All German word comparisons · Back to the topic overview
Meaning, sentence patterns and examples
| Word | Core meaning | Typical context | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|
| sensibel | sensitive; perceptive; delicate | People, careful treatment and delicate issues | Adjective, inflected before nouns: ein sensibler Mensch, ein sensibles Thema. |
| empfindlich | sensitive; vulnerable; easily affected | Skin, materials, reactions and easily hurt feelings | Adjective: empfindliche Haut; die Haut ist empfindlich. |
| sensitiv | highly sensitive; oversensitive | Marked descriptions of sensitivity | Adjective: eine sensitive Person; die Person ist sensitiv. |
sensibel
Meaning and usage: Sensibel can praise someone’s ability to notice feelings or describe their emotional sensitivity. It also applies to painful stimuli and to delicate issues that demand care. That range prevents a strict “people only” rule: instruments and topics can also be sensibel. The English look-alike sensible creates an additional trap because it usually means reasonable rather than sensitive.
Grammar: Adjective, inflected before nouns: ein sensibler Mensch, ein sensibles Thema. After sein it remains uninflected: sie ist sensibel.
Das ist ein sensibles Thema für meine Familie.
That is a sensitive topic for my family.
Die Lehrerin geht sensibel mit der Unsicherheit des Kindes um.
The teacher responds sensitively to the child’s uncertainty.
empfindlich
Meaning and usage: Empfindlich commonly describes things or people that react strongly to a stimulus. Skin can be empfindlich, as can a delicate material or someone easily offended. It can also describe a considerable or painful impact, such as an empfindlicher Verlust. That last sense does not mean the loss itself has feelings: it says the loss is serious or strongly felt.
Grammar: Adjective: empfindliche Haut; die Haut ist empfindlich. Gegen + accusative or gegenüber + dative can name what triggers the sensitivity.
Der Stoff ist empfindlich gegen Feuchtigkeit.
The fabric is sensitive to moisture.
Er reagiert empfindlich auf persönliche Kritik.
He reacts sensitively to personal criticism.
sensitiv
Meaning and usage: The general Duden entry gives sensitiv a heightened or excessive-sensitivity meaning and links it to emotional vulnerability. This overlaps with senses of sensibel and empfindlich. It is therefore unsafe to assign it one exclusive type of sensitivity. In ordinary learner speech, sensibel or empfindlich is often a clearer starting choice; specialized technical and product language requires its own context check.
Grammar: Adjective: eine sensitive Person; die Person ist sensitiv. Ordinary adjective endings apply; it is not a noun with a grammatical plural.
In dieser Phase war er besonders sensitiv und reagierte stark auf kleine Bemerkungen.
During this period he was especially sensitive and reacted strongly to minor remarks.
Overlap and context
All three can concern sensitivity, and no universal emotional-versus-physical-versus-technical division is supported by the general dictionary entries checked here. Select familiar combinations such as sensible Themen and empfindliche Haut. Assess technical uses of sensitiv separately instead of forcing them into a neat classroom rule.
Common mistakes
- Do not translate a sensible decision as eine sensible Entscheidung when you mean reasonable. Eine vernünftige Entscheidung expresses that idea.
- Empfindlich can describe emotional sensitivity as well as a physical response; objects versus people is not the boundary.
- Do not treat sensitiv as an automatic translation of every English sensitive. Check the specific specialist context and register.
Memory aid: Sensibel notices or needs care; empfindlich is easily affected. Treat sensitiv as a marked option that needs context.
Try it
Which adjective fits the English false friend: a sensible plan, sensibel or vernünftig?
Show the answer
vernünftig
English sensible means reasonable here. Sensibel would shift the meaning toward sensitivity or delicacy.