falsch

Falsch is a German adjective and adverb meaning not true, not correct, or deceitful. In everyday language it can describe an incorrect statement, a mistaken action, or something intended to mislead. The word covers both erroneousness and intentional dishonesty, depending on context.

As an adjective, falsch precedes or follows the noun it modifies: example phrases include eine falsche Behauptung (a false/incorrect claim), falsche Informationen (false information) or falscher Alarm (false alarm). The forms decline like other German adjectives: falsch, falsche, falsches, falscher, and so on, depending on gender, case, and definiteness. As an adverb or predicative adjective, it can appear in sentences such as das ist falsch (that is wrong) or er hat es falsch gemacht (he did it incorrectly).

Related nouns and verbs express related concepts: Fälschung (forgery) and fälschen (to falsify) describe deceit or counterfeit objects. Falschgeld refers to counterfeit money. Falschheit denotes falsity in a more abstract sense, while falsch used in idioms such as falsche Schlange (a deceitful person) or mit falschen Versprechungen (with false promises) signals moral or practical unreliability.

Nuances distinguish falsch from near-synonyms: unrichtig or inkorrekt generally align with factual error, while fälschen or Fälschung emphasizes deception or forgery. Fälschlich is a related adverb meaning erroneously or mistakenly, often with a nuance of oversight rather than intent.

In computing and logic, the term is used to translate boolean values. German-language resources typically use wahr for true and falsch for false, aligning with the logical notion of truth-value in programming and formal logic.