Welcome to the gallery of optical illusions! To describe mind-bending shapes and shifting perspectives, you will need specialized vocabulary.
| This optical illusion is totally confusing. | Diese optische Illusion ist total verwirrend. |
| From this angle, the pattern appears crooked. | Aus diesem Winkel wirkt das Muster schief. |
When describing these visual tricks, we often negate adjectives. Native German words typically use the prefix un- (like unmöglich or unbekannt), but adjectives borrowed from Latin retain their original Latin negation prefixes.
The default Latin prefix is in-, but its final consonant often assimilates to match the first letter of the adjective.
Matching consonants: ir- and il-
If a borrowed adjective begins with r, the prefix changes to ir-.
| This sculpture is completely irregular. | Diese Skulptur ist komplett irregulär. |
| My fear in the dark is completely irrational. | Meine Angst in der Dunkelheit ist völlig irrational. |
| The colors in this exhibition appear unreal. | Die Farben in dieser Ausstellung wirken irreal. |
If the word begins with l, the prefix becomes il-.
| The perspective in the painting is simply illogical. | Die Perspektive auf dem Gemälde ist einfach illogisch. |
Before M and P: im-
If a Latin adjective starts with an m or p, the prefix changes to im-.
| The shadow is immaterial, but one can see it. | Der Schatten ist immateriell, aber man kann ihn sehen. |
| An imperfect line makes the illusion interesting in the first place. | Eine imperfekte Linie macht die Illusion erst interessant. |
The default prefix: in-
For most other Latin-derived adjectives, the prefix remains in-. You will see this before vowels and consonants like s, d, or t.
| The tower in the picture looks very unstable. | Der Turm auf dem Bild sieht sehr instabil aus. |
| The whole construction appears unstable and unreal. | Die ganze Konstruktion wirkt instabil und irreal. |