German · A1 · Family moment
Fresh After Football in German
Use these friendly German instructions to help your child wash and get dressed after football. All phrases address one child informally.
What you'll learn
- Ask your child to get undressed, wash, dry off and get dressed.
- Use dich for actions directed at yourself.
- Use dir with named body parts in washing and drying instructions.
German phrases for fresh after football
Zieh dich bitte aus.
Get undressed, please.
Ausziehen means to get undressed. In this instruction, aus goes at the end.
Wasch dich bitte.
Wash yourself, please.
Dich means yourself when you speak directly to one child.
Wasch dir die Hände.
Wash your hands.
Use dir with a named body part. German normally says die Hände here, not deine Hände.
Wasch dir das Gesicht.
Wash your face.
Das Gesicht means the face. Dir shows whose face to wash.
Wasch dir die Füße.
Wash your feet.
Die Füße means the feet. One foot is der Fuß.
Trockne dich bitte ab.
Dry yourself, please.
Abtrocknen means to dry off. The ab goes at the end.
Trockne dir die Hände ab.
Dry your hands.
As with washing, use dir when you name the body part.
Zieh dich bitte an.
Get dressed, please.
Anziehen means to get dressed. The an goes at the end.
Hear these phrases and practise them
Tildi plays every phrase out loud, tests you in five-minute lessons and builds them into bedtime stories from your own picture books.
Try it free for 7 daysKey words
bitte
please
Add bitte to make an instruction more polite.
waschen
to wash
Use Wasch … when giving an instruction to one child.
die Hand / die Hände
the hand / the hands
The plural adds an umlaut and ends in -e.
das Gesicht
the face
Learn the noun together with its article, das.
der Fuß / die Füße
the foot / the feet
The plural changes u to ü and adds -e.
abtrocknen
to dry off
Useful after washing or bathing.
Giving an instruction to one child
Use the informal singular imperative. Start with the verb and leave out du (you). Bitte makes the instruction more polite.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Wash | Wasch … | Wasch dich bitte. |
| Dry off | Trockne … ab. | Trockne dich bitte ab. |
Dich or dir?
Reflexive pronouns refer back to the person doing the action. In these instructions, use dich (accusative) when the action is directly on yourself. Use dir (dative) when a body part is named as the thing being washed or dried. The body part normally takes die or das rather than a word for your.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Yourself | Wasch dich. | Wasch dich bitte. |
| Your hands | Wasch dir + die Hände. | Wasch dir die Hände. |
| Your face | Wasch dir + das Gesicht. | Wasch dir das Gesicht. |
Verbs with a separate ending
Ausziehen, anziehen and abtrocknen are separable verbs. In these instructions, their prefixes move to the end.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ausziehen — get undressed | Zieh … aus. | Zieh dich bitte aus. |
| anziehen — get dressed | Zieh … an. | Zieh dich bitte an. |
| abtrocknen — dry off | Trockne … ab. | Trockne dir die Hände ab. |
More examples
Wasch dir bitte die Hände.
Wash your hands, please.
Bitte fits naturally after dir.
Trockne dir bitte die Füße ab.
Dry your feet, please.
Use the same pattern as for drying hands, keeping ab at the end.