Beautiful German Words
sturmfrei
SHTOORM-fry
That specific freedom of having the whole place to yourself — named perfectly.
What it means
Sturmfrei describes having your home all to yourself — the parents are away, the flatmates are out, and the place is yours. Originally a military term (“free from attack”), it now means glorious, unsupervised freedom.
It is the feeling teenagers live for and adults quietly still enjoy: eine sturmfreie Bude — a place with no one to answer to.
In real sentences
Heute habe ich sturmfrei!
I’ve got the place to myself today!
I’ve got the place to myself today!
Wir haben eine sturmfreie Bude.
We’ve got the whole place to ourselves.
We’ve got the whole place to ourselves.
Word family
Sturm (storm) + frei (free). Frei is one of German’s most useful words — Freizeit (free time), eintrittsfrei (free entry), zuckerfrei (sugar-free).
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