This deep dive covers Feste und Feiern — Festivals and celebrations within Customs, festivals and celebrations for GCSE German. Revise Customs, festivals and celebrations in Theme 2: Popular Culture for GCSE German with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 2 of 4 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📋 Feste und Feiern — Festivals and celebrations
Every noun is listed with its article (der/die/das) and plural — learn them together, because both are tested.
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| das Fest / die Feste | festival |
| die Feier / die Feiern | celebration |
| der Feiertag / die Feiertage | public holiday |
| der Geburtstag / die Geburtstage | birthday |
| das Geschenk / die Geschenke | present |
| die Tradition / die Traditionen | tradition |
| der Brauch / die Bräuche | custom |
| die Party / die Partys | party |
| der Kuchen / die Kuchen | cake |
🎄 Festnamen — Festival names (NO article)
These names of festivals are used WITHOUT an article:
- Weihnachten — Christmas
- Ostern — Easter
- das Oktoberfest — the Oktoberfest
- der Karneval — carnival
- Silvester — New Year's Eve
Feier-Verben — Celebration verbs
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| feiern | to celebrate |
| schenken | to give a gift |
| einladen (lade … ein) | to invite (separable) |
| besuchen | to visit |
⭐ Talking about festivals
- Wir feiern Weihnachten mit der Familie. — We celebrate Christmas with the family.
- Ich bekomme viele Geschenke. — I get lots of presents.
- Festival names like Weihnachten and Ostern are used WITHOUT an article: Zu Weihnachten … (At Christmas …).
Zu Weihnachten feiern wir mit der Familie und wir bekommen Geschenke.
At Christmas we celebrate with the family and we get presents.
- Zu Weihnachten is fronted, so the verb stays second (V2): feiern wir
- Weihnachten takes no article
- mit der Familie — mit takes the dative (der Familie)
Jedes Jahr lade ich meine Freunde zu meiner Geburtstagsparty ein, weil ich gern feiere.
Every year I invite my friends to my birthday party, because I like celebrating.
- lade … ein — separable verb einladen: the prefix ein goes to the end of the clause
- zu meiner — zu takes the dative (meiner Geburtstagsparty)
- weil sends the verb feiere to the very end
Practice questions for Customs, festivals and celebrations
What does 'das Fest' mean in English?
What does the verb 'feiern' mean?