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Related: Is something "kaputt" just broken or completely ruined?

Do people actually use the word "kaputt" in conversation, or would this be a strange thing to say? For example, if I recently got a serious knee injury, would it be acceptable to say something like "mein Knie ist kaputt"? (For context, the injury is fixable but will likely require surgical repair).

EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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  • Answers in comments and extended discussion about the meaning of kaputt have been been moved to chat. Please post another comment only when you have suggestions how to improve the question or to link to other relevant resources. – Wrzlprmft Mar 20 '19 at 06:39

6 Answers6

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Do people actually use the word “kaputt” in conversation?

It is definitely the preferred word used by native speakers to say that something is broken in spoken language (both formal and informal). I think in 99% of all cases a native speaker would use the word "kaputt" to say that some thing is defect.

This is also true for informal written language (such as e-mail among friends). However, in formal written language (e.g. a letter to an insurance company) you would use other words.

In formal written language you would use "defekt" (which means: It does not work as expected) or you would say that something is "nicht in Ordnung" (which means: "not OK"). You would also tend to use expressions that describe more specifically how exactly something is "broken" - For example by writing that your car has problems with the engine instead of saying that your car is "broken".

mein Knie ist kaputt

For context, the injury is fixable but will likely require surgical repair.

It is as well used for health context. Although usually not in serious context:

Ich bin total kaputt. (To be exhausted) Ich glaube mein Knie ist kaputt. (My knee hurts.)

I have already heard people saying that some parts of the body are "kaputt" really meaning that they are injured in a way that they cannot be healed any more.

However, normally you would use expressions that describe an injury more specifically when seriously speaking about health problems.

If the knee is not healthy due to a broken bone, for example, you'll say that the knee is "gebrochen". This word also translates to the word "broken" in English but it has another meaning:

  • The word "kaputt" means "broken" with the meaning that something is not OK, does not work correctly etc...
  • The word "gebrochen" (in this case) means that something (such as a bone) has broken into parts because of a strong force pressing/pushing against it
  • When some chain, string, rope breaks because of pulling to strong, you'll use the word "gerissen"
Martin Rosenau
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    Also you might say "Ich bin total kaputt" when you are very, very tired (which obviously does not require surgery). That's even more informal, you would (or at least should) not use that in writing, but it's pretty common in conversation. –  Mar 18 '19 at 08:19
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    In informal language we use "im Arsch sein" more often than "kaputt" to complain about health issues. – steros Mar 18 '19 at 08:25
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    @steros I do not know the social background you are talking about, but "im Arsch sein" is considered vulgar language. In Austria, the word "hin" is often preferred over "kaputt": "Mein Knie ist hin." – rexkogitans Mar 18 '19 at 09:27
  • "Mein Rücken ist total im Arsch" can be heard often in office. It's not considered vulgar at all. But it's informal and you wouldn't talk like this to your clients. – steros Mar 18 '19 at 09:31
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    @steros I think it's considered vulgar, there's just a lot of offices where some vulgar expressions are acceptable. (My go-to check for vulgar is: Would I use that term with a member of the opposite sex of an older generation when I don't know their background?) – sgf Mar 18 '19 at 10:52
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    Less vulgar, but also very colloquial is im Eimer sein. Can be your back, your knee, your car, anything really that can be “broken” in some way. – Raketenolli Mar 18 '19 at 10:59
  • @sgf Why would the sex of the hypothetical person matter? – Pharap Mar 20 '19 at 06:42
  • Why don't you just translate something being "gebrochen" as being "fractured"? I think that's more precise in your example and makes it less confusing. Or am I missing something here? – Zaibis Mar 20 '19 at 07:33
  • @Zaibis I wanted to point out that the English word "to break" does not translate to one single word in German. – Martin Rosenau Mar 20 '19 at 07:50
  • @MartinRosenau: yeah, I got that. But still I would have considered that point being more clear if you used "fractured" instead. But just wanted to add this thought, I might just missunderstand your approach. – Zaibis Mar 20 '19 at 07:53
  • @Pharap Gender, if you prefer. You want me to point you to the ample body of research that shows us that we change how we talk according to the gender of the audience? It's usually considered more appropriate to be vulgar among men, or among women, than in mixed company. (And to be honest, my actual go-to check is "Would I use that term with my grandmother", but I know some grandmothers where this just doesn't apply.) – sgf Mar 20 '19 at 08:01
  • @sgf I suspect most people would talk to elderly people of an unknown background in a respectful manner regardless of sex. Unless by 'we' you mean "German-speaking people" specifically, in which case I make no claims either way. (And any such research may not be generalisable across cultures.) – Pharap Mar 20 '19 at 09:27
  • @Pharap By 'we' I mean human beings. Gender is a social construct. Social constructs influence our social behaviour. There is, as far as I know, no society where gender doesn't influence the way people talk, and there are many where the differences are more extreme than in German. (Of course there might be one somewhere out there. You never know.) Being respectful and being vulgar are not mutually exclusive.I would use less vulgar language with elderly women than with elderly men. That's why it's my go-to test. It might not work for you. If you know a more general test, feel free to share. – sgf Mar 20 '19 at 10:24
  • I’m not sure gebrochen (fractured) is really relevant here, since knees are not normally fractured. You can fracture the patella, but the knee itself is a joint and so cannot ‘break’. The most common source of knee injury is the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL, Kreuzband) or the meniscus, as well as fractures elsewhere (femur, fibia) that affect the knee – but in none of those cases would you in English say you had a ‘broken knee’ – even with the patella, you’d say you have a broken kneecap. Would a German speaker ever say something like Mein Knie ist gebrochen? – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 20 '19 at 12:41
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    @JanusBahsJacquet: no. In German like in English you "break" (brechen) bones, ligaments (and muscles) may be "pulled" (gezerrt) or torn/ruptured (gerissen). For ligaments, gedehnt ≈ gezerrt whereas for muscles gedehnt = stretched. So: "Ich hab' mir die Kniescheibe gebrochen", "Ich hab' mir das Kreuzband gezerrt/gedehnt/gerissen" You can also have a Kapselriss (rupture of the capsule). What you can do to your joint: geprellt -> bruised; verdreht/verstaucht -> sprained; verrenkt/ausgerenkt" -> dislocated (ausgerenkt: didn't come back on its own). "Mein Knie ist kaputt" covers them all. – cbeleites unhappy with SX Mar 20 '19 at 14:56
  • @sgf If I was talking to an elderly stranger (male or female) then I typically wouldn't use 'vulgar' words regardless of their 'gender'. I would only use 'vulgar' words in the presence of someone I'm familiar with, regardless of 'gender'. Personally I think a better test is to imagine a child is observing the conversation. I would have no qualms with an elderly stranger (male or female) overhearing me using 'vulgar' language, but I'd hesitate if a child was present. (Though I know some people who would openly swear in front of a child.) – Pharap Mar 22 '19 at 13:48
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Do people actually use the word "kaputt" in conversation, or would this be a strange thing to say?

Yes, it is frequently used. You can use the expression with all kinds of object, e.g. Auto, Notebook, Waschmaschine, Bilderrahmen.

For example, if I recently got a serious knee injury, would it be acceptable to say something like "mein Knie ist kaputt"? (For context, the injury is fixable but will likely require surgical repair).

dwds.de lists words that are often connected with kaputt (emphasis mine):

Aufzug Auspuff Bandscheibe Bremse Ehe Fahrrad Fahrstuhl Fensterscheibe Fernseher Gelenk Glühbirne Heizung Hüfte Klimaanlage Knie Knochen Kühlschrank Reifen Reißverschluß Rolltreppe Scheibe Spielzeug Straßenlaterne Type Waschmaschine Wirbelsäule Zahn lachen müde ziemlich

You can see that kaputt is regularly used to describe injuries.

There are also some idioms and common expressions with kaputt:

  • kaputt sein (to be very tired)
  • etwas kaputt machen (to damage/destroy something - in a wide sense: hope, mood, a business, someone's reputation,...)
  • sich kaputt lachen (to shake with laughter)
  • kaputte Ehe (a marriage that is close to falling apart)

Edit: There is one particular usage case that is not German. Hitler kaput (Гитлер капут) is a common Russian expression (and a comedy movie from 2008), but I've never heard kaputt referring to a person in German (apart from being tired).

Frank from Frankfurt
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    I have to add here that "kaputt" is being used to refer to a person, at least in the Ruhr area: "Der Typ ist total kaputt" (literal: "That guy is totally defective"), meaning that that guy has life problems or psychological problems or physiological problems that are showing to a visible extent. – orithena Mar 18 '19 at 14:50
  • @orithena Interesting, now that you say that I also think one could casually say "das ist so'n total kaputter Penner" or similar to describe somebody in (not just temporarily) bad shape. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Mar 18 '19 at 17:47
  • what do you say for bremse? – BЈовић Mar 19 '19 at 10:42
  • "Die Bremse ist kaputt." Especially for a car where the brakes are getting thinner with time: "Die Bremse ist runter" (colloquial). More officially I'd say "Die Bremse ist nicht in Ordnung" or "… muss gemacht werden". "… muss repariert werden" is correct but sound a bit formal (like in court, for instance). – Alfe Mar 19 '19 at 15:46
  • Russians love this word. They also use it in conjunction with Hitler. So "Hitler kaputt" means something (anything really) has been broken beyond measure. – jayarjo Mar 20 '19 at 09:17
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Where I come from "kaputt" is widely used in several ways:

"Bisch du kaputt?" - Are you crazy? (jokingly)
"Mein Auto ist kaputt" - My car doesn't function anymore
"Ich bin echt kaputt" - I'm really exhausted
"Mein Knie ist kaputt" - I can't use my knee well (jokingly)

In formal language it still can be used to say that something is defect/damaged but most of the times there are other words used, like "defekt/beschädigt".

miep
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As the other answers state, kaputt is a very common word in conversation. In some dialects or subcultures, other words may be more common, such as hinüber / hin, im Eimer, and so on. Another extremely common way to express "is broken" is using a more descriptive phrase, like:

Mein Computer funktioniert nicht mehr. My PC does not work anymore.
Meine Uhr ist stehen geblieben. My watch has stopped ticking.
Die Vase ist zerbrochen. The vase has shattered.

Using "kaputt" for a health issue would be less common. "Ich bin kaputt" just means I'm exhausted (either tired or just recovering from exertion). "Mein Knie ist kaputt" would mean I can't use the knee for a while, or forever. So it can only be used for body parts where the "use" of the part is relatively straightforward: Knees yes, but not something unspecific like the stomach or something "useless" like a toe.

To broadly describe an injury to any body part, you can use:

Mein Knie ist verletzt. My knee is injured
Mein Handgelenk macht Probleme. My wrist causes me trouble.
Meine Schulter schmerzt. My shoulder hurts.

Or reverse, even more German:

Ich habe eine Verletzung am Knie.
Ich habe Probleme mit meinem Handgelenk.
Ich habe Schmerzen an der Schulter.

KWeiss
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  • So it can only be used for body parts where the "use" of the part is relatively straightforward: Knees yes, but not something unspecific like the stomach or something "useless" like a toe. -- I have to disagree. I'd say that "Magen ist kaputt" or "Zeh ist kaputt" is being in use, at least in the Ruhr area. – orithena Mar 18 '19 at 14:53
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In German you can use "kaputt" for almost all of these mentioned cases. Something is broken means "kaputt". A window can be "kaputt". That's the normal use but there are other usages as well.

"Die Beziehung ist kaputt." The relationship is over. "Ihr Leben ist kaputt." Her life went down. "Ich bin kaputt." I'm exhausted. "Das ist sowas von kaputt!" That's totally insane!

You take "kaputt" or "kaputt + gehen" to emphasize the negativity of the situation. Something went wrong. Something is over and will never be the same. But you can't say "Das Jobangebot ist kaputt." (The job offer is kaput) That wouldn't make sense. I think there isn't an equal translation in German words that would be in the same way like the English phrase. But you can say "Ich hab den Job nicht bekommen." I haven't got the job. "Ich hab das Jobangebot vermasselt." I screwed up the job offer.

baste
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To say I am "kaputt", regarding the first marathon, mentioned before, is correct and usual. To say my knee is "kaputt" is not really correct usage, cause it regards a bit too much to mechanical things broken, which of course can be meant symbolic. Additionally, it is a kind of picky, to use "kaputt" in engineering-like areas, but usual, if you are in surroundings of ironical speech.

user unknown
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user36639
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  • Inwiefern ist ein Knie nichts Mechanisches? Ist das eine Art religiöses Bekenntnis und betrifft nur Menschen oder bezieht sich das auch auf Tiere? Schon mal ein Anatomiebuch in der Hand gehabt? Ein Sportler, dem Du sagst sein Knie sei nur symbolisch kaputt, wird Dir wohl was husten. – user unknown Apr 26 '20 at 23:00