This deep dive covers Gesundheit & Essen — Health and Food within Healthy living and lifestyle for GCSE German. Revise Healthy living and lifestyle in Theme 1: People and Lifestyle 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.
📋 Gesundheit & Essen — Health and Food
These are the core nouns for health, food and meals. Learn each noun with its article (der/die/das) and plural — and note which ones have no plural.
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| gesund | healthy |
| ungesund | unhealthy |
| die Gesundheit | health (no pl) |
| der Sport | sport (no pl) |
| das Obst | fruit (no pl) |
| das Gemüse | vegetables (no pl) |
| die Mahlzeit / die Mahlzeiten | meal |
| das Frühstück | breakfast |
| das Mittagessen | lunch |
| das Abendessen | dinner |
| der Körper / die Körper | body |
| die Krankheit / die Krankheiten | illness |
Lebensstil — Lifestyle verbs and adjectives
| Deutsch | English |
|---|---|
| Sport treiben | to do sport |
| sich entspannen | to relax |
| fit bleiben | to stay fit |
| rauchen | to smoke |
| schlafen | to sleep |
| krank | ill |
| müde | tired |
| vegetarisch | vegetarian |
⭐ Key phrases
- Sport treiben = to do sport (idiom — NOT Sport machen): Ich treibe dreimal pro Woche Sport.
- Frequency: einmal / zweimal / dreimal pro Woche (once / twice / three times a week)
- Ich esse viel Obst und Gemüse, um gesund zu bleiben. (I eat lots of fruit and veg to stay healthy.)
Ich treibe dreimal pro Woche Sport und ich esse gesund.
I do sport three times a week and I eat healthily.
- Sport treiben is the fixed idiom for "do sport" — the verb is treiben, not machen
- dreimal pro Woche is a frequency phrase — adding one earns detail marks
- gesund here is a predicate adjective (after the verb), so it takes no ending
Um fit zu bleiben, esse ich viel Gemüse und ich versuche, nicht zu rauchen.
In order to stay fit, I eat lots of vegetables and I try not to smoke.
- um ... zu bleiben = "in order to stay" — the um ... zu construction for purpose
- After the um-clause, the main clause starts with the verb: esse ich (verb second)
- zu rauchen = infinitive with zu after versuchen; the contrast of healthy vs unhealthy habits earns range marks
Practice questions for Healthy living and lifestyle
What does 'gesund' mean in English?
What does 'das Gemüse' mean in English?