German for Beginners: Describing Food with Adjectives Like heiß, kalt, frisch and lecker
Learn to describe food's overall qualities in German with adjectives such as heiß, kalt, frisch and lecker, including predicative word order and common meal contexts.
By MarcusFood & cafés · Yapr Learn
In this lesson you will learn to describe food in German using adjectives that talk about a dish's overall quality rather than its taste. Words like heiß (hot), kalt (cold), frisch (fresh) and lecker (delicious) tell someone how food is, not how it tastes. German uses these adjectives in a fixed pattern: the adjective comes after the verb sein (to be), and it never changes its ending in that position. You will practise saying that soup is hot, bread is fresh, salad is cold and cake is delicious, and you will see how this differs from taste words such as süß (sweet) or salzig (salty).
By the end, you can…
- describe food as hot, cold, fresh or delicious in German.
- use the pattern sein + adjective correctly in simple sentences.
- ask and answer whether a dish is hot, cold, fresh or delicious.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
Die Suppe ist heiß.
The soup is hot.
dee ZUP-uh ist hys
Use heiß for temperature, not for spicy food; spicy is scharf.
Das Brot ist frisch.
The bread is fresh.
dahs broht ist frish
frisch describes freshness of bread, fruit or vegetables, not temperature.
Der Salat ist kalt.
The salad is cold.
dair zah-LAHT ist kalt
kalt is neutral for food served cold; it can sound negative if the food should be warm.
Der Kuchen ist lecker.
The cake is delicious.
dair KOO-khen ist LEK-uh
lecker is the everyday word for tasty or delicious food in standard German.
Ist das Essen heiß?
Is the food hot?
ist dahs ES-sen hys
A yes/no question: the verb ist comes first, then the subject das Essen.
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
For overall food qualities, German normally uses the verb sein (to be) plus an adjective: Das Essen ist heiß. Die Suppe ist kalt. Das Brot ist frisch. Der Kuchen ist lecker. In this predicative position the adjective has no ending. Do not add -e or -en after ist: say Die Suppe ist heiß, not Die Suppe ist heiße. The noun still has its own gender and article: der Kuchen (masculine), die Suppe (feminine), das Brot (neuter).
When to use it
Use these adjectives to comment on a dish as a whole. heiß and kalt describe temperature; frisch describes freshness; lecker describes enjoyable food. If you want to talk about taste instead, use süß (sweet), salzig (salty), sauer (sour) or bitter (bitter). For spicy, use scharf, not heiß. In a restaurant you can say Das Essen ist heiß, bitte. or Der Salat ist frisch. At home, Die Suppe ist kalt is a simple complaint or observation.
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
Guten Tag! Ist die Suppe heiß?
Good day! Is the soup hot?GOO-ten tahk! ist dee ZUP-uh hysJa, die Suppe ist heiß. Und das Brot ist frisch.
Yes, the soup is hot. And the bread is fresh.yah, dee ZUP-uh ist hys. unt dahs broht ist frishSuper. Ist der Salat auch frisch?
Great. Is the salad fresh too?ZOO-pair. ist dair zah-LAHT oukh frishJa, der Salat ist frisch und kalt. Der Kuchen ist auch lecker.
Yes, the salad is fresh and cold. The cake is delicious too.yah, dair zah-LAHT ist frish unt kalt. dair KOO-khen ist oukh LEK-uhA little context goes a long way
In German-speaking countries, lecker is common and informal for delicious food. In more formal or written contexts, köstlich (exquisite) or hervorragend (excellent) may appear. heiß for food means hot in temperature; for spicy, standard German uses scharf. Regional usage varies: in Austria, lecker is understood but less common than gut or hervorragend, and in Switzerland, fein is very common for tasty food.
One thing to watch for
Die Suppe ist heiße.
Try this instead: After the verb sein, the adjective takes no ending: Die Suppe ist heiß. Add endings only before a noun, as in die heiße Suppe (the hot soup).
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'The bread is fresh' in German?
Show a sample answer
Das Brot ist frisch.
Brot is neuter, so the article is das. The adjective frisch follows ist and takes no ending. You could also say Das Brot ist ganz frisch for emphasis.
2Which German adjective means 'spicy', and which means 'hot' in temperature?
Show a sample answer
scharf means 'spicy'; heiß means 'hot' in temperature.
Use scharf for spicy food and heiß for hot temperature. Standard German keeps these two meanings separate; heiß is not normally used to mean 'spicy'.
3Make a yes/no question: 'Is the cake delicious?'
Show a sample answer
Ist der Kuchen lecker?
In a yes/no question the verb comes first: Ist der Kuchen lecker? Kuchen is masculine, so the article is der. You could also ask Schmeckt der Kuchen? for 'Does the cake taste good?'
Use sein + adjective with no ending to describe food's overall quality: Die Suppe ist heiß, Das Brot ist frisch, Der Kuchen ist lecker.
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