Alle vs. Alles | What's the difference?

Sometimes we hear beginners ask about the difference between alle & alles in German. Telling the difference can be especially tricky when it looks like the two words could be swapped out for one another.

The sentence "Er hat alles gehört" looks dangerously similar to "Er hat alle gehört".

However, alle and alles aren't interchangable - you cannot swap them out! They have different meanings and these two sentences mean very different things.

When you're tackling German stories, or are doing more general German reading, this difference can be pretty important. Let's find out what it is!

What's the difference between alle & alles?

The difference between alle & alles in German is very similar to the difference between "all" and "everything" in English: Whenever you would use "everything" in English, you'd say alles in German.

With this in mind, let's have another look at the two example sentences mentioned in the introduction:

Alles means "everything", so this sentence means "He has heard everything". He has heard everything that was said.

Now on to the second example sentence:

This means "He has heard all (of them)" or "He has heard everyone". As you can see, this has an entirely different meaning.

And this is already it! Let's end this blog post with some examples sentences for both words.

Examples

Example Sentences with alles

Here are some example sentences using alles:

Example Sentences with alle

And, lastly, some more examples sentences using alle: