Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German word of the day.
This time we are going to look at the meaning of:
gleich
If you have spent time in Germany, gleich is a word you have probably heard and read a lot.
Fortunately, it is not one of those weird words that seem to mean nothing and everything at the same time, like doch or mal.
Gleich has two clear meanings – equal and right away.
And the first one is right in line with where the word came from…
“gleich” as “equal”
The origin of gleich is the Germanic… uhm… word ḣa-lîka. Yeah… no idea how to pronounce that :).
This Germanic word meant something along the lines of having a similar or matching body, and it is also the origin of the English word like. And while like still expresses similarity, gleich is more strict – it expresses equality, and translates to same, equal or equally.
Here’s a couple of examples, from math and humanity :)
- 2 + 2 = 4 – Zwei plus Zwei ist gleich 4.
- 2 plus 2 equals 4.
- Alle Menschen sind gleich.
- All humans are equal.
There is also a real word for the verb to equal in German but at least in math we say “is equal“.
Now, if gleich in sense of same is used as an adjective before a noun, then of course it gets all the corresponding endings. So there’s gleiche, gleichem, gleiches and so on.
And if you’re not sure yet which ending to put… I have a quick hack for you: add an ‘e’. This will automatically get about 40 % correct and, what’s even more important is that you’ll have the right rhythm. You see… gleich is just one syllable, gleich-e is two. This change is huge and saying one syllable instead of two will smash to bits any effort to not sound like a complete beginner.
I’ll add a link to the article on adjective endings below if you want to know more.
Let’s look at some more examples for the same-gleich.
- Ich habe das gleiche Fahrrad wie du.
- I have the same bike as you.
- Ich nehme den gleichen Wein wie letzte Woche.
- I’ll have the same wine as last week.
- All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
- Alle Tiere sind gleich, aber manche sind gleicher.
- Thomas und Maria sind fast gleich groß.
- Thomas and Maria are almost equally tall.
Why is there no ending on gleich in the last example, you wonder?
That’s because gleich is referring to tall there; so it is an adverb (the things that end in -ly in English or -ment in French) and those never get endings in German. Don’t you love them already :)
Of course gleich is also the translation for THE same. Then it is das Gleiche, der Gleiche, die Gleiche, dem Gleichen etc, beacause… you know… the Cayszuss – that hostile alien race that learners have to deal with.
“Captain, the Cases are about to over-complicate our warp-sentence.”
“Raise shields and pick them up at random one at a time!”
“Great plan Captain.”
- “Maria hat eine neue Hose.”
“Ja ich weiß, ich habe die Gleiche.” - “Maria has a new pair of pants”
“Yes I know, I have the same.”
- “Ich nehme ein Steak mit Kartoffeln.”
“Ich nehme das Gleiche“ - “I’ll have the steak with potatos.”
“I’ll have the same.”
Now, besides gleich German also has selbe as a translation for same. So there is das selbe, dem selben and so on. And on paper, there actually is a difference. Specifically, das selbe refers to the exact item, while das gleiche refers to an item of the same type.
- Ich benutze die gleiche Zahnbürste wie du.
- I use the same toothbrush as you.
(the same type)
- Ich benutze die selbe Zahnbürste wie du.
- I use the same toothbrush as you.
(the same one… like, literally)
But honestly… at least I don’t really feel this difference and in daily life I use the two interchangeably. Sometimes people pretend like it matters, but trust me… they perfectly understand what you mean.
Cool, so now that we know the first meaning of gleich, it’s time for… the second one :). And that is about time.
“gleich” as “now”
Gleich is a VERY common word for shortly or right away. It is not as soon as immediately but certainly sooner than… later. I’d say gleich can reach like half an hour or so into the future but not more. But okay.. time is relative, after all.
- “Hör auf zu spielen und mach Hausaufgaben.”
“Ja, mach ich gleich.” - “Stop playing and start doing homework.”
“Yeah I’ll do it in a second.”
The German Fortnite kid meant gleich in sense of two hours by the way – cause time is REALLY relative when you play computer – and just used it to make it sound as if the homework were to be dealt with any time soon. But mom is experienced and can read between the lines plus she knows the perfect counter to gleich.
- “NEIN! Sofort!”
- “NO! Immediately!”
Damn. She is being serious.
So… gleich means shortly or right away and it is SUPER common in daily life. Here are two of the most commonly used phrases.
- Ich komme gleich.
- I’ll be there right away.
- Bis gleich.
- See you in a bit.
Now, besides being used in relation to right now, gleich can also be used with a referenced point in time in past or future.
What do I mean by that?
- Ich ruf dich gleich an, wenn ich nach Hause komme.
- I will call you right away, when I get home.
- Gleich nachdem ich die Tür zugemacht hatte, fiel mir auf, dass mein Schlüssel noch in der Wohnung war.
- Right after I closed the door, I realized that my keys was still in the apartment.
All right.
So these are the two meanings of gleich: the idea of same and the idea of right away.
Here they are again, back to back.
- Thomas und Maria gehen gleich schnell.
- Thomas und Maria gehen gleich ins Kino.
- Thomas and Maria go equally fast.
- Thomas and Maria will go to the movies shortly.
They’re really almost gleich but the context makes it clear which meaning it is.
Some of you might be wondering, if we can tie the meanings together somehow? Well, we could say that the time–gleich is referring to the same time as now. But it’s definitely some mind yoga, and maybe it makes more sense to just see them as two completely separate ideas.
To wrap this all up, here are some words that originate from gleich, to build your vocab. The verb gleichen means to resemble, the words ausgleichen means to compensate or to balance and vergleichen means to compare. The ge-stem is -glichen by the way. As for nouns we have die Gleichung which is an equation and die Gleichheit which is equality. Oh an important one is gleichfalls. It means ‘the same to you’.
- “Einen schönen Tag noch.”
“Gleichfalls“ - “Have a good one.”
“And you./You too. ”
I feel like I have forgotten some important ones but I will just add them later. If you have questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time.
further reading:
Test yourself :).
How much do you remember from the article?
Hi – one quick question – do you see any difference between ausgleichen and begleichen?
Kredite können gewährt oder Schulden beglichen/ausgeglichen werden.
Many thanks
“begleichen” sounds more technical and is only used in context of settling bills (be they about money or other kinds of “debt”).
“ausgleichen” is about bringing in balance, so you can for instance “ausgleichen” a calorie deficit, but you cannot begleichen it.
Hope that helps.
Hey
Es faellt mir schwer, diesen Satz herunterzubrechen:
Die sind es gleichen
Oberflaechlich betrachtet scheint er so einfach zu sein. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, welche Funktion das helfende Verb hat?
Gibt es einen Unterschied zu diesem Satz?:
Die sind gleich
Danke
Für mich ist der erste Satz einfach falsch. Ich habe keine Ahnung was das heißen soll. Wo hast du den denn gelesen?
What does “gleich” express in these examples?
I keep wanting to think it seems similar to “sogar” in a way. Could it be paraphrased as “nicht nur einmal, sondern zweimal”?
Great examples!
I didn’t think of that use, but it’s not uncommon.
Your impression is perfectly correct, the vibe is like “not one but TWO”.
Here’s an example from spoken German where we can kind of see the connection:
– “Heute gab es Bierdiscount in der Bar. Ich habe gleich zwei bestellt.”
– “Today, there was beer discount at the bar. I immediately order two/ I ordered two right away/at one.”
I came here because I was really thrown off by the use of gleich I encountered in a video:
“Für Pokémon-Fans gibt es aktuell gleich doppelt Grund zur Freude. Zum einen sind in den letzten zwölf Monaten mit Legenden Arceus und den Remakes zu Diamant und Perl gleich mehrere neue Spiele rausgekommen. […]”
Thanks to this comment, I think I understand more or less what they mean now. I looked up on DWDS and DUDEN and it seems like the second meaning on both pages is appropriate here. I’m guessing that means both instances of gleich I cited above can, without changing the meaning, be replaced with either auf einmal or zugleich. The best fit as an English translation seems like it would be “at once“, even though it probably wouldn’t sound as natural in the same contexts as gleich does in German.
That’s pretty much it.
Though I would add that “gleich” has a bit of an emotional component and it’s not just informational. It’s like “woooww, TWO at ONCE”.
If I had to translate your example and go for “vibe accuracy” I would do
“at once” works as well, but you might miss a bit of the excitement that “gleich” is carrying here.
I just LOVE the design of the test in this page. Hope you will use it everywhere!
Yeah, I was trying out various quiz plugins and this one seems to be the best overall, so I think I’ll go with this one…
Great article!!
I have a question regarding the articles when using gleich as a noun. You mention give die Gleiche, das Gleiche, der Gleiche, dem Gleiche. Is the nomitive die Gleiche? I am not sure that I understand when it would change to das Gleiche.
Der Gleiche, das Gleiche and die Gleiche can all be Nominative. It depends on the gender of if the thing that is the same.
Hilft das?
Good evening Emanuel,
Your format and method of teaching is commendable. I was just scrolling through the comments, and I’ve learned much just by following the thread–splendid job! I was just starting to research my family name, Gleichman, which I am pretty sure was once spelled ‘Gleichmann.’ My question is which form of ‘gleich’ would my family name have been referencing? And are there many people in Germany named ‘Gleichmann? Please reply at your earliest convenience.
Thank you,
John
Hello John,
I have never heard the name but I would say it is the “equal”-gleich. Not the time-gleich.
I looked it up on Google and found 245.000 hits so I think it’s a fairly common name here.
Viele Grüße und danke für das nette Feedback
Emanuel
Hallo!
“Gleich daneben finden Sie die Praxis des Betriebsarzts”
What does “gleich” means in this sentence????!!!!!
It means that the office is right next to the other location. So “gleich” here translates to “right”, but the core idea is that it’s really really close. So it’s basically the same idea as the time-gleich. DOes that help?
Hey man. U must be busy. Please look into my last post. It would be very helpful. Thnx
I am busy. How would I look into your post though?
I guessed so. Please look into it when u get free. Look into the immediate preceding post.
Oh, ups… that comment slipped through unseen :/. My apology and good thing you asked.
So yes, you got it correct.
– so [adjective] wie…
– das gleiche [Noun, optional] wie…
The sentence your friend made is not correct. Maybe in some dialect but in standard German it would be just “wie”.
Thnx a bunch man. And keep up the incredible work. (Y)
Hey Emmanuel, could u please translate the following “In dinner I eat the same as in lunch”
Zum Abendbrot esse ich das gleiche wie zum Mittag.
Thnx a bunch!
Few points to discuss.
1-“gleiche” here is noun right?
2-a friend of mine translated the same(not same strictly. It was “I eat the same in dinner as in lunch” but nevermind) but used “als wie” instead of “wie”. Is that correct?
3-When I was translating I thought I would use “so……wie” since we’re comparing sorta two entities. When I wrote first it was”Zum Abendessen esse ich so gleiche wie Mittagessen” which I think is wrong and I’d like u to explain y.
4-When I told my buddy to use “so… wie” he translated as u did except this time he replaced “wie” with “so…wie”. Is that correct too?
1. Yeah, you’re right. I should have capitalized it
2. “als wie” is some dialect (though I don’t know from where), but it’s not proper grammar in standard German and to my ears it sounds quite bad
3. When you compare there’s always at least two entities, otherwise you have no comparison. So this is not a criteria.
I think what you were confused about is that we’re comparing equality and I said in my article on comparisons that we should use “so … wie…”
However, that only applies to adjectives and adverbs, not objects.
Does that help?
4. I don’t understand this question.
For point 3 let me put two sentances for ease of understanding:
1-“Meine Arbeit ist so schwer wie deine Arbeit”-“My work is as hard as your work”
2-“Ich arbeite die gleiche Arbeit wie du abeitest”-“I do the same work as you do”
*Please point out if I’ve made any other mistakes in making the sentences (fyi I’m a beginner learner).
In sentence 1 we’re comparing by adjectives(“schwer” being that) hence using “so…wie”. In sentence 2 we’re doing the same by noun ie “Arbeit” hence using “wie”. Have I got that?
In point 4 I told my friend if there was anyway to use “so…wie” while translating the sentence I gave u to translate at the very start. So he translated it as “Ich esse das gleiche zum abendessen so wie zum mittagessen”. Almost same as yours except he uses “so…wie” instead of “wie”. Is that correct?
Looooooove your site. You’re a legend. Your sense of humour is soooo helpful for learning. Vielen vielen dank!
Voll lieb :). Danke!!!
Hey Thanks for the article!
Could you explain the two „gleich“s in this short conversation?
A: Das ist ja schön. Jetzt sind alle zusammen. Dann kann ich ‘nen Vorschlag machen.
B: Ich muss Deutsch lernen.
A: Wunderbar, hier geht GLEICH einer in die Luft.
C: Wie ist denn dein Vorschlag?
A: Also: Offensichtlich hat niemand Zeit für Hausarbeit.
D: Niemand?
A: Ja, also zumindest nicht alle GLEICH viel! Ich finde, wir sollten uns einen Saugroboter kaufen, um uns die Arbeit zu sparen.
Thanks in advance!
Wow, what a strange dialogue :D. It doesn’t feel very coherent to me. Where’s that from?
Anyway… the first “gleich” is the time-one, so the sentence means
– Great, someone is about to explode here (will explode [very soon])
The second “gleich” is the comparing-one. “alle gleich viel” means something like “everyone equally much”.
Hope that helps.
Hi, this article is really inspiring! I have a quick question: how will people respond to bis gleich? Thank you!
Great question, I never thought about it :). I guess either “Ja” or “Ja, bis gleich”. Or when it is in a messenger like Whatsapp “Ich freu mich” is a nice option, but only among friends.
I’m trying to determine the exact meaning of the lyrics to a song which contain the phrase “küss mich gleich noch mal”. Does this mean “kiss me again right now” or “kiss me again the same way” (“kiss me again like that!” etc.). Or could it be both?
Good question! I think every German would immediately understand it as the temporal “gleich”. For “the same way” you’d say
“Küss mich noch mal so.”
Vielen Dank!
You are the best!!
Many thanks.
Ich kann nicht es ausdrucken, wie ich froh bin, dass ich Ihre Seite gefunden habe.
Toll, danke für das schöne Feedback :)
Excellent article, very useful.
Freut mich zu hören. Danke!
great Job
In the context of the time-related “gleich”. I always say that “gleich” is the time you like to wait for a bus. So it can be any time between zero to thirty minutes or longer. But the longer it takes the earier you become and the less “gleich” it gets. I really like your website by the way.
The time you’d be okay waiting for a bus… that’s a great way to capture the relative-ness :). Thanks for that.
Danke shoen ^^. I swear, your site is #1 for learning German :)
Danke für das Kompliment :D
Always love how German is described and/or explained and this one is really good. So thanks for that! :-) Regarding one of your points made (and some have already talked about this in the comments):
I know you wrote finding differences between das Gleiche and das Selbe is really splitting hairs – but I think it can be explained quite easily:
Whereas das Gleiche refers to something similar das Selbe refers to the identical thing. So for example when Tino has a pair of jeans and you say you have die gleiche Hose, you are saying you have a pair just like his. When you say you have die selbe Hose you would actually be implying the pair you are having is Toni’s. So you are sharing it with him. This goes for any other context but even Germans get it confused every now and then. The subtle difference is used for one joke or another though ;-)
EN: You’re all the same to me.
DE: Ihr seid mir alle gleich.
Would this be an appropriate way to say this in German? Or is there a better way to say it?
This is a really good question actually because there are two very similar phrasings that mean totally different things in German. Just to be sure before I get into it… could you paraphrase what the English version expresses? btw… are you the Craig with the rapsongs :)?
Yes, that’s me :D
The English version is a somewhat derogatory statement that you can say to people to express a general disinterest in their opinions/feelings/interests. It’s a bit misanthropic and is used if someone contradicts a sweeping generalization you make.
“All these teenagers these days listen to such terrible music like A, B, C…”
“I don’t listen to any of those, how can you say my music taste is terrible?”
“Eh, you teens. You’re all the same to me.”
Ah, I see, so in that sense I would just say
– Ihr seid alle gleich.
This works for any context where you want to generalize something or put stuff in the same pot. Like
– Chefs? Pff… die sind alle gleich.
If you want to add a personal element you’d do the same as in English and say “für mich”
– 3 Dips? Für mich schmecken die alle gleich.
– Techno, Hip Hop, Metal… für mich klingt das alles gleich.
Now, if you use the Dative to include basically the same personal note you get a different meaning.
– Ihr seid mir alle gleich.
This is the same as
– Ihr seid mir alle egal.
and means
– I don’t care/give a shit about any of you.
This works no matter whether the group is totally homogeneous or super eclectic. People will not understand that sentence as a judgement of the… uhm… diversitivitiness but as a statement about how you relate to the group.
Interesting. I would say the English translation can mean either of the two German ones, depending on the context and tone. And to make it a little more derogatory, you can specify the “you” you’re referencing. For example, “you people are all the same” has a little more attitude than “you’re all the same” in my opinion. But either way, in the English version, making such a statement implies that you don’t care about people in general. Thanks for the clarification!
This is a super helpful comment. I was wondering the same thing while reading the article (bzw. the difference between “You’re all equal” and “You’re all the same”). It also highlights a problem I have in German constantly– I never know when to use “mir” and when to use “für mich,” or if they can be interchangeable. Have you ever addressed this in an article, or do you have any tips for understanding the difference?
I do have a (short) article about this :)
https://yourdailygerman.com/common-mistake-using-mir/
It won’t cover ALL the instances, but it’ll give you an idea.
Oohh, danke schön! Aber ehrlich gesagt bin ich noch verwirrter als vorher, denk ich
Oh, my laughing emoji disappeared. I mean it only in good fun :)
Es gibt leider keine festen Regeln. Du brauchst Sprachgefühl dafür :)