle”. What does this actually mean? “He has not all”? How does that mean someone is crazy? Is it kind of like English expression “he has nothing up top”? As meaning “he has not all” being he has no sense or nothing in his head where “all” is representing all the intelligence (or lack there of) in his head? Just trying to wrap my head around this. What is the signifigance of the extra “sie” in there. Why not just Er hat nicht alle?
Oh well, the idioms and their randomness. I’m not sure exactly where “hat sie nicht alle” comes from but one likely explanation is that it’s a short form of this
– Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Schrank.
– He doesn’t have all cups in the cupboard.
This means the same… someone is crazy.
Apparently it’s based on the Yiddish word “toshia” which means “intellect, common sense”.
The “sie” in “hat sie nicht alle” would then be a reference to the “Tassen”. Without it, the sentence would sound a bit incomplete because people wouldn’t know what the person is having… or not having.
Hope that helps
So far, this is the best online language teaching course I have ever found! Thank you!
Thanks, I hope it stays that way :)
Thanks for the wonderful explanations! Always a lot of fun, and coincidentally helpful ;)
I have a question about expressing “all [children]” and “all of the [children]”. In English there is a different meaning here: The former is more like “all children, anywhere, ever” and the latter is “all of this group of children”. But, in the course of learning German, I’ve seen “alle Kinder” translate to either of those. Sometimes in those discussions, someone mentions “alle die Kinder” and everyone gets grumpy.
Is this just one of those situations that requires context or extra descriptive words to avoid ambiguity, or can it be done with a combination of articles/determiners/all those other little ones?
So, “alle Kinder” is definitely universal, so it can be “all children ever” as well as “all children in the room”.
“Alle die Kinder” is grammatically wrong, so maybe that’s why people get grumpy.. though I think getting grumpy over something like that is kinda sorta grammar-nazi… there, I said it :).
Correct would be “all die Kinder”. This has a somewhat exclamatory vibe so you wouldn’t use it in boring every day contexts. To me it sounds a bit like “oh… all those kids.” Actually, this would be a perfect context. Someone coming from a small German town where the average age is 50 comes to Prenzlauer Berg ( a district in Berlin, one of the districts with the most kids in all of Germany) and he would see all the baby carriages and kids then he could say
-“Wow, guck dir all die Kinder an.”
– “Wow, look at all those kids.”
Using “alle Kinder” here wouldn’t make sense… well, it would, but it would sound more like “look at every kid”
Hope that helps.
Agreed. New here. This is a secondary source for my Germany studies, but if I ever have confusion over any topic, I can be sure to solve it here.
Cool, glad to hear that :)
Hello,
I like this site so much, an important topic like this everyday would be very helpful in a short time and simple method, thank you so much, your explanation is very brilliant.
can you please check if I got these correct:
ich habe mit allen meinen freundin geredet
ich habe alle vergessen
ich habe allen geglaubt
and if want to say: do you have all of the star trek movies?
hast du all die star trek filme ?
hast du alle star trek filme ?
both are correct ?
and the last issue please, when using “alle” to mean “every”
Ich sehe ihn alle zwei stunden = ich sehe ihn jede zwei stunden
is this correct ?
Vielen dank, bis heute , werde ich jeden tag hier kommen :)
All right so here we go:
1) Almsot perfect but “Freundin” is “female friend”. If you mean several friends then it would be “Freunden”. If you mean with several female friends then “Freundinnen”
2) It’s correct if “alle” refers to a specific set of items that has been established in conversation before.. like… all the rules or all the names. If you mean “everything” then it would be “alles”
3) perfect (if you mean you believed everyone)
Star Trek:
The first version is technically correct but it has a tone of “all those numerous Star Trek movies”
The “normal” one is the second.
Finally, only “alle 2 Stunden” is correct. The other one doesn’t work for these phrasings.
Ich hoffe, das hilft dir
Hi Emanuel, thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into these articles. You’ve helped me learn so much so far, and I was hoping you could help me once again. I came across the phrase: “in aller Regel.” Translations on the internet say that it means “as a rule.” However, after looking it up on google, I found similar phrases like “in aller Frühe,” and “in aller Kürze.” As an English speaker, these phrases are pretty confusing, but “in aller Regel” is the absolute worst. “In all rule”? Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof!
You usually have a VERY good way of explaining these things in an intuitive way, and I was hoping you could help me do the mind yoga that’s necessary to understand that phrase. After reading the translation, it’s kind of like knowing that 2 + 2 = 4, but only knowing it as a memorized fact rather than really understanding the true meaning.
Is it similar to “in all honesty?” The “in all” in that idiom seems to mean something like “without anything else.” So, just pure 100% honesty. Is “in aller Frühe” kind of like pure earliness? In aller Kürze is like pure brevity? If that’s the case, then what is “in aller Regel?” The understanding to these questions will probably come with time, but I figure asking about it won’t hurt. Danke im Voraus. ^^
“in aller Regel” is indeed a bit weird if you think too hard about it. Treat it as a fixed phrase. I think the grammar made sense some 200 years ago and then it just kind of froze. I would translate it as “normally”. So it does not exactly fit in with “in aller Frühe” and “in aller Kürze” which are indeed, as you rightly recognized, about pure, 100%.
The word “Regel” itself does mean rule, but there are a bunch of related words that carry a broader sense of regularity. “regelmäßig” for instance means regularly. So maybe “in aller Regel” makes sense as “in all regularity”. Hope that helps a bit (and sorry for taking so long to respond).
Deine Verspätung ist wirklich kein Problem! Ich bin sicher, dass du sehr beschäftigt bist. Danke für deine Antwort. Sie ist hilfreich. :)
Can you explain “für alle da”? I understand it means everybody, but I don’t really understand why. And I don’t understand why you would use it instead of Alle, Jemand, or Jeder.
Oh, I think I understand a bit better. I found your lesson on Da: https://yourdailygerman.com/2013/07/30/meaning-da
So I think then, “für alle da” is using the ‘being present’ use. I still don’t know when you would want to use which, but at least I’m not trying to translate it as “For everybody there”.
So there are actually two possible readings for this. The first one is “da” in sense of “present” and it’s connected to the verb. A full sentence could be:
– Es ist genug Suppe für alle da.
– There is enough soup for everybody.
or
– Die Erde ist für alle da.
– The earth is there for everyone.
The second reading is more theoretical in that it’s usually not intended. The “da” could mean “there” as in “over there” and specify the “alle” a bit.
– Die Suppe ist für alle da drüben.
– The soup is for everybody over there.
But in 95% of the instances “für alle da” is gonna be meant in sense of something being there for everyone.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for this blog post. I was wondering if you would recommend any books or resources for learners which discuss the differences between German (Germany) and Austrian German? The reason I ask is that most online resources for learning German have a focus on Germany. Due to money issues, I want to learn German on my own as much as I can before, enrolling for a German course in Vienna. I have a small German dictionary (Austrian German). Thanks for your time and help in advance.
I don’t know any, unfortunately. I searched around for a bit and there are definitely scientific papers on the subject and there are Austrian-German-Dictionaries but they’re all meant for native speakers. Were you looking for something in English?
Thanks for looking into it. Well, I bought a textbook A2 German in the past approved by OeSD board and maybe one or two notes (differences between Erdapfel and Kartoffel etc). I have been told that Austrian German and German German are perhaps further apart than British and American English. Looking at the textbooks for learning German (published in Austria for OeSD) and comparing them with German textbooks I am finding it hard to spot major differences. A friend of mine who attended German courses (B2 course) in Vienna said that they use German textbooks published in Germany, and the tutor pointed out the subtle difference or usage in the class. So I suppose I will have to focus on learning German without worrying about it too much. If I can understand and speak German good enough to be understood, I will be happy. I am finding your blog posts very helpful. Thanks for your help and time!!
In the German teaching world, there’s this concept called “DACH” (an acronym for Deutschland, Austria and Schweiz) and for publishing companies it makes sense to have one book for the entire area because they can sell it to more people. And for learners it’s access to a language understood in the entire area.
I’m not sure if people in Vienna for instance would actually chose specifically Austrian German, if they could learn standard German instead.
Austrian German is more like an expansion pack (like any dialect) that you can install onto the standard :)
“If I can understand and speak German good enough to be understood” is not the “goodest” English lol :-)
It is “gooder” to say : (Actually it is better to say) :-
“If I can understand and speak German well enough to be understood” and it is the best English.
Thanks, Emanuel, for a great article. I’m still on my way to the intermediate level, and your articles help me a lot.
I’ve checked in Leo, and it seems that “alle” could also be used in singular, perhaps in the sense of “each”, as in “Aller Anfang ist schwer” or in other expressions “bei allem Respekt”.
So, I guess it would make it even more similar to “jeder”, as you write. And as you write “alle focuses on the group as a whole while jeder puts a little more emphasis on each individual”. Based on that, “bei jedem Respekt” would probably not work, but perhaps “Jeder Anfang ist schwer” is possible, although perhaps, this is not what people use. Please let me know.
OK, so just googled it, and at least, there is a song “Jeder Anfang ist schwer”.
You’re right! Bei jedem Respekt sounds wrong while “jeder Anfang” just sounds unusual because it’s not the common expression. I think the grammar/structure of “aller Anfang” is actually pretty old. At least I can’t think of a similar phrasing.
Generally, “alle” can be used to refer to the entirety of a mass noun. You need the proper ending then.
– Alles Wasser
– Aller Dank
Oh and I just realized that it sounds quite odd for feminine nouns.
– Alle Milch ist sauer.
Here, I’d definitely say “ganze”.
Hope that helps!
Yes, I was wondering about feminine nouns, since they would have the same “alle” form as the plural (except for dative), which is maybe why it sounds strange. Also, it is “the whole milk”, so “ganze” would work according to your rule.
Yeah, “die ganze Milch” sounds fine to my ears :)
Wonderful article <3 I never really liked the whole (all and its inflicted forms) thing because in Arabic it's sooooo easy! There is one single word that can be used as "each/every" or "all" and is uninflicted so same for m, f, singular, plural, countable and uncountable :P
Wow, that’s easy indeed. Probably one of the handful easy things about Arabic. From what I hear it’s super complex and difficult :)
“Alle Kinder gehen in die Schule.
All kids go to school.”
There is a difference in English between “All kids go to school” and “All kids go to the school”. In the first one it may be different schools that the kids go to but in the second it is one specific school (perhaps you are talking about kids in the neighborhhod and the local school). Thus, I am confused about why the article was used in German but not in English. Does the German mean just school in general or some particular school? If it definitely means one or the other how is the other meaning said in German?
Very good question. Actually, the German version is not clear and can mean both ideas… so a general going to school as well as a particular school.
There’s also “zur Schule gehen” which only means “go to school” (in the general sense) but “in die Schule” is idiomatic, too.