schön
beautiful
Schön (beautiful, nice) is one of the first German adjectives most learners pick up, and it stretches far beyond just "beautiful". It describes a pretty face or view (eine schöne Aussicht, a beautiful view), but it also means "nice" or "pleasant" in everyday situations: ein schöner Tag (a nice day), schönes Wetter (nice weather).
The comparative is schöner (more beautiful) and the superlative is am schönsten (most beautiful). Schön also works as an adverb without any change in form: das hast du schön gemacht (you did that nicely). Watch the spelling, schön with an ö, not schon without the umlaut, which is a completely different word meaning "already".
You will hear schön constantly in fixed expressions. Danke schön (thank you very much) is one of the most common phrases in the language, and bitte schön is the polite reply when handing something over. Schönes Wochenende wishes someone a nice weekend, and na schön means "all right then" when you reluctantly agree to something.
When schön describes a noun, it takes the regular adjective endings that change with gender and case: der schöne Garten (the beautiful garden), ein schönes Haus (a beautiful house), schöne Blumen (beautiful flowers). The opposite is hässlich (ugly).
Pronunciation: "shurn" is a rough English guide, with the ö close to the vowel in English "her" without the r. The sch is the English "sh" sound, and the final n is light.
English
beautiful
Positive
schön
Comparative
schöner
Superlative
am schönsten
Synonyms
Antonyms
schön appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Das Bild ist schön.
The picture is beautiful.
Predicate adjective follows the verb 'sein'.
Sie hat eine schöne Tasche.
She has a beautiful bag.
Attributive adjective takes an ending before a noun.
Der Park ist heute sehr schön.
The park is very beautiful today.
Adverbs like 'heute' go before the predicate adjective.
- What does schön mean in German?
- Schön means "beautiful" or "nice" in German. It describes appearance (eine schöne Stadt, a beautiful city) and also pleasant experiences (ein schöner Abend, a nice evening). It appears in everyday phrases like danke schön (thank you).
- What is the comparative of schön?
- The comparative is schöner (more beautiful) and the superlative is am schönsten (most beautiful). Both follow the regular pattern: add -er for the comparative and am ___sten for the superlative.
- What is the difference between schön and schon?
- They look almost identical but mean different things. Schön with an umlaut is the adjective "beautiful" or "nice". Schon without the umlaut is an adverb meaning "already" (ich bin schon fertig, I am already done). The umlaut changes both the spelling and the meaning completely.
- What does danke schön mean?
- Danke schön means "thank you very much" and is one of the most common polite phrases in German. The reply bitte schön means "you are welcome" or "here you go" when handing something to someone.
- How do you pronounce schön?
- Schön is pronounced roughly "shurn", with the sch as the English "sh" sound and the ö close to the vowel in English "her" without the r. It is a single syllable.