What does “Geschwister” mean in German?

Meine Familie vorstellen: Eltern, Kinder und Geschwister

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A1 German listening practice · Standard German · Picked for people who know a little

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die Geschwister
German family umbrella word
siblings — brothers and sisters in one word

Introducing her family, Daniela says: “Das sind meine Geschwister” — three sisters, no brother. Die Geschwister is one word for brothers and sisters together, the everyday term that English “siblings” only formally matches. Ask Hast du Geschwister? and you’ve covered every combination in three words — it’s the standard question, and in daily speech the word is effectively plural-only.

German family vocabulary likes these umbrella plurals: die Eltern (parents) works the same way — a singular Elternteil exists, but it sounds like a form at the registry office. The clip drills the rest of the set: die Tochter and die Söhne, Mutter/Mama and Vater/Papa, all anchored by the question Wer gehört zu deiner Familie?

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A1 German listening practice video?

95.3%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common German words
Most of the words in this video are common German words.

How common in written German

91.3%
Top 1,000
95.3%
Top 2,000
98.3%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken German

98.8%
Top 1,000
99.4%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A1. Here is what they mean.

mhm
1×
Not in top 5,000
(expresses acknowledgment)
daniela
1×
Not in top 5,000
(proper noun) Daniela (name)
tschüss
1×
Not in top 5,000People say this a lot
bye (informal)

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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