When learning animal names in German, wild animals are usually beginners’ favorites because they are easy to remember – from the list of 14 wild animals below, more than half have very similar names in German, for example elephant, giraffe and camel. But forest animals are also not difficult to learn, especially when studying plural formation and pronunciation carefully.
Wilde Tiere – Wild Animals in German
One can say wilde Tiere or Wildtiere for wild animals in German. Their habitat is called the Dschungel (jungle). Learn the corresponding definite German article – der, die or das (deah, dee, duz) – along with the animal name to avoid confusion later on. Here’s a brief wild animal list in German:
- der Affe, die Affen – monkey, monkeys [Ahffah]
- der Elefant, die Elefanten – elephant, elephants [Elehfant]
- die Giraffe, die Giraffen – giraffe, giraffes [Geeraffah]
- das Kamel, die Kamele – camel, camels [Kahmehl]
- das Känguru, die Kängurus – kangaroo, kangoroos [Kangoorooh]
- das Krokodil, die Krokodile – crocodile, crocodiles [Krokodeel]
- der Löwe, die Löwen – lion, lions [Lohvah]
- das Nashorn, die Nashörner – rhinoceros [Nahzhoan]
- das Nilpferd, die Nilpferde – hippopotamus [Neelfeaht]
- der Pandabär, die Pandabären – pandabear, pandabears [Pandabaha]
- der Papagei, die Papageien – parrot, parrots [Pahpagy]
- die Schlange, die Schlangen – snake, snakes [Shlangah]
- der Tiger, die Tiger – tiger, tigers [Teegah]
- das Zebra, die Zebras – zebra, zebras [Tsehbrah]
Plural Formation of German Nouns
As one can see from the list of German wild animal names above, there are three types of plural formations:
- Nouns ending in -e form their plural by adding -n, for example: Hase – Hasen.
- Nouns ending in a consonant add -e for plural, for example: Hirsch – Hirsche.
- Loan words follow English plural formation by adding -s, for example Känguru – Kängurus and Zebra – Zebras.
Waldtiere – Animals Living in the Forest
Note that the German Igel and English Eagle might sound similar but that they are different animals, literally. For plural formation, learn exceptions like Bär – Bären, Igel – Igel and Eichhörnchen – Eichhörnchen separately. Here’s a list of most common German forest animals:
- der Adler, die Adler – eagle, eagles [Ahdlah]
- der Bär, die Bären – bear, bears [Beah]
- der Bussard, die Bussarde – buzzard, buzzards [Bussaht]
- das Eichhörnchen, die Eichhörnchen – squirrel, squirrels [Eykhoahnhien]
- die Eule, die Eulen – owl, owls [Oilah]
- die Fledermaus, die Fledermäuse – bat, bats [Fledahmouz]
- der Fuchs, die Füchse – fox, foxes [Fooks]
- der Hase, die Hasen – hare, hares [Hasah]
- der Hirsch, die Hirsche – deer, deer [Hiash]
- der Igel, die Igel – hedgehog [Eegal]
- das Reh, die Rehe – doe, does [Reh]
When studying German animal names, the following techniques will help memorize them faster:
- group the animals by their habitat
- start with wild animals as many German names correspond with English ones
- study the pronunciation help given in brackets and say the animal name out loud
- learn the article along with the noun
- study plural formation closely
Check the usage and history of German umlauts and consonant and vowel pronunciation as a reminder. Then continue with learning pets and farm animal names in German.
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