Pflegekraft

care worker

noun PFLAY-ge-kraft Rare

Also means

nursing staff

Usage Note

Pflegekraft is a gender-neutral term for a qualified nursing or care worker. It covers Krankenpfleger/in (hospital nurse) and Altenpfleger/in (elderly care worker). Germany faces a significant Pflegekräftemangel (shortage of care workers).

Examples

"In vielen Krankenhäusern fehlen qualifizierte Pflegekräfte."

Natural Translation

Many hospitals lack qualified care workers.

Literal Translation

In many hospitals lack qualified care workers.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Related Words

Explore German by topic

GermanNow

German Compound Words: How to Read Any Long Word

Read any long German word by working right-to-left: the last noun sets the meaning and gender, and the small linking letters are just glue. Here's the drill.

June 9, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

Der, Die, Das: Rules to Guess German Gender

German noun gender rules made simple: check the suffix first, then meaning. Endings like -ung, -chen, and -ling predict der, die, or das with ~90% accuracy.

June 5, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

German Adjective Endings Made Simple

German adjective endings come down to one question, not three tables: does the article already show gender and case? If yes, the adjective stays lazy.

June 5, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

How Long Does It Take to Learn German? Real Timeline

How long to learn German? Conversational B1 takes ~6–12 months, fluent B2 about 1.5–2.5 years part-time. Here's an honest, hours-based timeline by CEFR level.

June 9, 2026 5 min read