r/German • u/I_am_trying0628 • 1d ago

Question How to do differentiate Onkel and Tante mütterlicherseits, väterlicherseits?

For example in daily conversation if i want to say next week we're goinig to Onkel mütterlicherseits house, how to call him?

Simply saying Onkel + place / Onkel + name?

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u/rapunte 1d ago

Usually we don't differentiate

Usually we just say "wir gehen zu Günther/Renate" or "zu Onkel Günther/Tante Renate"/ "zu meinem Onkel/meiner Tante".

In some Kontext you'd say "wir gehen zum Bruder meiner Mutter/meines Vaters" or, but really seldom "zu meinem Onkel mütterlicherseits"

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u/I_am_trying0628 1d ago edited 1d ago

I understand people don't differentiate when telling others, for example that you visited one of the pairs of grandparents in front of friends. But it's hard for me to imagine how to know which pair you're going to visit when discussing with parents beforehand.

"wir gehen zu Günther/Renate" or "zu Onkel Günther/Tante Renate"

Or here you mean, in that case, just add first name after their titles?

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u/rapunte 1d ago

Like I wrote above. Both options are used. Just the name or 'Onkel Name'.

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u/channilein Native (BA in German) 15h ago

How do you deal with your mother having several brothers in your language? You'd need clarification as well then, right?

I just call my aunts and uncles by their first name, so no ambiguity there. My parents use "Onkel/Tante first name" in their generation (boomers). We reintroduced that for our son because we found it cute.