Fragt danach, was gerade geschieht oder jemanden bedrückt.
Asks what is happening or what is bothering someone.
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See how the word “was ist los” is used in sentences
Du siehst blass aus, was ist los? — You look pale, what's up?
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Download the app for free German vocabulary testLiterally “what is loose”, and it is a real question — unlike English what's up, which is a greeting wearing a question's clothes. Was ist los? expects an answer, and usually carries the suspicion that something is wrong.
For the greeting, German has something English cannot match: a single syllable, na? It does the whole job — hello, how are you, what's new — and the tone carries the rest. Los itself is one of the busiest particles in the language: los! is “go!”, etwas loswerden is to get rid of something, and hier ist nichts los means “nothing is happening here”.
na? well?, hi there
The German greeting that has no English match: one syllable and a rising tone do everything.
was geht what's up
A direct calque of the English phrase, and confined to younger speakers.
los loose, off, going on
One of the hardest-working particles in German, and its meaning shifts entirely with the verb.
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