die Frau
woman
Die Frau covers three meanings that English keeps separate: woman, wife, and the title "Mrs." or "Ms.". It is feminine and takes die, and the plural is die Frauen, formed by adding -en.
Which meaning applies depends on what comes before the word. With a possessive it means wife: meine Frau is "my wife", not "my woman". With an article it means woman: die Frau dort is "the woman over there". With a surname attached and no article at all, it is a title: Frau Schmidt is how you address or refer to any adult woman in a formal setting, married or not.
That last point matters. German once used Fräulein for unmarried women, but the word is now outdated and can sound dismissive. Frau is the correct form of address for every adult woman today, which makes German simpler here than English with its Mrs., Miss, and Ms.
If you need to be unambiguous about marriage, die Ehefrau means wife specifically, and der Ehemann is the matching word for husband. Other useful compounds are die Hausfrau (housewife), die Geschäftsfrau (businesswoman), and die Frauenärztin (gynecologist).
Pronunciation: Frau is one syllable, [fʁaʊ]. The au is a diphthong that sounds like the "ow" in English "how", not like the vowel in "law". The plural Frauen adds a second syllable and comes out as "FROW-en".
Article / Gender
English
woman
Singular
die Frau
Plural
die Frauen
die Frau appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Die Frau ist freundlich.
The woman is friendly.
Simple subject–verb–adjective sentence.
Ich sehe die Frau im Park.
I see the woman in the park.
Object stays after the verb in normal word order.
Der Mann hilft der Frau.
The man helps the woman.
Helfen requires the dative case.
- What does Frau mean in German?
- Frau means "woman", "wife", or the title "Mrs./Ms.", depending on context. Die Frau is a woman, meine Frau is my wife, and Frau Müller is a form of address.
- What is the plural of Frau?
- The plural is die Frauen, formed by adding -en. There is no umlaut change: zwei Frauen means "two women".
- How do you say wife in German?
- Use meine Frau for "my wife" in everyday speech. If you need to be explicit, die Ehefrau means wife specifically and removes any ambiguity with "woman".
- Is it still correct to say Fräulein?
- No. Fräulein is outdated and can sound condescending in modern German. Use Frau for every adult woman, regardless of whether she is married.
- How do you pronounce Frau?
- Frau is one syllable, pronounced [fʁaʊ], roughly "frow" rhyming with English "how". The r is made at the back of the throat rather than rolled.