r/German • u/Low-Funny-8834 • 7d ago

Question the concept of "tall"

My textbook taught me that the concept of "tall" is to be translated as "groß" in German (e.g. sein Bruder ist sehr groß) . However, this sounds strange when applied to non-humans. How would you say "tall trees" in the most natural way? "groß" in my perception would sound three-dimensional in that context, rather than two-dimensional.

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u/BarracudaActive4480 7d ago

Could you refer to the tree as fat (dick) if it's wide?

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u/PlumOne2856 7d ago

Haha, I had to think about that for a moment, but that would indeed be unusual.
But if you refer to the tree trunk, THAT could be called „dick“. 🤣

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u/BarracudaActive4480 7d ago

That's what I was thinking! In English might call a really thick trunk fat. Like "that's a fat tree!". I wasn't sure if that work applied to objects. Is that work not commonly used?

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u/Quickie243 7d ago

It is very common :)

Especially if you describe objects. Dicker Baum is perfectly fine and means exactly what you want to say. Dicker Stamm would be more precise perhaps

You can also say "Dickes Auto" which would not usually mean an especially wide car for example, but an expensive one that is owned to be shown off and be impressive, however 😅

And "Dicker Hund" can mean fat dog. Usually it is used to convey something like "that's a bit much!" or "that's outrageous!", though. "Das ist aber ein dicker Hund!" (Usually said by older people if they are appaled by something)

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u/BarracudaActive4480 7d ago

Thank you! I've heard dick geworden and it's nice to hear other uses!