01
giessen
to water
To provide plants with water.
example
Im Sommer muss ich meine Balkonblumen jeden Tag gießen.
In summer, I have to water my balcony flowers every day.
giessen
to water / pour
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Meanings
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Usage tips
Regional variant
The spelling 'giessen' with 'ss' is common in Switzerland. In Germany and Austria, this word is written 'gießen' with 'ß'.
EXAMPLE
Vergiss bitte nicht, die Blumen zu gießen.
Please don't forget to water the flowers.
Context clue
The meaning of 'gießen' (to water / pour) is easy to recognize from context: Does it refer to plants, drinks, the weather, or the production of objects made of metal?
EXAMPLE
Der Gärtner goss die jungen Bäume.
The gardener watered the young trees.
Typical collocations
When it is about plants, the most common objects are 'Blumen' (flowers), 'Pflanzen' (plants), 'den Rasen' (the lawn), or 'den Garten' (the garden).
EXAMPLE
Nach dem Urlaub mussten wir als Erstes den Garten gießen.
After the vacation, the first thing we had to do was water the garden.
Sentence structure and usage
When pouring liquids, a prepositional phrase with 'in' and the accusative often follows to indicate the destination. For example: 'etwas in die Tasse gießen' (to pour something into the cup).
EXAMPLE
Sie goss die heiße Suppe in die Teller.
She poured the hot soup into the bowls.
Fixed expression
To describe heavy rain, the impersonal form 'es gießt' (it is pouring) is used. This is often intensified with 'in Strömen' (in streams / heavily) or 'wie aus Eimern' (as if from buckets).
EXAMPLE
Nimm einen Schirm mit, es gießt in Strömen!
Take an umbrella with you; it's pouring with rain!
Technical context
This meaning belongs to the technical language of metalworking or art. Typical objects are 'Glocken' (bells), 'Figuren' (figures), or 'Statuen' (statues).
EXAMPLE
In dieser Werkstatt werden traditionell Glocken aus Bronze gegossen.
In this workshop, bells are traditionally cast from bronze.
Compare with
giessen vs regnen
to rain
'giessen' and 'regnen' can both describe weather with water coming from above. 'regnen' is the normal word for water droplets falling from the clouds. In this context, 'giessen' is used only for very heavy rain, usually impersonally: 'Es gießt.' It sounds stronger and a bit more figurative than 'es regnet'. Learners may confuse the words because both occur in rainy weather. For normal weather, you say 'es regnet'; for very heavy rain, you say 'es gießt'.
giessen
Heute gießt es so stark, dass wir lieber zu Hause bleiben.
It's pouring so hard today that we'd rather stay at home.
regnen
Am Bahnhof warten viele Leute, weil es seit einer Stunde regnet.
Many people are waiting at the train station because it has been raining for an hour.
In real life
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