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My daughter came back from Kindergarten and mentioned this word to me. She said it means dumme Gans and dictionary says differently. Can someone give a few simple examples where it is used?

Zhenglei
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4 Answers4

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A "Petze" is a colloquial word that describes someone who "rats out" someone else.

Dict.cc translates it as "telltale" or "snitch". In German, the noun "Petze" or the verb "petzen/verpetzen" are mostly used by children, because it is a more childlike way to say "verraten" (betray).

An exemplary use of the word in Kindergarden or school would be that a child did something bad and the "Petze" tells the teacher.

If used by an adult, it is mostly meant either jokingly, or to express that the act of telling on someone was childish. For example, if a co-worker notices a minor mistake made by someone and tells on him to his superior (like going to the teacher), others could call him a "Petze".

Kodama
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    So my daughter can say something like "Du bist eine Petze." or "Er petzte"? – Zhenglei May 14 '14 at 12:04
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    @Zhenglei Yes, "Du bist eine Petze" would accuse you of having told on her. Instead of "Er petzte", it is more common to say "er hat gepetzt" to say he generally told sth. or "er hat mich verpetzt" to say he told on me. Simple past "Er petzte" is hardly ever used in conversation, especially with a colloquial word like this. – Kodama May 14 '14 at 12:11
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    Yep. It's a snitch. That's the word. –  May 14 '14 at 16:06
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    @Ben Maybe that's just me watching too many American movies, but "snitch" seems a more serious term than "Petze". E.g. a mafia boss calling someone a snitch sounds perfectly fine (and most likely has troublesome consequences for that person), but the boss calling him a "Petze" in German would sound completely off, even comical. It's really mostly associated with children and possibly jokingly between relatively close adults. – Voo May 14 '14 at 23:07
  • Tattle, tattler and tattletale are also common words for this – Andy Oct 12 '15 at 05:17
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Petze, petzen, verpetzen

This is a colloquial term coming from student's jargon by the end of the 18th Century. It is mainly used by and for children who denounce others to parents or teachers. Such a child would then be called Petze.

Die Lisa hat uns schon wieder verpetzt! Die ist so eine doofe Petze.

Some believe that it has its origin in Rotwelsch where petzen, pezetten was used for reporting somebody to the police. Alternatively it may also come from the noun Petze, which was used for a female dog in southern regions of Germany.

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Takkat
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  • Just as a side note. You usually don't use an article with people's names. I would actually consider it as rude if somebody says 'die Lisa' instead of just 'Lisa'. – Peter Schuetze May 14 '14 at 13:56
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    Children do that quite often, especially in the context of accusing each other. Also, amongst kids Petze certainly is considered as rude. I wrote that here on purpose ;) – Takkat May 14 '14 at 14:01
  • To think a second time about it, I have to agree that children use it more frequently even if they are not talking rudely about someone. However, I would never use it as an adult. – Peter Schuetze May 14 '14 at 14:12
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    Yeah that's true - amongst adults it's awkward and can even be rude (but not always: e.g. "Hast du den Hans gesehen?"). But then you should not say Petze to an adult either. – Takkat May 14 '14 at 14:17
  • That's True. ;) – Peter Schuetze May 14 '14 at 15:26
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    There seems to be a clear distinction between Northern and Southern usage. Being from Austria I use the definite article (as in "der Hand und die Lisa") all the time (and so do the people around me), and would never consider it rude. – Ingmar May 15 '14 at 07:51
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    @Ingmar, same here in Franconia. – Uli Gerhardt May 15 '14 at 08:50
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    Since it was described as "rude" in another comment (and I can't comment myself): For the southern parts of Germany, putting an article with the first name ("Der Franz") is not at all considered rude, but rather standard speech. –  May 15 '14 at 07:27
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    **Please discusss matters of the article used with a name on the appropriate question: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/7269/ist-es-unhoflich-vornamen-mit-artikel-zu-erwahnen – Takkat May 15 '14 at 09:19
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A Petze is someone, that tells on someone else. In BE a squealer or telltale.

Portree Kid
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    ...or "snitch", or "grass", or "stoolie", or... it's actually somewhat strange that German doesn't have more synonyms for this. – Kilian Foth May 14 '14 at 17:54
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    @KilianFoth Not true. See examples: Denunziant, Anschwärzer, Verräter, Informant, Whistleblower, Kameradenschwein, ... I'd use the first one. – Semo Sep 16 '22 at 07:23
  • They are all not really synonyms since I only ever heard "Petze" with Children. – Portree Kid Sep 16 '22 at 08:04
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A nice kids rhyme against snitching:

Petze Petze ging in'n Laden
wollte Zehn Pfund Käse haben,
Käse aber gab es nicht,
Petze Petze ärgert sich.

Takkat
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ic_fl2
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