Hello everyone,
and welcome to a new episode of False Friends Explained, this time with a look at the words
sensible and sensibel
A pair that can lead to serious misunderstandings when it comes to describing people and their character.
If your coworker tells you that your new boss is extremely sensible, that’s great news.
I mean… who wouldn’t want a sensible boss, you can reason with.
If, however, your German coworker tells you the new boss is “extrem sensibel” … well… you might want to bring some tissues to the next meeting.
The Meaning of German “sensibel”
The German sensibel is not about being reasonable. Instead, it’s all about “the feels”.
And the actual translation is sensitive.
- “Warum ist Maria denn auf einmal so böse?”
“Ach die ist ein bisschen sensibel, was ihre Figur angeht.” - “Why is Maria so pissed all of a sudden.”
“Oh, she’s a little sensitive when it comes to her physique.” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich bin für Horrorfilme zu sensibel.
- I’m too sensitive for horror movies.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Thomas ist manchmal sooo unsensibel.
- Thomas is sooo insensitive sometimes.
(as in “lacks tact”)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der Workshop soll die Teilnehmer für das Thema Datenschutz sensibilisieren.
- The workshop is designed to raise the participants’ awareness/“sensitize the participants” for the topic data security.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der Job als Notarzt ist nichts für Sensibelchen. (slightly dismissive)
- The job as a doctor in the emergency room is not for sensitive plants/flowers.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
People and their feelings and character are the number one context for it but it’s also used in a broader, technical sense.
- Die Lenkung ist sehr sensibel.
- The steering is very sensitive.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Diese Creme ist für sensible Haut.
- This creme is for sensitive skin.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Saying “sensible skin” would be a typical mistake for a German speaker. I have said that myself multiple times. In my case, it’s not a mistake, though. My skin really is sensible.
Like… a few months back all these pimples spawned on my forehead so I was like “Yo skin, what’s up with the pimples. Could you stop that?” and my skin was like “Why?” and I was like ” That’s not helping me picking up women.” and my skin was just like “You have a girlfriend, remember?!?!.” That’s how sensible my skin is. So awful.
But I digress, so sensibel means sensitive. And the big question is what happened? Why don’t sensible and sensibel line up?
Why sensibel and sensible are false friends
If you want to stop hitting the wall in German – Join as a member!
As a member, you can study as much as you want and find lots of information you won’t find anywhere else. Not in class, not in a textbook and not Duolingo or Youtube.
You’ll also get pdf-download, progress tracking, note taking, comment notifications and all practice tools.
Already a member?
Log in here:
“Sensible” is only used to express that something is reasonable/makes sense.
Using “sensible” to convey “able-to-be-sensed” is archaic and NOT idiomatic.
Your example: “The tension between Thomas and Maria was sensible.” – This sounds REALLY REALLY bad, and is borderline not-understandable. If I heard someone say this, I would have to stop to think about it, and I would end up assuming they meant that it was reasonable for there to be tension between Thomas and Maria.
Noticeable, palpable, obvious, and blatant are the words we’d use in this context.
Thanks a lot for the input.
I changed the article and took out the example in question.
“sensibly” is okay, though, right?
Sensibly would also be used within the context of something practical, reasonable, etc. It may be easier to associate sensible as relating to the proverbial “common sense”–i.e, using the mind, not the “sensitive” noticeable senses of perception or detection.
What about phrases like “sensibly less secure”? I feel like I have heard the word in that context quite a bit.
That sounds to me like it’s a good idea for it to be less secure, i.e. not worth the effort or expense of being any more secure but to be honest I would wonder what you meant by it. To convey the sort of meaning you are going for the choices are many and varied. Observably, measurably, evidently, clearly, perceptibly and so on.
Sensibly will always carry the same meaning as sensible, in that the described action “aligns with common sense”.
Sensible is (in my experience) one of the falsest friends in English. My wife (who is VERY German) often misuses it when referring to perception.
It evens out in the end though. She gets LOTS of opportunities to correct my German, lol.
Although, that happens less frequently since I’ve been reading your articles!
Wegen dir, werde mein Deutsch immer besser! Dankeschön!!
*wird mein Deutsch immer besser.
Okay, not that less frequent… She corrected that one haha.
Actually, for the article that is better because it’s more consistent. I guess I’ll change that then :).
Vielen Dank!
How about “sensibly warmer”?
This just conveys that the temperature was previously stupidly cold but common sense has now prevailed and normal, sensible people have been given control of the thermostat.
If I heard this and thought the speaker was trying to convey a meaning of “noticeably warmer” then I would feel a need to point out their error in as nice a way as possible.
No Entscheidung can be “sensibel”, as in the sense of a sensitive scenario so the stakes are incredibly high? or like a touchy, highly sensitive issue?
Danke für deine Erklärung!
If you say “sensibel” for an Entscheidung that sounds like the Entscheidung involves compassion and understanding for the feelings of others.
In newspapers, that might sometimes be used in a context similar to what you described (very high stakes, lots on the line), but I would recommend not using it that way, unless you’re a native speaker, because it most often will not be idiomatic.
Hallo Emanuel,
ich habe gedacht, ”sensible skin” ist keine falsche Verwendung, weil es hier gleich wie andere ähnliche Adjektiv wie ”übel” ist. Wenn man Situation beschreibt, wird es ”üble Situation” , d.h. “el” muss “le” sein. Ich verstehe was du gemeint hast, und ich finde einfach gerade solch ein kleinen Zufall. So sieht es keinen Unterschied wenn man als Adjektiv entweder sensible oder sensibel benutzt, oder?
Danke für die Posts jede Monat, die sind sehr hilfreich!
Hi Domenica, ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob ich deine Frage verstehe. Wenn du in Deutsch “sensible” oder “üble” siehst, dann ist das im Prinzip nur eine Kruzversion von “sensibele” und “übele” die jetzt aber schon Standard ist. Es wird nicht wie in Englisch ausgesprochen.
Hilft das? Wenn nicht, sag Bescheid, dann habe ich nicht richtig verstanden :)
Achso! Du hast mich richtig verstanden. Ich habe üb”le” als die richtige Verwendung gesehen und nie gehört, dass das nur eine Kurzversion ist. Danke für deine Erklärung, Emanuel!
Hey Emanuel,
Still very much learning, so I may just not get it. But, is this a typo?
Ach die ist ein bisschen sensibel, was ihre Figur angeht
Should it be “Ach sie ist…”? Or am I missing something?
Love, love, love your site! Thank you so much!
Holly
Hey Holly, good question. Both are actually correct. Using the articles is usually done if you need to distinguish between two women. “SHE not Maggy”. If there’s no such distinction necessary (like in our case, Maria is the only woman in our context), then it can sound a little tiny bit dismissive. Very subtle but that’s why I used it here.
Hope that helps :)
Hey Emanuel,
Thanks a ton for providing me free access to your website. I am a student, virtually broke, and live in a country where $ translates into almost 70 units of local currency. I never expected that you will reply to my mail, as, your site is hugely popular, and you must be getting a lot of free access demands. But you made my day by reverting.
Your Articles are super lucid, and you explain things better than all of my professors (without charging any money to people like me). I promise you that i will master this language. You are helping me to build my career. The day i become able, i will definitely donate to this website.
Thanks,(Though its not enough!)
Abhishek
India
“Shrinking violet” is also used for someone squeamish. I think it’s vaguely related to “pansy”, but “pansy” would more likely be used by some guy whose brain in in the homophobic past and thinks the 50’s were the best time in America, when men were men. “Shrinking violet” is much, much more neutral with a very faint whiff of dismissiveness and can be used for anyone with a delicate sensibility.
“shrinking violet”
I’m confused.
A shrinking violet is someone who is extremely shy and not necessarily someone who is squeamish or easily upset.
Actually I found it quite easy to learn German (nicht so schwer)
I used this book for broad vocab: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06X1G1112 (you can just download it, [EDIT EMANUEL: it is a Kindle-E-Book and not for free]) and for the listening part I just binged through all the videos at Deutschbox https://www.deutschbox.org/(like fluentu but for free)
Here I am with Zertifikat Deutsch – Jeder kann das lernen. :D
Glückwunsch zum Zertifikat Deutsch und thanks for the links, but why is the mybook.to taking me to Amazon? Is that some sort of affiliate stunt ? Please give me some feedback on this or I will change the link to the direct Amazon-link.
Guten Tag! I wanted to say thank you to all the members who donated extra money :) it is because of you that I can join in on the learning fun!
One German question and lots of opinions on the English:
I’ve always had the impression that vernünftig has lots of other (good) connotations with it: honest, hard-working, etc. Perhaps that is just a Swissism (I’m an English speaker with 14 years in the good ole Schweiz) Is that just my cultural lens here, or does that also hold true in other parts of the German speaking world?
English votes:
Definitely delicate flower (I’ve always found pussy extremely vulgar unless you are talking about a cat, but perhaps I’m too sensibel ;)
Palpable (palpably) is an excellent, five dollar word and I would never user ‘sensibly warmer’ in my regular conversations (American, from Ohio)
Interestingly, “sensibility” in English doesn’t correspond to “sensible” in meaning – hence Jane Austen’s novel Sense & Sensibility, in which one sister is sensible (possessed of the titular sense) and the other highly sensitive (both emotionally and in terms of having exacting aesthetic standards, a.k.a. sensibilities). Apparently the German translation is called Verstand und Gefühl.
That was intended as a new comment, oops. I find “vernünftig” to have that vibe, too, though the center of gravity is definitely “sensible.” Definitely agree with “pussy” being way more offensive and vulgar than “Sensibelchen,” too.
Oh boy, why wouldn’t the author just call it “sense and sensitivity” :D
Regarding the origin of sense I was thinking about the word sensory.
sensual – of or arousing gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure.
sensory – relating to sensation or the physical senses; transmitted or perceived by the senses.
Yeah, they’re all one family. Also “to send” by the way. The very original root of the family was about “going somewhere”. The sense-branch evolved from the idea of “going with your mind”
FYI, “sensibel” is very close to the portuguese “sensível”. Both mean sensitive and are oft confused by english learners :)
And for “Die Spannung zwischen Maria und Thomas war spürbar”–We can also comment in English when the tension in the air is “palpable.”
The sentence for “das Sensibelchen”–I am reminded of the idiomatic phrase that something is not for the “faint of heart”.
Great post, as always.
“Palpable” was exactly the word I was unsuccessfully scratching around for. Yes indeed – an excellent word.
I like it, too, even though it sounds a bit like a regular word that is stumbling :D
It is a onomatopaeic transliteration of the sound a fart makes in the bathtub (apologies).
XD… if said fart is literally palpable, though then something went horrifically wrong.
(this comment thread is not for Sensibelchen)
I think delicate flowers would be the term that would convey a dismissive meaning. I’ve never heard plants used in that context. The snowflake term is used for someone who thinks they are incredibly special and unique.
I probably wouldn’t have given a second thought to sensibly warmer, but now that you mention it, it does sound kind of odd.
And would “delicate flower” also work for men, or would your sprachgefühl veto that?
It works for men especially well. It is somewhat in the same vein as a high school football coach insulting his players by calling them “ladies”. But delicate flower is not as rude.
jajaja
There’s also “sissy”, which is softer than “pussy” but still kind of gendered and derogatory of the feminine.
Something like “sensibly warmer” wouldn’t surprise me in a medical or scientific text, especially an older medical text.
And the Notarzt thing…. I’d probably say “not for the faint/weak of heart” rather than “sensitive plants”. Because then I’m confused about whether you’re redecorating the ER with some potted plants or something. But that doesn’t quite have the dismissiveness I’m assuming Sensibelchen has. Maybe “delicate snowflakes” would be more along the lines of mildly insulting. Or maybe even “delicate flowers”, but that makes me assume you’re talking about prissy girls (with nice nail polish and perfect hair and omg I can not be seen in public with my makeup like that), so it’s kind of more gendered than “delicate snowflakes”.
This may be a regionalism in rhe US, but I have never heard ‘sensitive plant’. Always ‘sensitive flower’ here in Minnesota (and the other English speakimg places i have lived).
I’m with you on ‘sensibly warmer’ Emanuel – it is certainly a useage that is alive, if not very common.
Good to know that it’s not totally out of date, so I don’t have to change the article :)
I think Lenkung should be “steering”, like a steering wheel, not “stirring” (like stirring a pot of soup)
Oops, changed it. Thanks. Now, I have a picture in my head of a chef ever so gently stirring the stew :)
Oh, now I have a picture in my head of a chef sitting in the driver’s seat of a car with a giant spoon…. So you get these too! I frequently got into trouble in school when these silly pictures would pop into my head and I’d start to giggle -“What’s so funny?” (slightly hostile). It never did any good to explain – they had no sense of humor, those early teachers. Hehe. Now I just enjoy them, and my smarta** family pesters me to tell them. Then THEY run with it…
Anyway, I was a bit puzzled by “das Sensibelchen – the sensitive plant (slightly mocking)” Maybe I just never heard “plant” used this way before, but I’m only getting a picture of a bit of new green vegetation wearing sunglasses and avoiding contact with others of its kind. I can’t remember ever mocking a plant before – does it designate some type of person?
I took it straight from the dictionary but I think I did find some examples for it in written web English. The German word is a slightly dismissive term for a person who is very sensitive. We could say “pussy”, just a bit less harsh and a bit more specific.
“Sensibly warmer” I would unambiguously take to mean “now as warm as good sense would require” but if the context was clear that it meant “perceptibly warmer” I would think either the writer does not know what “sensibly” means or else they are using an obscure alternative meaning I hadn’t come across yet.
Some differing opinions pop up below, but this is exactly how I’d perceive it.