German noun, masculine · CEFR A1
der Brief
Meaning in English: letter
False friend: Brief is not “brief”. It is a letter you post. “Brief” as in short is kurz. More false friends.
Example
Ich habe dir einen langen Brief geschrieben.
I've written you a long letter.
Der, die or das?
Brief is masculine: der Brief. How to tell the gender from the ending.
How common is Brief?
Brief is number 2,882 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 31 times per million words — about once every 33,000 words.
Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 74% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.
Next to it in the frequency list
- 2,878heimischenlocal, native, domestic
- 2,879die Notneed, hardship, distress
- 2,880externeexternal
- 2,881ehrenamtlichevoluntary, volunteer
- 2,882der Briefletter
- 2,883kulturellecultural
- 2,884weißenwhite
- 2,885die Uniuni, university
- 2,886das Formatformat
In these word lists
- The 5,000 most common German words#2,882
- The most common German nouns#1,220
- German A1 vocabulary#626
- The most common German masculine nouns (der)#319
Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.