Cheers in German: Prost, Zum Wohl & How to Toast (Audio)

Q: What do Germans say when they say cheers?

Germans say Prost (prohst) with beer and in everyday company, and Zum Wohl (tsoom VOHL) with wine, at formal tables and across the south. At Oktoberfest the whole tent sings Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit. Whichever word you choose, look each person in the eye as the glasses touch.

Q: What does Prost mean literally?

It comes from the Latin prosit, meaning roughly “may it be of benefit” or “may it do good.” German students shortened it to Prost in the 1700s. The longer Prosit is still used on grand occasions, which is why the Oktoberfest song is Ein Prosit.

Q: Is it Prost or Prosit?

Both are correct. Prost is the short, everyday form and what you will hear ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Prosit (PROH-zit) is the older full version, kept for festivals, speeches and Oktoberfest, and it is still common in Austria.

Q: How do you say cheers in Austrian?

In Austria the usual toast is Zum Wohl (tsoom VOHL), with Prosit close behind — the older form stayed in fashion there. Prost is perfectly normal too. Around midday you will also hear Mahlzeit — but that one is a lunchtime greeting and a wish over the food, never a toast with the glass.

German › Phrases › Cheers

Updated August 2026 · Everyday German · 6-minute read · 🔊 every phrase has audio

The quick answer: cheers in German is Prost (prohst). With wine, at a formal table and across Bavaria and Austria, Germans say Zum Wohl (tsoom VOHL) instead — “to your well-being.” In Switzerland it comes out as Proscht (prohsht). Prost and Zum Wohl are both correct, and one rule matters more than either word: look each person in the eye while your glasses touch. Hear all 14 toasts below. 👇

Prost!

prohst · cheers — one syllable, one long o, and no “ah” on the end

🐌 Slow version

Raising a glass in Germany is not a casual business. There is a word, and behind the word there is a small choreography — who lifts first, who says what, where your eyes go, and how long you have to wait before you may actually drink. Get the word and the eyes right and you have passed. Everything else is detail — and all of it is below, spoken aloud.

14 ways to say cheers in German

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Prost!	prohst	Cheers!	the everyday one — beer, friends, anywhere in Germany
Prosit!	PROH-zit	May it do good	the older, fuller form — festivals, speeches, Oktoberfest tents
Zum Wohl!	tsoom VOHL	To your well-being	wine, formal tables, and much of the German-speaking south
Auf dein Wohl!	owf dine VOHL	To your health (familiar)	to one person you call by first name
Auf Ihr Wohl!	owf eer VOHL	To your health (polite)	to anyone you’d call Herr or Frau
Auf euer Wohl!	owf OY-er VOHL	To all of your health	to a whole table of people you know
Auf uns!	owf oonss	To us!	the warm one — anniversaries, reunions, family tables
Auf dich!	owf dish	To you!	when the toast is for one person — a birthday, a piece of news
Auf die Freundschaft!	owf dee FROYNT-shahft	To friendship!	the toast that ends an evening well
Auf die Gesundheit!	owf dee geh-ZOONT-hite	To your health!	slightly formal — and yes, the same word you say for a sneeze
Wohl bekomm’s!	vohl beh-KOMS	May it do you good	old-fashioned and southern — over food as often as drink
Hoch die Tassen!	hohkh dee TAH-ssen	Up with the cups!	playful and loud — parties, never a business dinner
Lass uns anstoßen!	lahss oonss AHN-shtoh-ssen	Let’s clink glasses!	the invitation that comes just before the toast
Auf ex!	owf EX	All in one go!	bottoms up — students, birthdays, and regret

💡 Pronunciation tip: Prost has one long o, like the o in “most”, and it stops dead on the t — prohst, never “PRAW-sta”. In Zum Wohl, the z is a ts sound (as in “cats”) and the w is a v, so it comes out tsoom VOHL, with the weight on the second word. Say them once each out loud now; they are two of the easiest phrases in German.

Prost or Zum Wohl? The real difference

Both mean roughly “to your health,” and nobody will correct you for using the wrong one. But Germans do choose between them, and the choice runs along three lines at once.

What’s in the glass. Beer takes Prost. Wine takes Zum Wohl. This is the strongest of the three habits, and in a Rhine or Mosel wine village it is close to a rule.

Where you are. Prost is the default across the north and center of Germany. Head south — Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Austria — and Zum Wohl becomes much more common, above all with wine and at a formal table. Bavarian beer still takes Prost, in the beer garden and in the tent. In Austria and Bavaria you will even hear Zum Wohl said after a sneeze.

Who you’re with. Prost is friendly and slightly informal. Zum Wohl is the one that suits a table where people are still using surnames.

Situation	What to say	Say it like	Why
Beer with friends in Hamburg or Berlin	Prost!	prohst	the northern, everyday default
Wine at dinner, anywhere	Zum Wohl!	tsoom VOHL	wine has always taken the gentler word
Wine or a formal table in Bavaria or Austria	Zum Wohl!	tsoom VOHL	the southern default — though Bavarian beer still takes Prost
A table where you’re still on Sie	Auf Ihr Wohl!	owf eer VOHL	the polite form, aimed at them rather than the room
You honestly can’t tell	Prost!	prohst	understood and welcome in every German-speaking room

🇩🇪 Prost is Latin, and it was student slang first: prosit is a Latin verb form meaning roughly “may it be of benefit.” German university students picked it up in the 1700s, the way students pick things up, and wore it down to the blunt one-syllable Prost we use today. The full Prosit survived alongside it for grander occasions — which is why the Oktoberfest anthem is Ein Prosit and not Ein Prost. Every time you raise a glass in Munich you are quoting a Latin lecture hall.

The eye-contact rule, and the four things Germans do without thinking

Americans usually learn the word and miss the ritual. The ritual is the part Germans actually notice.

Look them in the eye — every single one of them. As your glass touches theirs, your eyes meet theirs, and you go around the table one person at a time. Looking at the glasses instead of the faces is the giveaway. Folklore promises seven years of bad luck for skipping it, and the student version of that curse is considerably more personal.
Wait for everybody. Nobody drinks until every glass is filled and the host or the oldest person at the table has raised theirs. Being first is not eager, it is rude.
Clink, then sip, then set it down. Touching glasses and immediately parking yours on the table is bad form. Take at least a small sip first.
Water is the one glass some people won’t clink. An old superstition, still alive among older and more traditional drinkers, says a toast made with water wishes death on the person opposite. Plenty of Germans ignore it entirely. But if you are not drinking alcohol, the graceful move is to lift your glass, say the words, smile — and skip the clink.

💡 The one to remember: if you take away a single thing from this page, take the eyes. You can say Prost to a Bavarian wine-drinker and nothing will happen. Clink his glass while looking at the tablecloth and he will remember it.

Toasting at Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest runs a toast on a schedule. Every fifteen or twenty minutes the band in each tent strikes up the same short song, thousands of people stand up on their benches, and the whole tent drinks together.

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit	ine PROH-zit dair guh-MEWT-lish-kite	A toast to coziness and good cheer	the tent anthem — everyone stands, everyone sings
Oans, zwoa, gsuffa!	OH-ahnss, TSVOH-ah, GSOO-fah	One, two, drink up! (Bavarian)	the three words that end the song, shouted
O’zapft is!	OH-tsahpft iss	It’s tapped!	what Munich’s mayor shouts to open the festival
Eine Maß, bitte	AY-nuh mahss, BIT-tuh	One liter of beer, please	ordering at the table — a Maß is a full liter
Noch ein Bier, bitte	nokh ine BEER, BIT-tuh	Another beer, please	works in every bar in the country

Cheers in Austria and Switzerland

Cross the border and the word tilts. The Austrians toast more formally than the Germans do; the Swiss shrink everything into something affectionate.

German	Say it like	What it means	Where you’ll hear it
Zum Wohl!	tsoom VOHL	To your well-being	Austria’s everyday toast, from wine taverns to weddings
Prosit!	PROH-zit	May it do good	Austria, where the older form never went out of fashion
Mahlzeit!	MAHL-tsite	Mealtime! (a lunch greeting, not a glass toast)	everywhere at midday — offices, canteens, corridors, Austria included
Proscht!	prohsht	Cheers!	German-speaking Switzerland — Prost with a Swiss sh
Pröschtli!	PRURSHT-lee	Little cheers!	Switzerland’s affectionate version — the Swiss shrink everything
Zum Wohlsein!	tsoom VOHL-zine	To well-being	Switzerland and older speakers everywhere

🇩🇪 The toast that changes how you speak to someone: German has a ceremony for the moment two people stop being formal. It is called Brüderschaft trinken (BREW-der-shahft TRINK-en), “drinking brotherhood.” You link right arms, drink with your arms crossed through each other’s, and from that swallow on you use du and first names for the rest of your lives. Traditionally it ends with a light kiss on the cheek, and traditionally it is the older person who offers it. It is rarer than it was — these days you are likeliest to meet it at a wedding, in a club, or among older relatives — and if it is offered to you, say yes.

When “cheers” doesn’t mean cheers

One warning, because it catches Americans and Britons constantly. In English, “cheers” has quietly grown a second job: it can mean thank you, or goodbye, or both at once. German has never allowed that.

Prost only ever means one thing: glasses in the air. If you mean thank you, say Danke. If you mean goodbye, say Tschüss. Saying Prost to a shopkeeper who has just handed you your change will produce a very confused shopkeeper. Both of those words have their own lessons — Thank You in German and Goodbye in German.

Which one should you actually use?

Take Prost and nothing else and you are still covered. It works in every German-speaking country, with every drink, at every table, and it takes half a second to say.

Then adjust for the room:

Wine in the glass? Zum Wohl.
Bavaria, Austria or Switzerland? Zum Wohl — or Proscht if you’re in Zurich.
Everyone still on surnames? Auf Ihr Wohl.
A family table, a reunion, an anniversary? Auf uns.
Toasting one person by name? Auf dich — and look straight at them.
Not drinking alcohol? Lift the glass, say the words, skip the clink.

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Practice: quick check

1. Your cousin in Würzburg pours everyone a glass of Franconian white and raises his…

Zum Wohl! — wine, and the south, both point the same way. Prost would be understood perfectly, but Zum Wohl is what the rest of the table will say, and matching them is half the trick.

2. Six people at the table, six glasses up, and you want to do the part Germans actually watch for…

Meet all six pairs of eyes, one at a time. Say Prost once, then work around the table — clink, eyes, next. Then take a sip before you put the glass down. Nobody will compliment you on it. Everybody will notice.

3. A waiter in Vienna hands you your coffee and you want to thank him…

Danke! — not Prost. German never borrowed the British habit of using “cheers” to mean thanks. Prost is for raised glasses and nothing else.

Prost! — every German toast with its pronunciation, from My Everyday Language — Save or share this card — every word on it has a play button above.

Frequently asked questions

What do Germans say when they say cheers?

Germans say Prost (prohst) with beer and in everyday company, and Zum Wohl (tsoom VOHL) with wine, at formal tables and across the south. At Oktoberfest the whole tent sings Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit. Whichever word you choose, look each person in the eye as the glasses touch.

What does Prost mean literally?

It comes from the Latin prosit, meaning roughly “may it be of benefit” or “may it do good.” German students shortened it to Prost in the 1700s. The longer Prosit is still used on grand occasions, which is why the Oktoberfest song is Ein Prosit.

Is it Prost or Prosit?

Both are correct. Prost is the short, everyday form and what you will hear ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Prosit (PROH-zit) is the older full version, kept for festivals, speeches and Oktoberfest, and it is still common in Austria.

How do you toast in Germany?

Wait until every glass is filled and the host has raised theirs. Lift your glass, say Prost or Zum Wohl, then clink with each person in turn while looking straight into their eyes. Take a sip before you set the glass down — and if your glass holds water, many older Germans would rather you lifted it without clinking.

How do you say cheers in Austrian?

In Austria the usual toast is Zum Wohl (tsoom VOHL), with Prosit close behind — the older form stayed in fashion there. Prost is perfectly normal too. Around midday you will also hear Mahlzeit — but that one is a lunchtime greeting and a wish over the food, never a toast with the glass.

Can I use Prost to mean “thanks”?

No. In English “cheers” can mean thank you or goodbye, but German never borrowed that. Prost means glasses in the air and nothing else. For thank you say Danke, and for goodbye say Tschüss.

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