When new German learners learn vocabulary about clothes, they find out that shoes are Schuhe in German. Then, to the delight of many, they find out that gloves are shoes for hands in German – Handschuhe.

You probably already knew that!

But did you know of all the different types of ‘Handschuhe’? No? Well, here we go (I won’t write the article, as they are all der in singular and die in plural):

• Abendhandschuhe – evening gloves
• Arbeitshandschuhe – work gloves
• Boxhandschuhe – boxing gloves
• Damenhandschuhe – ladies’ gloves
• Einmalhandschuhe – single-use gloves
  Einweghandschuhe – single-use gloves
  Wegwerfhandschuhe – single-use gloves
• fingerlose Handschuhe – fingerless gloves
• Gartenhandschuhe – gardening gloves
• Gummihandschuhe – rubber gloves
• Herrenhandschuhe – men’s gloves
• hitzebeständige Handschuhe – heat-resistant gloves
• Kinderhandschuhe – children’s gloves
• Lederhandschuhe – leather gloves
• OP-Handschuhe – surgical gloves
• Torwarthandschuhe – goalkeeper gloves
• Touchscreen-Handschuhe – touch screen gloves
• Wollhandschuhe – woollen gloves

There are probably loads more, but I think you get the idea: just use the word that describes the gloves and add ‘Handschuhe’ (if hyphenated) or ‘handschuhe’ (if as part of a compound noun). Of course, if a word starts with ‘Handschuh’ it might not be der, because the gender depends on the last part. Here are a few examples:

• die Handschuhfabrik – glove factory
• das Handschuhfach – glove compartment
• die Handschuhfarbe – colour of the glove
• die Handschuhgröße – size of the glove
• der Handschuhmacher- glove maker
• das Handschuhmaterial – glove material
• die Handschuhproduktion – glove production

There is even an adjective: behandschuht – gloved

And some idioms:

• mit Samthandschuhen anfassen – to handle somebody with kid gloves
• jemandem den Handschuh vor die Füße werfen – to throw down the gauntlet

I leave you with a clip from Dumb & Dumber – in German, of course 😉

I hope, you are behandschuht, when you go out in cold weather! 😊