Are you in the holiday (or vacation) mood?
The German word for holiday is ‘Urlaub’, and just like there are lots of different ways to spend your holidays, there are just as many German words for it. And – you’ve guessed it – you can write the type of holiday plus the word ‘Urlaub’ as one word to make one of the famous German compound nouns.
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The first list of words all end with ‘urlaub’, and as ‘der Urlaub’ is a masculine word they are all masculine.
- der Abenteuerurlaub – adventure holiday
- der Aktivurlaub – avtivity holiday
- der Badeurlaub – beach/ seaside holiday
- der Betriebsurlaub – company/ annual plant holiday
- der Bildungsurlaub – educational leave
- der Campingurlaub – camping holidays
- der Erholungsurlaub – recreational leave
- der Erziehungsurlaub – parental leave
- der Fahrradurlaub – cycling holidays
- der Hafturlaub – prison leave
- der Jahresurlaub – annual leave
- der Kurzurlaub – short holiday
- der Mutterschaftsurlaub – maternity leave
- der Reiturlaub – riding holiday
- der Skiurlaub – skiing holiday
- der Sommerurlaub – summer holidays
- der Sonderurlaub – special leave
- der Strandurlaub – beach holiday
- der Traumurlaub – dream holiday
- der Vaterschaftsurlaub – paternity leave
- der Wellnessurlaub – wellness holiday
- der Winterurlaub – winter holidays
- der Wochenendurlaub – weekend holiday
- der Zwangsurlaub – compulsory holiday
As you can see, whatever type of holiday you will be on, just add the word ‘urlaub’ to it and it will be usable. For example, if you’re going abroad you could tell your friends “Ich mache Deutschlandurlaub” or “Englandurlaub” or whichever country or continent you want to visit.
Of course, there are also compound nouns beginning with ‘Urlaub’. Their gender depends on what noun we add to it. Those that I found, are
- die Urlaubsadresse – holiday address
- der Urlaubsantrag – holiday request
- der Urlaubsbart – holiday beard (No, not Christmas! This is the beard after not shaving during the holidays)
- die Urlaubsbekanntschaft – holiday acquaintance
- die Urlaubsbilder (plural) – holiday pictures
- die Urlaubsfotos (plural) – holiday photos
- das Urlaubsgeld – money for your holiday
- der Urlaubsort – holiday destination
- das Urlaubsparadies – holiday paradise
- die Urlaubspläne (plural) – holiday plans
- die Urlaubssaison – holiday season
- die Urlaubssperre – ban on taking leave
- die Urlaubsstimmung – holiday mood
- die Urlaubstipps (plural) – holiday tips
- die Urlaubsvertretung – holiday cover/ replacement
- die Urlaubszeit – holiday season
- das Urlaubsziel – holiday destination
Der Urlauber/ die Urlauberin – holiday maker
Then there is the verb ‘urlauben’ – to holiday, and the adjective ‘urlaubsreif’ – in (desperate) need of a holiday.
Ich fahre in Urlaub. – I’m going on holidays.
Ich bin im Urlaub. – I am on holidays.
I don’t know about you, but ich bin jetzt urlaubsreif. What about you? What’s your Traumurlaub?
What can you do with these ‘Urlaub’ words to remember them?
You can bookmark this post or make a vocabulary list with them. You can do that with any paper or electronic notebook. Or you could buy my notebook which I designed specially for German vocab learners. It has space for vocabulary lists and sentences. You can even choose one of two colours ☺
Or, if you want to know more about German compound nouns ( and nouns in general) and their gender, check out my online course German gender #1 – German nouns and der, die & das
For 10% off use the code BLOGPOST
If you’re about to holiday in Germany, you might also want to check out my printable Family medical organizer with extra pages for travels to Germany
Or the Travel Journal for Young German Learners
