Wal
/vaːl/masculine
The German word for whale is Wal.
Wal refers to a large sea mammal. It is a masculine noun.
Meaning: large sea mammal (noun)
Which one should you use?
Wal is the standard term, while der Walfisch is another term used in more formal contexts.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
As a masculine noun, Wal takes the masculine article der in the nominative case. The plural form of Wal is Wale.
How do you pronounce it?
/vaːl/
Did you know?
- The word Wal descends from a Proto-Indo-European root that originally referred to a 'sheatfish', a type of catfish, rather than a giant sea mammal.
- The term Walfisch literally translates to 'whale-fish', which reflects an era when scientists did not yet know that whales were mammals.
Examples in context
- Was ist ein Wal?What is a whale?This sentence is useful for asking for a definition of Wal.Tatoeba #12051086 by Naina, translation #8915510 by CK
- Sie sind auf Walsafari.They went whale watching.This sentence demonstrates the use of Wal in the context of whale watching.Tatoeba #1702753 by al_ex_an_der, translation #1702749 by Spamster
- Am Strand liegt ein Wal.There's a whale stranded on the beach.This sentence shows Wal being used to describe a whale on a beach.Tatoeba #12862185 by Waldelfe, translation #12823469 by sundown
- Der Wal ist ein beeindruckendes Tier.The whale is an impressive animal.
- Das Kinderbuch handelt von einem Walfisch.The children's book is about a whale.
- 34 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Laura and Lukas are looking at a nature documentary on TV.
- LauraSiehst du den Wal da?Do you see the whale there?
- LukasJa, der Wal ist riesig!Yes, the whale is huge!
- LauraEr schwimmt sehr schnell.He is swimming very fast.
- LukasDas ist wirklich beeindruckend.That is really impressive.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “whale” translations and entries Wal, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries Wal, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
