Wann Berlin sich nicht wie Zuhause anfühlt
B1 German listening practice · German · Curated for intermediate learners
What does “anstrengend” mean in German?
Asked when Berlin stops feeling like home, the speaker describes how a hard day colors the whole city: «dann kann Berlin auch sehr anstrengend sein» (“then Berlin can be really exhausting too”). Anstrengend means “exhausting, tiring, demanding,” from sich anstrengen (“to make an effort, to exert oneself”). It covers anything that wears you out: a person, a job, a long winter.
It’s one of the most useful complaint words in German: “ein anstrengender Tag” (a tiring day), “anstrengende Leute” (draining people). Note the built-in effort, anstrengend things demand energy, unlike merely langweilig (boring). For learners it’s the everyday word for “that took it out of me.”
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B1 German listening practice listening practice?
General German frequency
Spoken German frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B1 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸German slice-of-life street interviews, like those on Easy German.
- ▸In any Berliner’s honest answer about big-city life.
- ▸German parenting and work blogs on burnout (der anstrengende Alltag).
- ▸Everyday venting about an “anstrengender Montag”.