‘Zimmer’ or ‘Raum’: choosing the right German word for ‘room’
In one German chat from last week, we had a hotel guest asking another about the quality of rooms in the hotel. He said:
This got me thinking. Since German has two words for room, namely Zimmer and Raum, how do we know which one to use when? When is a room a Zimmer and when is it a Raum?
Pedants will say that it is never wrong to call a room a Raum because Zimmer is a kind of Raum: every Zimmer is necessarily also a Raum. That’s true. But when something is both a Raum and a Zimmer it’s more “normal” to refer to it with the more specific Zimmer. It would be odd not to, like saying this animal instead of this dog or that vehicle instead of that bus.
So, let’s rephrase the question: when is a Raum a Zimmer, and when is it just a Raum?
How many rooms are there in a Zweizimmerwohnung?
If you’re looking for an apartment in a German-speaking country and you’re reading the small ads, you will see apartments described as Zweizimmerwohnung, Dreizimmerwohnung and so on. These terms operate with a narrow and strict definition of what is and what isn’t a Zimmer, which is: only living rooms and bedrooms count as Zimmer.
So, a Zweizimmerwohnung contains zwei thusly defined Zimmer, presumably one living room and one bedroom, while a Dreizimmerwohnung has drei of them, presumably one living room and two bedrooms. Any kitchens, bathrooms or hallways are not included in that number, you’ll have to read the rest of the ad to understand what the situation is.
Can a Küche be a Zimmer?
This narrow definition of Zimmer is unique to the kind of German used in real-estate advertising. Outside that bubble, in normal everyday language, the definition of which rooms in your house or apartment count as Zimmer is a bit broader and seems to include kitchens and bathrooms. The main principle can probably be summarized as follows: if the room is intended for people to “live in” then it’s a Zimmer, if not then not.
That’s why you can ask in welchem Zimmer bist du? and (I think) validly answer in der Küche. And the German for bathroom is Badezimmer which even contains the word Zimmer, so that’s quite clear. On the other hand, any utility rooms, hallways, attics or garages are not intended to be “lived in” by people, they’re either for storing things or for people to only move through without hanging around much. That’s why they’re not called Zimmer and you have to call them something else, such as Raum, or even Kammer if it’s a small one.
Is a waiting room a Wartezimmer or a Warteraum?
What about rooms in other kinds of buildings than residential, such as hotels, schools and offices? Which ones are Zimmer and which ones not? Here the situation seems less clear and I see a lot of in-between cases. After extensive research (read: googling around), I think I can summarize the overall principle as follows: a room in a non-residential building is OK to be called a Zimmer if it resembles the kind of Zimmer you’d find in a residential building.
This is why hotel rooms are called Hotelzimmer, they are like bedrooms at home. A conference room could be called Konferenzzimmer if it’s relatively small and for small groups, but Konferenzraum (or even Konferenzsaal) if it’s large, like in some kind of congress centre. A waiting room would be Wartezimmer if it’s small and welcoming like a doctor’s wating room, or Warteraum/Wartesaal if it’s large and spartan like in a train station. And classrooms are called Klassenzimmer for reasons that are probably more aspirational than real: we want them to be cozy and welcoming like at home even if they often aren’t.
So...
So, whether a room counts as Zimmer or not is a pretty complex matter, isn’t it? You have to take into account where the room is, what it is for and what it looks like. I hope this little analysis has been useful and that I haven’t missed or misunderstood anything. If anyone wants to disagree or add something, please do get in touch.
