Don't use this word in Germany

[@mikethespike7579]

I sometimes address my daughter with "Fräulein" when she's done something stupid or annoyed me. She usually answers with "yes, father" instead of just "dad".

[@EllieD.Violet]

I do the same with our 3 years old - but call her 'Fräu-lein-chen', raising my voice and distinctly proncouncing each syllable. The husband does the same in French, calling her 'Ma-de-moi-sel-le'. She knows both terms spell big trouble.

[@alexanderblume5377]

@@EllieD.Violet wunderbar

[@svenjas1201]

You know what they say - in English "my dearest lady" is a loving form of address, whereas in German " mein liebes Fräulein" means you are going to die a slow and painful death by the hands of your mother 😁

[@mikethespike7579]

@@svenjas1201 I've never heard of addressing a woman with "my dearest lady", but then again, I come from near Manchester where people call a spade a spade. But I have seen letters to my wife starting with "dear madam", which is just as bad.

[@nedludd7622]

@@EllieD.Violet Also, never call a waiter "Garçcon" in a restaurant or bar in France. Second also, don't snap your fingers to get attention.

[@Klaus-tm6rw]

That's a good one: "To my cats, I am their Herrchen..." 🤣 To my own experience "Hunde haben Herrchen, Katzen haben Personal" still applies.😉

[@NicolaW72]

Yes.

[@zomfgroflmao1337]

To roughly translate the phrase: "Dogs have masters, cats have butlers."

@@zomfgroflmao1337 Roughly better: "Dogs have masters, cats have servants."

[@billycohan6975]

@roughly even better: dogs have masters, cats have staff.

[@Lampe2020]

@ I think your version of the translation is the one that sound the best.

[@ClaudeSac]

As a Dutch dude living very close to the German border, and being a very frequent visitor of the beautiful Sauerland and Eifel region, I never knew the implications of the word Fraulein! Thanks a bundle for this, I really don't want to upset my much esteemed neighbours.

[@lmyrski8385]

I'm rolling my eyes at this PC nonsense....

[@JumpingCookie95]

Nobody will ever butcher you for this. I think they would rather appreciate that you make an effort to speak their language

[@ClaudeSac]

@@lmyrski8385 ok Fraulein.

[@ClaudeSac]

@@JumpingCookie95 I suppose so. Still, learning to perfect a language also means to learn these little things. I am not even sure if I used the word Fraulein in the daily practice, but now I know a little bit more than a day ago.

[@lmyrski8385]

@@ClaudeSac Oh, I'm so offended, a clown from a insignificant nowhere called me "Fraulein." Lol! Get a set and deal with it, Nancy!

[@HalfEye79]

There was a male variant of "Fräulein". It was "Junker". But that was gone long before "Fräulein".

[@blackforest_fairy]

true

[@BangOlafson]

Junker does not come up in Wikipedia with this meaning... de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junker

[@lowenzahn3976]

​@@BangOlafson It does: "im früheren Sprachgebrauch einen Junggesellen"

[@imrehundertwasser7094]

Junkerland in Bauernhand! ;-)

[@positroll7870]

Not really. Junker is a variation of Jungherr which is a contraction of "junger Herr" in the sense of "young Lord" (heir to the title of Freiherr = Baron), not little man. That would be Männlein - as in the children song "Ein Männlein steht im Walde"

[@XxXSelenjaXxX]

The only times I was ever called Fräulein as a child was when I was doing something wrong and my parents were addressing me in a warning/scolding way....

[@zappababe8577]

Ooo, yes! I hate my proper name because of that, I usually only got called it when I was in trouble.

[@kpanic23]

I used to jokingly call the (male) innkeeper of my local pub with "Fräulein!" 🤣

[@robertnett9793]

I hope you have filled out the proper paperwork for this expression of humor. :D

[@kpanic23]

​@@robertnett9793 No worries, I've known him for 20-odd years and even worked there a couple of years. It's fine. Although his facial expression was priceless. And the whole pub was in tears laughing... But it's more or less the usual stuff happening there.

[@peterfromgw4615]

@@kpanic23 Mate, in Australia, that’s call “taking the piss”…. Only something that you can do between friends. I love the story. Tschüss aus Australien

[@エルフェンリート-l3i]

@@peterfromgw4615 In Britain this expression is also used

[@dirkschwartz1689]

In the busier localities especially in the Rheinland area it may be difficult to get the waiter's attention sometimes. I have found that placing my wallet visibly on the table often caught their attention faster than my waving hands :)

[@Mirabellism]

What about waving with the wallet? I actually do this sometimes.

[@IgorRockt]

Funny, putting your wallet of the table is normally the sign that you have finished and want to pay before you leave (at least in the part of the Rhineland I'm from ;-) ). On the other hand, having your wallet in the hand while standing at a busy bar (and normally having the arm holding it resting on the bar itself, with the hand holding said wallet often being already on the other side of the bar) is actually a sign that you are ready to order something new (And not just standing at the bar, even though you already have your drink). But when sitting at a table, it normally means "I've finished (and a bit in a hurry), can somebody come by with the bill, so I can pay and leave?".

[@redzora80]

it also works in Hamburg. If youw ant to pay. if you want to order something new, like in a bar another drink waving is ok, and sometimes when its realy packed in a pub i stand up and go to a waitress and asked her to come to our table. Anything is ok, expect snipping fingers, Fräulein, or scream through the location. like in most places its always the best to be nice and calm. Waitresses just doing there job. And the nicer you are, the more they are and don't spite in your beet ;-) Oh and don't forget to tip nice.

[@karlkoehler341]

@@IgorRocktYes but that's the point. In the US, the waiters are usually prompt with the bill. In Germany, you get some attention when you want to order and then you can spend hours because the waitstaff doesn't actually care when you leave. So putting your wallet on the table is the signal that yes, indeed, not only are the plates empty - or have been cleared off already - but you are ready to pay. Germans find the guests waving their raised hand and shouting "Herr Ober !" somewhat obnoxious in my experience.

[@tor2o099]

As someone born in 1997 I'll say that I've never used "Fräulein" in a serious situation. The only phrases that somewhat comes close to this, in modern usage, is: "Entschuldigen Sie bitte, die Dame" to address someone female, who is not paying attention to you. (Translation: Excuse me please, Madam). Though same phrase can be used with men ("Entschuldigen Sie, der Herr" / Excuse me please, Sir). Note: Even "Dame" in German is a bit antiquated here, but a reasonable indicator for serious politeness. // these just reflect my experiences here in Saxony, Leipzig - other parts of Germany may vary

[@KaiHenningsen]

Well, there's still "meine Damen und Herren" ("Ladies and Gentlemen").

[@nezahualcoyotl1135]

In Niedersachsen and NRW "die Dame" would sound massively passive aggressive, especially when used towards a young woman.

[@chrissiesbuchcocktail]

@@nezahualcoyotl1135 I think that is the case everywhere, no matter how old the woman is. It sounds very reprehensive and sulky. I would never ever use it. I would say something like: "Entschuldigung, dürfte ich kurz um Ihre Aufmerksamkeit bitten?"

[@redzora80]

Dame is old fanished but in somesituations ok. Like women standing in the way in ther Supermarket. A loud 'tschuldigung die Damen may help to get them out of the way. But in nowe days you are never sure wich gender the other prefer so better not use dame or herr oh an never use dame on women under the age of 40... makes them feel old

[@chrissiesbuchcocktail]

​@@redzora80 Ich bin 54 und möchte auch nicht mit Dame angesprochen werden. Und das hat nichts mit dem Alter zu tun. Ja - bis in die 50/60er Jahren war es einfach nur höflich es zu verwenden, aber heute schwingt da meiner Meinung nach so ein leicht arroganter oder genervter Unterton mit.

[@wohlhabendermanager]

"And now Männchen has an Umlaut, because of... reasons" Very well put. I struggle to explain to language learners why certain words do get Umlauts and others don't. The best I've come up with so far is "because.... reasons...?". Good to know people far more knowledgeable in modern langauges than me don't have a better explanation either.

[@johannageisel5390]

I think it's because of language economy. For most of these instances, the changed version is a bit easier to pronounce than the unchanged version. For example: Try to say "Fraulein" relatively quickly and it kind of changes itself towards "Fräulein". Probably has to do with the mouth shapes and tongue positions that follow the au/äu. But of course there are examples where it is not the case. "Mannchen" is not dissimilar to "manchen", which is a word we use without issue.

[@matanadragonlin]

Ah yes. German sometimes is very stupid 😁

[@kijul468]

I would say it's maybe because 'frauchen' was formed after umlaut had already taken place so that 'frāulein' underwent umlaut and 'frauchen' didn't or it could be a simple fact of analogy like in English where 'elder' and 'eldest' were umlauted and because 'old' is the base adjective and has and 'o', those umlauted forms were changed to 'older' and 'oldest'. The same thing happened with 'gilden' becoming 'golden' in analogy with 'gold' but we still retain the umlauted form in the verb 'to gild'.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

As a simple rule, regardless whether you use -chen or -lein as a dimminutive suffix, the vowel of the last syllable of the original word always becomes an Umlaut, if an Umlaut exists for said vowel (a=>ä u=>ü o=>ö au=>äu). Frauchen is one very rare weird exception to that rule that you just have to memorize. There are probably some more, but I can't think of any right now, the exceptions are really rare.

[@PunkHerr]

Männchen to distinguish form manchen, Frauchen to not mix up Fräuchen and Frühchen, maybe. In German there are very few overlaps of sounds and words because we like it clear. At least that's my theory. (Exceptions from my theory are possibly out there)

[@Paragleiber]

Doesn't English also have "miss" and "misses" for women but only "mister" for men? I thought that was the equivalent to "Fräulein", "Frau" and "Herr".

[@rewboss]

It used to be "Mr" for men, "Mrs" for married women and "Miss" for unmarried women. These days, however, it's "Mr" for men and "Ms" for women.

[@rodjones117]

There used to be "Master" for young lads - I used to get birthday cards addressed to "Master Jones" - but that pretty much completely gone now (I'm pretty old!)

[@Abcd-j9i]

​@@rewbossThere are millions of women who still prefer Mrs or Miss, despite the increasing use of Ms.

[@iykury]

@@rewboss at least in my experience in the US, "Mrs" and "Miss" are still pretty common

[@oml81mm]

It was In days long gone "Mister" for males, and "Mistress" for females. Mister was shortened to "Mr" but Mistress became either "Miss" or "Mrs" depending on marital status (I have no idea why). Recently females have taken to calling themselves "Ms" but pronouncing it as something like "Mzz" which sounds stupid. Let's go back to: Mr and Mister and Ms and Mistress

[@Merrsharr]

At 4:00 the plural in the infobox is wrong. Like, completely wrong. Probably an oversight.

[@ClaudeSac]

... but a funny oversight in any case ...

[@MalexPlayz]

The first word I was thinking about was "Radler". Maybe I should rethink my alcohol comsumption.

[@schumifannreins295]

Seeing the thumbnail I thought "Stein" for Maßkrug.

[@countzero2405]

@@schumifannreins295 I'm pretty sure there is already a Rewboss video about that.

[@SomePotato]

@@countzero2405 Jup

[@redzora80]

You should not say Radler in Hamburg. Shows that your not a local or some maybe don't even know what you want. Here its called Alster or Alsterwasser. Don't worry you wont get water out of the lake Alster...

[@ChristophS]

Apfelschorle!

[@furzkram]

Awesome. I met somebody from Argentina who's currently beginning to learn German. I'll forward your excellent explanations to them. Please keep them coming!

[@robertnett9793]

He can do this for the rest of eternity :D Like any language German has a (metric) ton of loopholes, exceptions, pitfalls and all the other good stuff :D

[@Alinor24]

@@robertnett9793 Yes. Languages are sneaky sometimes. ^^

[@Toepferle]

This has actually been one of the finer videos of lately. I felt like the humor was a bit forced in some of the other videos, but this one felt like it had some good jokes in it. Thumbs up for this one! Hoping to see more of the subtle humor in the future. :)

[@MacGuilo]

Eine herrliche Endcard, dankeschön.

[@MsPataca]

Indeed in the old days Fräulein was how unmarried women were addressed, and that was awful. I knew a couple (both of them now long deceased) who lived in a long-term relationship out of wedlock, and my mother, born 1942, would address her as "Fräulein [last name]" and him as "Herr [last name]". Terrible.

[@disobedientdolphin]

Being a german I really never thought someone would come to the idea to use this word in any situation unless he or she uses a conversation guide from the 50s.

[@powidlkm]

You are exaggerating. In order to adress a female waiter it was in use at least until the end of the eighties.

[@leviturner3265]

I do not know why it was discontinued. It was a useful word. In English we have the word Miss, and Missus. Ms. and Mrs., respectfully. These are used to distinguish between the marital status of women. There is not officially one to distinguish between the marital status of men. That being said you would generally use sir for someone that is unmarried, or presumably unmarried, and mister (Mr.) for someone that is married or presumed to be married.

[@disobedientdolphin]

@@leviturner3265 It was discontinued because it literally doesn't make sense to distinguish between unmarried women and married women but not between unmarried men and married men.

[@leviturner3265]

@@disobedientdolphin In a practical sense it does make sense. Almost always the male is the one that will pursue the female. If he knows she is married, he can look elsewhere.

[@peterclarke7240]

What the..? Ah. I think we have discovered the reason you think it makes sense. It's because you haven't realised it's not the 1970s any more.

[@Cau_No]

Das Filmchen bringt einen ja total aus dem Häuschen …

[@cebillon]

Man bestellt doch so nicht, ein Pfiff und "Hey, Du komm mal" her " ist doch ganz normal ;)

[@NicolaW72]

:-D

[@gustavgnoettgen]

"PERLE! Neue Lage!"

[@isaacbobjork7053]

In Sweden we have the equivalent Herr, Fru and Fröken No that we use those before surnames anymore, or other titles like Grevinnan (Duchess). we had the "Du-reformen" (You reform) decades ago, where persons usually are called by their first name, or du (you) if you do not know their name. Well, there are SOME titles left, usually of traditionoal posutions like prime minister or His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf

[@muffinman5741]

It's so weird to my german ears to hear scandinavians use "Du" for everyone, because it's the same word. In english it's not that hard to get used to but it will always sound funny to me hearing the word Du in contexts where that would be highly inappropriate in german.

[@FlubberFrosch]

@@muffinman5741 In fact, in today’s English everyone is addressed as “Ihr”, so to speak, since the word “You” is related to it and the corresponding word for “du”, namely “thou”, is now obsolete. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes you don’t know whether you or your group is meant.

[@rodjones117]

@@muffinman5741 In English, we don't call everybody the equivalent of "Du" - that a common misunderstanding. "You" is the polite, formal form - we call everyone "Sie" in effect. "Thou" was the equivalent of "Du", now found only in Shakespeare and old translations of the Bible.

[@rodjones117]

@@FlubberFrosch Very true - in Scottish and Irish slang "youse" is the plural, and (Southern) US English has"y'all".

[@muffinman5741]

@@rodjones117 Well "you" now means both "Du" and "Sie". It's not like you're being formal with everyone just cause you use "you".

[@chr13]

I like the German word for "meerkat": "Erdmännchen" (= "little earth/dirt man"). They're called like that because they look like little men when standing on two legs, just like dogs (that trick is called "Männchen machen"). If you want to say "male meerkat", you have to say "Erdmännchenmännchen" or "männliches Erdmännchen" (and the female equivalent is "Erdmännchenweibchen" or "weibliches Erdmännchen", but you might also come across the word "Erdmännchendame", which means "meerkat lady"). "Männchen" can also be used in other contexts, for example "Strichmännchen" means "stick man". By the way, "Weibchen" comes from "Weib", which is an old word for "woman" and isn't used anymore.

[@jlljlj6991]

Fact: the male owner of a female pet meerkat is called a Erdmännchenweibchenherrchen.

[@Merrsharr]

"Weib" is still used, but is considered an insult

[@fonkbadonk5370]

@@Merrsharr Whereas the adjective "weiblich" is usually quite neutral, or even praising when used to describe a human's appearance. It's funny how things work out sometimes.

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Also, "Weibchen" means "female individual" when talking about animals. "Weiblich" however means "female" for humans, animals or things in general, like "männlich" for "male". Fun fact: many centuries ago the word "Mensch" meant "girl" wich was later replaced by "Mädchen" (from "Maid"). "Mensch" was a diminutive form of "Man(n)", the latter used to mean "human".

[@thegeckobrothers]

I also like to think about the diminutiv. So when there is an Erdmännchen there should be a bigger Erdmann :D Like Eichhörnchen and the big Eichhorn.

[@wookie2222]

I'm the Herrchen of my cat and am sometimes calling her "Fräuleinchen" in a very specific tone to make clear that she crossed her borders. It never works. She doesn't even look at me. She would be a great waitress.

[@HotelPapa100]

Yep. It seems to be a skill ingrained in waiting staff to be able to ignore the attempts of patronage to catch their attention.

[@argyrendehringterimksaccu174]

Lolz herrscher god hi3

[@miskatonic6210]

Maybe because she knows german grammar better than you, because that's not a word.

[@HotelPapa100]

@@miskatonic6210 It is now.

[@wookie2222]

@@miskatonic6210 Where I'm from it is. ;)

[@kingjulian1202]

you asked what a diminutive suffix is, and I just looked through the whole Wikipedia page of German diminutive suffixes... thanks for teaching me things about my own language...

[@ghislainedefeligonde5166]

I love your language education videos, though I feel old now, haven't heard "Fräulein" for about 30 years now.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

I have just re-watched this video, and I found it informative. I have seen this word be used in a few different films (mostly set in old times, some set in the modern day, and all made in the USA), but thanks to this video, I know why _actual_ Germans don't use it themselves! Thanks for the video!

[@hallo17184]

Meine Großtante Baujahr 1920 hatte nie geheiratet und bestand Zeit ihres lebens darauf als Fräulein angesprochen zu werden

[@pepemod]

Ähnlich eine sehr liebe Ex Kollegin. Schon lange verstorben. Aus wohlhabendem Hause, wie man so schön sagte....

[@jolotschka]

An equivalent to Fräulein was once junger Mann also in the meaning of new in the job. Nowadays more used in a friendly mocking way. Especially when a mature age timed woman calls a senior man that. :-). Another equivalent existed in France where you once called the waiter garçon which means boy. In the Philippines Kuya meaning elder brother is a very nice term.

[@blackforest_fairy]

Junker

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

Actually, 'garçon' does also mean 'waiter'

[@nlpnt]

@@blackforest_fairy A contraction/elision of "jung Herr", I'd guess. The Dutch variation of it was further elided into a placename - Yonkers, New York.

[@BrutPequ]

I am German and still .. always learning something new with you. Thanks!

[@SomePotato]

Growing up long after Fräulein fell out of use, I was quite surprised to learn how common Mademoiselle is in France to this day.

[@Abcd-j9i]

Miss is still common in the Anglosphere.

[@SomePotato]

@Abcd-j9i And senorita in the Spanish speaking world.

[@londubh2007]

I studied German in high school back in the 1980's. Didn't learn it very well and forgot it for decades until I decided to re-learn it and continue learning it two years ago. I noticed right away Fräulein was no longer being used in German for the same reason we don't use Miss in the US anymore (or aren't supposed to).

[@rodjones117]

In the UK, "Miss" is pretty much only ever used by pupils addressing a female teacher at school.

[@yourmum69_420]

since when is miss bad??

[@embreis2257]

1:39 in the video he sounds as if there never was something similar in English. the distinction between _Ms_ and _Mrs_ when writing a letter to a woman was still in use much later than the 1972 change in offical German

[@alfonsneumann1878]

I like this clip and your channel overall. Having once worked in Australia it's really funny to watch someone with insight into both cultures. Have you ever thought of a video about foreign words hijacked into German? Like bodybag for instance, which meaning slightly differs in both languages ...

[@racoozespeedruns]

It's funny to get your videos sometimes on the first page on youtube. Me as a german I can say that's absolutely true with "Fräulein" in most parts. I wasn born 1989 in the GDR and after I came to school we used the title for maybe about one or two years so until 1998/1999 because I remember we had a Teacher which we had to call "Fräulein Pohl". But that's it. Sometimes some old people say it and people accept it because you cannot change everyone language especially when they already used it over decades. I remember the time when my older sister made my parents anger and they said "Mein junges Fräulein..." oh boy I hope I don't gonna use it when i have a daughter.

[@0xbenedikt]

I'd totally still use it in this particular case

[@Danny30011980]

In English this does still exist. Very weird to select if you fill something in Mr./Mrs./Ms. Miss? (whereof I don't quite get the difference between Ms. and MIss). In German I know only know of one case where this is still used - when mums or dads lift their index finger and say it in a sharp tone to reprimand their daughthers if they so something they're not supposed to 😀

[@dansattah]

To my understanding, "Ms." or "Miss" is the most recent of the three and is supposed to be used when the marital status of the woman is unknown or irrelevant.

[@jamworth6125]

@@dansattah Ms. is for unknown or irrelevant, Miss is for unmarried. They're not the same, Ms. is pronounced miz

[@araeobskvrae]

Very well explained! Those ways of adressing waiters were very accurate! :D I've been learning Icelandic for a couple of years and it appears as if pretty much the same thing has happened to the term Ungfrú, literally young woman. When I first saw this word, I thought it might also mean virgin because of its similarity to the German term Jungfrau, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[@robertnett9793]

That's the beauty of living languages. Perhaps the word meant 'Jungfrau' once - or some precursor word was used by both. But over the generations the meaning shifted slowly - creating two similar but distinct words :D

[@blackforest_fairy]

well it is related. very long time ago a young unmarried woman was called jungfrau in german. in the middle ages Frau und Fräulein meant as much as Lady and young lady and were only ment for noble woman. a married woman was refered to as weib (which is related to the english wife) and a young unmarried woman was refered to as jungfrau though i am not sure if the were also adressed as such.

[@redzora80]

@@blackforest_fairy the old time word for unmarried noble women where Jungfer . Like alte Jungfer wich would be spinnster in english. Wich of course indicates that they are virgin (jungfrau). because as a women in that time beeing not a virgin at the day you married, lowers the price or is damaged good. so no matter wich way. It dosent fit in modern times

[@blackforest_fairy]

@@redzora80 Jungfer is just a informal almost offensive form of Jungfrau.(just as the alte Jungfer you mentioned is offensive). In the formal way it was Jungfrau.

[@sk.43821]

@@blackforest_fairy In movies related to middle ages, castles, knights and ladies they often use "Jungfer XY" when talking about a person. Why do they use Jungfer, not Jungfrau?

[@GameCyborgCh]

small mistake @4:00 the plural of Männchen isn't Weibchen

[@christianeniemann7790]

Thank you Andrew. I (native German from the Frankfurt area with a not so nice dialect which I came to love the older I got) learn so much about my language, culture and country by watching your always very interesting videos. You really do a great job. Additionally, I fell in love with the way you speak. To my German ears it‘s a beautiful English which I can easily understand. Also, your hidden humour and the „faces“ you show are hilarious. Once again: thank you so much.

[@Yotanido]

I think the -chen suffix almost always changes a vowel, if a vowel that can change exists. Frauchen is just a really odd one. Brötchen Röschen Häuschen Häschen Türchen Gläschen ... Though to be fair, Fäuchen is kinda hard to pronounce, so I can see why it became this way.

[@ChristophS]

Diminutif

[@jlljlj6991]

The -chen and -lein really are a bit odd. They still have some of their umlauting potential, even with more recent loans, though all of these are ad-hoc forms and probably can also be umlautless. It seems the tendency is stronger with short vowels than with long ones: • Autochen vs. *Autöchen • ?iPodchen vs. ?iPödchen (I think both are OK) • Briochelein vs. Briöchelein (my tendency is towards an umlaut here) • Diminutive of (storage) "cloud"? I would accept "Ich hab das in meinem kleinen /kloidchen/ gespeichert". Car makes are also fun to think of: • Renaultchen or "Renö-chen"? • Peugeotlein? I would never put an umlaut there, but that is probably because there already is one.

[@NicolaiCzempin]

The vowel change from Tür to Türchen 😉

[@Yotanido]

@@NicolaiCzempin fair :)

[@DolphinInspiration]

"Fräuchen" does exist but it's quite outdated and perhaps a Rhenish thing. My granny used it very often. It means the same as "Fräulein", young woman.

[@blahfasel2000]

Completely missed the word "Männlein" as the original male equivalent of "Fräulein" (although with the difference that "Männlein" was never used as a formal form of address). Most Germans probably know the children's song "Ein Männlein steht im Walde", although not many know that it was written by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the same guy who wrote what later became Germany's national anthem, "Das Lied der Deutschen".

[@benk932]

True. And there is also 'Weiblein'. But I've never seen it as a standalone term but together with 'Männlein' (Männlein und Weiblein) It's an old fashioned way to jokingly talk about the two sexes.

[@NicolaiCzempin]

From memory: Ein Männlein steht im Walde, ganz still und stumm. Es hat vor lauter Purpur ein Mäntlein um. Seht, badappa diedadum, Bie, badaba biebelbum. Lalalala laha la da Dings, da, bums!

[@chrisrudolf9839]

The Männlein in that riddle song is meant to be a little man (as in smaller than a human man, not a young or unmarried man). Männlein was never used as a term for unmarried men. Back in the days of nobility, an unmarried son of a nobleman would have been called "der junge Herr" (the young master), but even that was not tied to his marriage status, but to the fact that he was merely a heir to the title, not the holder of the title.

[@Dumbo8234]

The only appropriate use I can think of is when addressing a misbehaving child.

[@Kordanor]

Yeah, I think in this context it's still being used.

[@jhonbus]

Particularly if the child's name is Maria.

[@ThomasBensler]

works best for boys

[@Kordanor]

@@ThomasBensler Funny enough, the equivalent use for a boy would probably be "Mein Freund". Like "So nicht, mein Freund!" or "So nicht! Fräulein!"

[@blackforest_fairy]

@@Kordanor i know it as jungchen which means little boy

[@michaelkotthaus7120]

Great information. Having not been too often in German restaurants or pubs the last two years, I nearly forgot how I normally ask for the waitress or the waiter. I think a neutral "Hallo, Bedienung, bitte" is still acceptable, if the non-verbal efforts to call anybody from the staff have been failed for a few times. So, I am just wondering what would be less polite: to call a waitress "Bediengung", "Fräulein" or even "Mädchen" (girl). By the way: in my French lessons I learned that a waiter is called with "garçon". Is there some native French(wo)man who can tell me if this polite? Or is this the same thing, but other language. ... Now, I remember what I generally do when I am overlooked by the waitress: I stand up, go to her and ask her kindly if she may want to come to our table.

[@juwen7908]

Normally you just have to make eye contact by raising your hand and say "Entschuldigung, die Rechnung bitte." ("Excuse me, the bill please.) Greetings from Berlin 😎

[@Star-Blink]

There is a version for unmarried man. That word is the not widely known "Junker". Today it is only used in the military for the Rank of "Fahnenjunker"

[@KaiHenningsen]

Junker was originally a noble honorific, maybe like "gentleman"? Certainly not a diminuitive.

[@Star-Blink]

@@KaiHenningsen according to Wikipedia, it's also an old saying for Bachelor. But yes, it's also for the nobles and Roylaty, wich have no other title. There are many meanings for just one word. :3

[@Lia-zw1ls7tz7o]

@@KaiHenningsen it was also used for knights. That’s why Martin Luther used the alias Junker Jörg (Knight George) to travel while being persecuted.

[@ReinholdOtto]

Being unable to catch the waiter's eye - that is tricky. German waiters developed the "Kellnerblick", a way to avoid looking at anyone particular.

[@johannageisel5390]

In that case, you may bring out the "Gänsefleisch ma hergomm!?"

[@rainer-martinhartel4310]

Always enjoy your topics and listen to your nice English :-)

[@blackraveness]

I felt very angry and offended as a child or teenager, when I received post from my local bank and they adressed me always as "Fräulein"(they regulary invited me to bring my money to my children bank account and get small presents and a comic) That was in the 80s and early 90s. I always told my mom, that I'm not a Fräulein, I'm a Frau, I'm not less just because I'm young or not married. If there would have been a male counterpart "Herrlein" I wouldn't have been so offended. My mom was always like:"Oh no, you aren't a real woman yet, you are still a child." This was making me even more angry. The bank stopped using this and adressed me as Frau on my 18th birthday, I think. Today no female child is adressed with this any more. As a foreigner you also should know "Fräulein" is also used by parents or family to adress you, when you have done something bad. To let you know:"Oh no, I'm really in trouble" For example:"FRÄULEIN Müller, komm sofort hier her!" means:"MISS Miller, come here immediately" Using this word today have still this feeling of being scold or of talking down on you.

[@louisgray3479]

I also like the regional diminutives. Every Dialect seems to have their own. Here in Swabia it's "-le", in Bavaria it's "-el", the Swiss Germans use "-li" and in the north they use "-ling" apparently. So for example the English word 'muesli' comes from German "Müsli". "Mus" means something like 'mush, puree', so "Müsli" is Swiss German for 'little puree'. The Name of the Swabian dish of "Spätzle" means something like 'little sparrows' ("Spatz"='sparrow') and is sometimes associated with the legend of the sparrow of Ulm. (although the names origin might not be related to sparrows at all).

[@leDespicable]

In Bavaria it's "erl", not el. At least here in the southern parts :P

[@nirfz]

@@leDespicable Same for .at

[@HelmutQ]

The Swiss and otherwise alemanic dimunitiv is not meant so much about making things smaller or dearer but to get rid of genders. Dimunitives are always neutral, whether lein, le, li, erl, chen. In fact it is DAS Mädchen. In the dialect of my wife men and very young female are referred to as "es" it. Sie is reserved for women in a postion of respect, e.g. mothers grannies aunts. Daddy might still be "es". Probaby a matriarchical society. Also mothers are address in the honorific "ihr" daddies as Du. Going up north the western german speaking border gramamtical gender is more and more depreciated to end up with Dutch where it is substantially gone. In fact in Swiss the dimunitive does not sound kinder in the ears of the locals but only in the ears of Germans

[@annaapple7452]

@@HelmutQ We still have them in the lowlands! It is just that masculine and feminine are mostly indistinguishable in their grammatical use in Dutch, unless you refer to the word and have to come up with "hij" or "zij". Most people would need a dictionary to know which one it should be. Then of course we have the neutral words where "the" becomes "het", which has its own grammar rules. Also, same as in German, all words with a diminiutive ending turn neutral, for example "het meisje" (the girl).

[@rodjones117]

@@HelmutQ I didn't understand this dialect way of avoiding gender at first, but actually it's a great help if you're not a native speaker, and confused by der, die, das... btw in Franken it's -la, eg Faessla, a barrel.

[@svenjas1201]

Thank you! Your videos are very interesting and I really like your style! I am a native speaker but there is so much you can teach me about the German language 😄 I wish teachers in school would make their lessons more like this and not spend all the time in German lessons debating small details in poems or making students learn poems by heart - interesting to know a lot about literature, for sure, but this type of knowledge is so much more helpful and informative! So thanks again and please continue with your videos! Greetings from Hamburg!

[@StellaCrowley]

That's so interesting - in Switzerland, or at least where I'm from - "Fräulein!" is the norm for calling over a waitress. We definitely don't use it instead of Frau for unmarried women, though.

[@79iGEL]

Are you here to remind me of my prejudices about Swiss people? 🤣

[@AP-lc5ys]

@@79iGEL I like to spend my Hollidays in Berner Oberland. Here the waitresses are sometimes called "Serviertochter", doughter who serves the guests.

[@StellaCrowley]

@@AP-lc5ys That is what we call them, but if you want their attention you do say "Fräulein!"

[@StellaCrowley]

@@79iGEL Not at all but I am very curious what those could be

[@rookmaster7502]

Time moves slower in Switzerland.

[@cbwilson2398]

rewboss videos are gold!

[@euansmith3699]

Herrlein is normally preceded with the word, "receding".

[@drsnova7313]

I think whether "Fräulein" is still acceptable will vary very much depending on where you use it, and how old you are. No-one is going to correct (or mind) grandpa in his local village pub calling a waitress that. Expect a good bit of backlash when used by a mid-twenty-something in a hip vegan café in Berlin. I've definitely heard it being used many times, but, yes, basically, just don't use it anymore.

[@leviturner3265]

It is basically just the German version of the word miss (Ms.). Miss (Ms.) = Fräulein. Missus (Mrs.) = Frau. Sir = Herr. Mister (Mr.) = Herr.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Aha.. in some dialects around Trondheim In Norway a girl is called /vɛʲç/ (not quite sure of the vowel symbols) no idea how they spell it but it's probably a cognate or a borrowing of "weibchen" that have lost the "-en" ending.

[@blackforest_fairy]

long time ago there was a special way to adress unmarried man... it was the word Junker... but it has not been used anymore for a really long time...

[@chrisrudolf9839]

The general rule is that if vowel in the last syllable is a vowel that can become an Umlaut (a, o, u, au), it always becomes an Umlaut in the dimminutive form, regardless whether you use -chen or -lein as a suffix. Frauchen is one of the very few irregulars. I don't know the reason, but I suppose it's because that word was created relatively recently (late 19th or early 20th century) and was delibertely made to sound different from Fräulein, which was back then still in use. The word Frauchen is also odd for using the suffix -chen at all. Normally, words that end with a vowel are paired with -lein rather than -chen.

[@Aarongoldfein_]

If you are sitting in a restaurant as an english speaking person, you can use the word "Fräulein" and noone will harm you for that. Women working as a waitress knows how you use that word and dont want to offend them.

[@goldenheart3887]

Also, note for non-German speakers based on the comments of this video: Calling your daughter“Fraülein” is basically the German equivalent of American parents using their kid’s full name to let them know that they’re in _big_ trouble. I say this as someone who oddly enough, never really went through this growing up; my parents just used my full name on me for trivial things such as “calling me down for dinner”. I never got a legit full-name ultimatum, in the sitcom standard, used on me until I was _19._ And I remember that moment fairly well because before, during, and after it I was absolutely *spiraling* into guilt-ridden talk of baobabs (I was reading The Little Prince at the time) and my closest companion on Discord got me out of it and was very, very confused when they opened up their messages and saw tree emojis everywhere.

[@hendrikplumer6814]

Spot on as usual. The last person of my acquaintance to regularly use the word Fräulein was my ex boss in the mid-nineties. And she was a very conservative one.

[@santas_claws]

That scene during the credits was very well done

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

One day I had the task of having to answer a very, very old-fashioned letter from the authorities. The child support agency wrote many (silly) questions about a father who died before the child was born. After the first letter of reply, the authorities did not rest, but wrote again with questions about when the child last saw the (deceased) father, whether there was contact via Facebook, WhatsApp or SMS. To top off the bad behavior, the office signed the letter "Meier" (a surname; no first name and no title). This is how letters were written fifty years ago. I couldn't help but answer the other side "Sehr geehrtes Fräulein Meier, sehr geehrte Frau Meier, sehr geehrtes Diverses Meier, sehr geehrter Herr Meier" ("Dear Miss Meier, dear Mrs. Meier, dear Diverses Meier, dear Mister Meier") to annoy the person back. "Diverses" means that the person does not define themselves as male or female.

[@harmless6813]

"Sehr geehrtes Meier" hätte es doch auch getan. ;)

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Das wäre noch das mindeste was ich zurückgeschrieben hätte. Formulierungen ähnlich wie: "Was an "VOR DER GEBURT GESTORBEN" war nicht verständlich?!!!" hätten auch recht wahrscheinlich ihren Weg in meine Antwort gefunden.

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

@@Quotenwagnerianer Actually the man is missing (probably in action -- that's what you say if a soldier disappears during war?). So the child never saw him. German authority asked for proof of his death, which is impossible due to the huge amount of people killed in that war - between 19,000 and 100,000. The state did not bother to register or recover the dead. Therefore, the death is not officially certified. Nothing in that state is state-certified, or if it is, it has been corrupt-certified. Sure, I told this in my first reply. But the authority came up with "what was his cellphone number and when did you talk to him?" "Send us hardcopies of his facebook page" and so on. The questions put a great strain on the young woman and she cried. That's why I took on the task. To me, this is an example of inhuman behavior.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

@@galdavonalgerri2101 "Actually the man is missing (probably in action -- that's what you say if a soldier disappears during war?). So the child never saw him." Well that's not what you originally said. With that information it makes the reaction of the authorities clearer. Nontheless I'd still have responded as described. ;)

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

@@Quotenwagnerianer You have to know that this is an orthodox family, in which the responsibility for the family is very high. A husband would never leave his pregnant wife. In connection with the simultaneous war, only one logical explanation remains for the disappearance. Of course, everything had been known for over twenty years and was communicated to all German authorities. The unexpected difficulty was that the job center suddenly asked the woman to apply for child benefit as an orphan. Then the father's disappearance was suddenly questioned. A completely senseless escalation, because on the one hand no child support payments could be collected from the African continent (apart from the fact that the monthly income there is only a ridiculously small part of a German income), on the other hand there is no registration office there and it is hopeless to try to find a person . In the absence of a birth certificate, not even the exact spelling of the name is known - not to mention the date of birth. It was so clear that there was no point in trying to find the man.

[@tungurahua8257]

To my cats I am not their Herrchen, but their servant whose only task it is to feed them and to clean their litterboxes.

[@kpanic23]

The correct term is "Dosenöffner" ("can opener")

[@KaiHenningsen]

Yes. Dogs have a "Herrchen". Cats have a "hey you!".

[@Ul.B]

Well, as the saying goes: dogs have masters, cats have staff.

[@hypatian9093]

Cats don't have Herrchen or Frauchen - they have Dosenöffner. btw: Another lovely jumper :)

[@lindacowles756]

G'day, hypatian! I'm learning some German words for things I buy at the shops and recently, I bought an electric can opener. When I Googled the German word for "can opener", it came up "Dosenöffner".

[@antred11]

I grew up in the GDR, and we still had several female teachers in 1987 that referred to themselves as "Fräulein", so the GDR seems to have lagged behind social conventions there.

[@johannageisel5390]

Nah, in 1987 it just was still relatively common to use that word. Even in the west.

[@cattleyard]

In primary school in the 1980s our teacher (who initially was from another state) was really offended when someone called Herr Fräulein and even gave someone detention who kept doing it. First when another teacher explained her that this is how female teachers where traditionally addressed in the Palatinate, she relaxed a bit.

[@Daniel-fr3us]

3:57 Plural von Männchen ist Weibchen?

[@DrZaius3141]

The closest you can get in English that's a diminuating suffix would be "-let". As in "piglet", "hamlet", "chicklet".

[@Sleeping_Insomiac]

Just a small correction: While you may think of yourself as your cats' "Herrchen", to them you are most likely their "Herr Ober"...

[@antred11]

And trust me, if they could they would definitely call you Fräulein, too. :D

[@HagenvonEitzen]

Finally a neat and comprehensible explanation of when to use umlauts :)

[@jankrusat2150]

A female classmate in secondary school back in the late 1970s told a teacher, who used the word "Fäulein" that then the bos should be called "Männlein", like in garden gnome. The word is still sometimes used in a sarcastic sense when scolding a female child or teenager.

[@geogecko137]

"Das Männchen", "Die Weibchen" (Plural für Männchen? xD) guess that's a typo but it caught me off-guard lol Also: don't forget to address that "Weib" is also not acceptable anymore >.>'

[@positroll7870]

Weib is still fine in Swabian and Bavaria dialect ...

[@johannageisel5390]

"Weib" has gone through the euphemism treadmill, through which "Frau" and even "Dame" are just going too. Originally, "Weib" meant "woman while "Frau" meant "woman of high social status". But then, people have started using "Weib" in a derogatory manner, so that you had to start using "Frau" in order to show even basic respect. Nowadays, "Frau" means just "woman", and "Dame" is "woman of high social status". But even that slowly changes. How often have I heard the word "Dame" used in a derogatory way! The words "Magd" and "Dirne" went through similar processes. Both meant simply "girl" at some time, but now the first means "female servant" and the second "prostitute". I assume it's because women aren't respected in society, so every word that simply means "woman" can be used in a derogatory way. And then you have to use the next euphemism to address a woman without it sounding respectless.

[@chrisrudolf9839]

@@johannageisel5390 The development was actually the other way round. When the difference of social standing by birth (Stände), i.e. the difference between commoners and nobility was officially abolished, the terms that formerly were reserved for nobility were now used for everyone and the old terms morphed into being disrespectful (respectively they have already been used as terms of disrespect before towards members of nobility. A young noblewoman who behaved in a vulgar or morally questionable way would be called "Dirne" as a slur to express she behaved like a filthy bad-mannered peasant.) You have the same development for "Herr", which also originally was an adress reserved for nobility.

[@janina1014]

My grandma always my brother her "Jungchen" just to throw that into the mix. Also I only got called "Fräulein" as a warning. I'm not sure if any of those were regional.

[@marna_li]

I remember watching a Swedish comedy film (in a series of films actually) about Swedes going on vacation. This one, the second film, was set in a fictional German-speaking town called Katzberg, in Switzerland?, where a lot of Swedes go on vacation for skiing. The inhabitants there complains about all the foreigners coming there. A set of characters apart from the main characters were a family headed by a self-important man, a CEO I think, who stubbornly wanted to order ice for his drink at a restaurant they are at: "Herr Ober! Eis, bitte!", he says repeatedly, And the waiter/owner of the place gets enough. He goes to the roof of a shed and breaks off a big chunk of ice which he then hands over to the rude Swedish man, like "Here you go!". The mans wife later went of having exchanges with the owner bordering to romance, leading to her husband becoming jealous and trying to prove himself.

[@billh230]

Heh. my favorite no-longer-used word is "gnadige'. I used it in reference to a KZbinr, and she replied back that was old fashioned and embarrassing to her. However, I used it with a much older woman from Berlin (we were in a nursing home together), and her response was very different. She was surprised that anyone even knew that word, much less would use it today. She responded with "Gnadiger Herr".

[@embreis2257]

nowadays, _gnaedigste_ is only ever used in exasperation to a very tiring, taxing and hard-to-please woman after you've given up trying to get along with her. you might address a distinguished 80yrs+ woman as _gnaedige frau_ once as a much, much younger person who rendered services to her (e.g. as handyman) but that's about it

[@powidlkm]

Actually the word is (adjective) gnädig

[@CrusherBKC1]

3:48 bei der Mehrzahl von *das Männchen* hat sich in die Grafik ein kleiner Fehler eingeschlichen^^

[@ddm_gamer]

1:33 Theres a mistake with the german subtitles: The second part in qoutations shouldve been "Frau Schmidt" and not "Fräulin Schmidt" again.

[@SportIce]

in French there is something similar with garçon for waiter. In school I was taught to use garçon (boy), while in an actual restaurant you always use monsieur (mister), because of roughly the same reason.

[@jannetteberends8730]

When the video ends the suggested video was a picture of rewboss with the words “what did you say?” Sometimes life is good

[@MrBauchnabbel]

In Switzerland "Frölein" is still in use for waitresses. Funny enough, this is a lent diminuitive, as the swiss version is -li, so Fraueli would be the dimuitive version, which it indeed is. In other words, these etymological thoughts are fine, but reality is that general use overrules all the logical rules you may make up in theory.

[@kaufmann280566]

Again, that was a good job. 😊👍

[@lowenzahn3976]

♫ Ein Männlein steht im Walde Ganz still und stumm, Es hat von lauter Purpur Ein Mäntlein um. Sagt, wer mag das Männlein sein, Das da steht im Wald’ allein Mit dem purpurrothen Mäntelein? ♫ ♫ Das Männlein steht im Walde Auf Einem Bein Und hat auf seinem Haupte Schwarz Käpplein klein. Sagt, wer mag das Männlein sein, Das da steht im Wald’ allein Mit dem kleinen schwarzen Käppelein? ♫

[@u.s.1974]

Und damit erschöpft sich auch der Gebrauch von Männlein. Allerhöchstens noch als liebevolle Ansprache für den Sohnemann. Und damit it dann auch wirklich Schluß.

[@NicolaiCzempin]

Ah, danke, ich hab's nicht mehr zusammengekriegt 😂

[@Ink_25]

At 1:37 the German subtitles contain an error, using "Fräulein" for both the wrong way and the right way to say it

[@pocketdynamo5787]

I've been to a cafe recently, where the waitress told me that "Fräulein" is actually still used by a surprising number of guests, even younger ones. But it is considered offensive by most, that's right. Apart from that, I wasn't aware that the plural of "das Männchen" is "die Weibchen" (3:57). Thanks, I learned something new today! ;)

[@blackforest_fairy]

everything turnes female in the plural form in german 😉

[@Yzmo]

Männchen can refer to some kind of.. little man. Like a small wooden toy in the shape of a man. Weibchen is really only used to denote the female sex in animals.

[@Nikioko]

Typical copy & paste error and hence proof of laziness. ;-)

[@yunzhang864]

I think that's just a copy and paste error. I got confused and looked it up in duden, and it says the plural just stays Männchen

[@Baccatube79]

@@Yzmo Weibchen is also the female part in cable joints (cinch etc)

[@dvv18]

Also, I'm pretty sure I've seen textbooks suggesting "Bedienung!" as a way to draw a waiter's or waitress's attention. Does it work in real life?

[@ardenitalia]

It works, but they may spit in your drink. Looking a waiter in the eyes and making that small gesture is allways the thing to do if possible. I've had one server who even told me "My name is not Entschuldigung."

[@ppd3bw]

It does, but is not used often. Sounds quite formal to my ears. "Hallo" should work well.

[@OleJanssen]

Yes. And you probably also won't offend anyone. But the usual procedure is actually pretty much like he showed in the video, so raising your hand and making eye contact with the waiter/waitress is always the safest option.

[@kieferngruen]

That is technically correct, but to be honest I have never heard anyone use it in real life. I would argue that it sounds very old fashioned and even patronizing as well. The best and most common option is the slightly raised hand and nod Andrew suggested in the video.

[@blackforest_fairy]

beeing a waitress: yes it does work but .... only do it if you want the waiters and waitresses to hate you. it makes u seam like an arogant a**hole.

[@post_metro]

It is also outdated to call a waiter "Herr Ober". You can still find it in some of the textbooks used for teaching German.

[@MrWurschtl]

In Austria, Fräulein is typically to call a waitress. For a not married woman it is officially not used anymore, however for a young woman, it is still used.

[@Jefff72]

I think it's funny how US rock bands have used Umlauts to sound tough when it's used in German to make words sound süß (cute).

[@TheDrake1066]

Right! Mötörhead always makes me chuckle because it sounds so silly.

[@phosphoros60]

Going to make a guess now not having lookes at the comments, vefore the start of the Video.... : "Fräulein" Hah, knew it! Incidentally, I was told by a Peruvian man once, that he found this quite funny - in Peru and much of the Spanish-speaking world, women often insist on being adressed as 'Senorita' rather than 'Senora' _even if_ they are married. It makes them sound younger is the way he explained it, so of course when he visited Germany for the first time - I expect this would have been in the eighties or nineties - he was quite surprised that here it's the other way around.

[@genau14zeichen]

I've never seen an end scene so relatable 😂 trying to catch the server's attention (while my friends are giggling at my pathetic attempts to do so)

[@moritzheintze7615]

You got it: "Fräulein" was deleted from official use *50 years ago!* I remember, then a school, there was quite a debate over the topic. In Germany it would have been difficult to miss it.

[@HalfEye79]

In the captions was the text to never use "Fräulein" but everytimes "Fräulein". So what? I think, that might be a mistake.

[@blackforest_fairy]

the term you should use is Frau without ä and without lein.

[@ccityplanner1217]

It's quite clearly a calque of the French "mademoiselle".

[@moatl6945]

The Master Craftsman's Diploma of my mother from 1970 (she married in 1974) is issued to _Fräulein…_ Omitting the _»Fräulein«_ was in 1972, and I learned these days that omitting this wasn't popular for especially for some elderly single woman these days, because marriage would have meant to give up some rights - especially to go to work without permit of the husband. So the »title« of »Fräulein« was something special to them. I can remember to argue toe mother of my father to complaining about to argue that she had to quit her job at the Reichsbahn (a little later known as Deutsche Bahn in West Germany) when she had to marry because she was pregnant with my father…

[@blackforest_fairy]

well others argue that calleing an unmarried woman different then a married woman would mean that a unmarried woman stands below a married woman in status. And that only a married woman could be seen as a complete Person. therefore the popular opinion is that the therm Fräulein is sexist.

[@imrehundertwasser7094]

@@blackforest_fairy Quite a few elderly unmarried women from many decades ago didn't think it was sexist, they liked the title. But obviously, times have changed.

[@JohnDoe-ps4kx]

the real german way of catching the attention of the waiter or waitress is impatiently shouting "HALLO!"

[@IsomerSoma]

Your parody of german social awkwardness is excellent :D

[@zappababe8577]

I would have never guessed this! I would have assumed it was polite because you were saying the lady looked young, like "mademoiselle" in French.

[@NeverLoveNiila]

So how is it with the use of Miss and Misses in English?

[@tillappelhans4985]

How is it done in English? Isn't there a Mrs / Ms (Misses/Miss) difference?

[@rzeka]

Are the suffixes -lein and -chen still productive? For example, if someone comes up with a new invention and coins a new word for it, will adding those suffixes to that word sound natural to a German speaker?

[@rewboss]

Yes, absolutely.

[@jlljlj6991]

It's not just new inventions, loans from other languages are the primary source of new words 😀 You can even throw in an umlaut every now and then on them. Particularly vowels followed by consonants are often OK to be umlauted. "Smartphönchen" sounds fine to me.

[@geotropa1043]

My experience: In standard german, (Hochdeutsch) only "chen" is still being used. Whreas "lein" has become more and my outdated.

[@rechtrecht]

I'm born in 2002 and until like 2014 i think i addressed postcards and such to my friends with Fräulein because that's what my mom taught me (the year i learned how patronising Fräulein could be as well as it being antiquated and stopped that) . I also learned to address anyone as a werte Dame or werter Herr. Mom was really stuck up with etiquette meanwhile i struggle to stop doing it as because often think i mean it in a rude way

[@infinite_hyperspace]

You shouldn't have listened to her

[@mathiaslist6705]

What a surprise?! did not know that Fräulein was an offensive word --- still doubt that it is but I can think of no occasion where I might use it

[@torsuk]

funny thing that Mädchen is actually quite the same as Fräulein it was formed from a word Magd, which isn't used today anymore. It had a similar meaning, I believe, that Mädchen does now - young/little woman, girl. (i looked it up, it was also used to refer to maids, who were usually women) Then the diminutive suffix is added, which gives "a" the umlaut

[@torsuk]

Also quite interesting, that in the south of Germany they use another suffix, and Mädchen becomes Mädel

[@Quasihamster]

One more thing, Frauchen and Herrchen are only from the pet's perspective. Don't address someone like that just because they're having a dog on a leash, or are sitting on a horse.