House & Home
House & Home
English 'live' covers both your address and your existence in a place; German splits this into two different verbs, and describing rooms leans on the two-way-preposition rules you already learned.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
wohnen vs. leben — two verbs for English 'to live'
Ich wohne in Berlin. Ich lebe seit fünf Jahren in Deutschland.
I live in Berlin. I've lived in Germany for five years.
English 'live' covers both 'reside at an address' and 'be alive/exist in a place'. German splits this: wohnen is specifically about where you reside — your address, apartment, city — while leben is broader, about life itself or living somewhere in a more existential, long-term sense. For 'where do you live', always ask Wo wohnst du?, not Wo lebst du?
Rooms and 'in' + dative (static location)
Ich bin in der Küche. Das Bett steht im Schlafzimmer.
I'm in the kitchen. The bed is in the bedroom.
Since you're describing static location rather than motion, the two-way preposition in takes the dative here (in der Küche, im Schlafzimmer) — a direct application of the wo?/wohin? rule from the two-way prepositions lesson.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| die Wohnung | dee VOH-noong | apartment |
| das Haus | dahs hows | house |
| die Küche | dee KUE-kheh | kitchen |
| das Schlafzimmer | dahs SHLAHF-tsim-er | bedroom |
| das Wohnzimmer | dahs VOHN-tsim-er | living room |
| das Badezimmer | dahs BAH-deh-tsim-er | bathroom |
| der Garten | dair GAR-ten | garden |
| wohnen | VOH-nen | to live / reside |
| umziehen | OOM-tsee-en | to move (house) |
| die Miete | dee MEE-teh | rent |
| der Balkon | dair bahl-KOHN | balcony |
| die Möbel | dee MUR-bel | furniture |