In English when a man is in a relationship with another man, he can say he's his boyfriend. In German, saying "Freund" when both are of the same sex is usually understood to mean the equivalent of "friend", not implying a relationship. Same goes for women.
Is there a german word for this?
Basically there is no distinction, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand.
So when I say Das ist meine Freundin it's not obvious whether she is my girlfriend or just a friend.
Usually people then say something like Das ist eine Freundin (von mir) for the 2nd case.
Concerning the same sex - a colleague of mine is homosexual and when I speak of his Freund it's not obvious for others that I mean his boyfriend.
So, German pretty much lacks a word here...
A boyfriend could be called »fester Freund«, a girlfriend »feste Freundin«.
There is also the term Partner (Partnerin) or, to clarify that it’s not a business partner, Lebenspartner (Lebenspartnerin). Another term is Lebensgefährte (Lebensgefährtin).
Alt Gr + 1. You can find a list of some subscript/superscript characters on Wikipedia. Feel free to ask a question on Superuser, where it can be discussed in more detail.
The only correct answer is: no. Both friend and boyfriend are "Freund" in German, and this often causes confusion.
er ist mein bester Freund (he's my best friend) or sie ist meine feste Freundin (she's my girlfriend). Also, the use of the article/personal pronoun can add a meaning: er ist ein Freund (he's a friend) versus er ist mein Freund (he's my boyfriend).
Commented
Oct 18, 2012 at 13:55
German does not have a single word for this - and in fact, this isn't as easy to express as in english.
In german, when you say
Das ist mein(e) Freund(in)
most people will assume its your boyfriend/girlfriend.
However, if you say
Das ist ein(e) Freund(in) (von mir)
then most people will understand its just a friend, not your boyfriend/girlfriend.
So the difference is in mein(e)/ein(e), which makes it a bit hard to grasp.
With same-sex relationships, its not that easy. Most people will simply not assume you are gay/lesbian, unless you came out to them before.
You can, however, use other terms to refer to your boyfriend/gilfriend.
While young people (teens mostly) will prefer "Freund(in)", adults often use Partner(in) or Lebensgefährt(e/in) to describe their romantic partner.
This works very well for same-sex partnerships, too, and is in fact what I'd recommend using.
If a male person introduces someone as his "Lebengefährte", its quite damn clear what he meant. No confusions. Same applies for female and "Lebensgefährtin".
Its also clear if you talk about other persons. If you have a gay friend and talk about his "Lebensgefährte", everyone will understand. If you talk about his "Freund", not so much.
As a gay man who has close German relatives I refer to my boyfriend with them (so for introductions or clarification) as Liebesfreund (implying a romantic relationship) versus referring to male friends of mine as ein Freund.
