Ein entspannter Shoppingtag mit Lisa in der Stadt

What does “los” mean in German?

Los is one of German’s smallest, busiest words. In the clip, Es war schon viel los means “there was already a lot going on” — the town was buzzing. On its own, los is the starting gun: Los geht’s! (“Off we go!”). And Was ist los? is both “What’s going on?” and, with a worried tone, “What’s wrong?” Same three letters, three everyday jobs.

As a verb prefix, los- means breaking away or setting off: losgehen (to get going), loslassen (to let go), loswerden (to get rid of something). It also works like English “-less” as an ending — arbeitslos (jobless), harmlos (harmless). One little word, a whole shelf of vocabulary.