die Stunde
hour
Die Stunde (the hour) is the standard German word for a unit of sixty minutes. It is a feminine noun, takes die as its definite article, and forms the plural with -n: die Stunden.
Stunde covers both literal hours and figurative time. Eine Stunde means "one hour" or "an hour", eine halbe Stunde is "half an hour", and eine viertel Stunde is "fifteen minutes". In einer Stunde means "in an hour", as in ich bin in einer Stunde da (I will be there in an hour).
Outside of pure time-keeping, Stunde often means "lesson" or "class period". In a German school, die erste Stunde is the first class of the day, and eine Englischstunde is "an English lesson". A Schulstunde is typically 45 minutes long, not a full hour, which can be confusing. The compound Sprechstunde (lit. talking hour) is what a doctor or teacher uses to mean their consultation slot.
Don't confuse Stunde with Uhr. Stunde names the duration of one hour: zwei Stunden warten (to wait two hours). Uhr points to clock time: es ist drei Uhr (it is three o'clock). They both involve hours, but they are not interchangeable.
Pronunciation: "STUN-de" with stress on the first syllable. The "u" is short, like in English "put", and the "St" is pronounced "sht" at the start of the word.
Article / Gender
English
hour
Singular
die Stunde
Plural
die Stunden
die Stunde appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Die Stunde ist jetzt zu Ende.
The lesson is over now.
Keep the subject at the start for a simple main clause.
Wir haben heute nur eine Stunde.
We have only one lesson today.
Time information comes first in the TeKaMoLo order.
Ich warte eine Stunde auf dich.
I wait for an hour for you.
Place adverbs come after manner in basic word order.
- What does Stunde mean in German?
- Stunde means "hour" in German, the standard unit of sixty minutes. In school contexts, it also means "lesson" or "class period". It is a feminine noun, so it takes die as its definite article.
- What is the plural of Stunde?
- The plural is die Stunden, formed by adding -n. This is the regular plural pattern for German nouns that end in -e, the same pattern as Tasche → Taschen (bag → bags).
- Is Stunde masculine, feminine, or neuter?
- Stunde is feminine, so it takes die. Most German nouns ending in -e are feminine, which is one of the few reliable gender rules in the language.
- What is the difference between Stunde and Uhr?
- Stunde names a duration (sixty minutes), as in zwei Stunden (two hours). Uhr names clock time, as in es ist drei Uhr (it is three o'clock). You measure how long something lasts in Stunden, but you read the time on a Uhr.
- How long is a Schulstunde in Germany?
- A Schulstunde (school lesson) in Germany is usually 45 minutes long, not a full sixty-minute hour. That is a common source of confusion for visitors who hear that a class lasts "two Stunden" and expect two full hours.