Learn anschauen vs schauen used as nouns in German. Build fluency with personalized exercises, chats, and video recommendations.
schauen (das Schauen) means "looking" or "watching" (the act of seeing/observing). It’s a neutral noun formed from the verb.anschauen (das Anschauen) also means "looking at" or "watching," often more deliberate/more focused (like "examining" or "viewing").Examples:
Das Schauen von Filmen macht mir Spaß. (Watching movies is fun for me.)Das Anschauen des Gemäldes hat mich beeindruckt. (The viewing of the painting impressed me.)Note: As nouns, both take das and in everyday speech, you might also see specific event nouns like die Besichtigung (inspection/viewing) for anschauen contexts.
Related Topics: Schauen, Anschauen, Nominalization of verbs