German I

The big picture

Willkommen. Welcome to German. The best news for a beginner is that German spelling is highly regular. Once you learn a small set of rules, you can read almost any word aloud correctly, because the letters map to sounds in predictable ways. English speakers also start with an advantage, since English and German are close cousins and share hundreds of look-alike words such as Haus (house), Wasser (water), and Freund (friend). This lesson covers the alphabet, the vowels and umlauts, the letter ß, and the handful of consonant sounds that differ from English.

Key idea: German rewards you early. Learn the sound rules once and you can pronounce new words on sight, long before you understand what they mean.

The alphabet

German uses the same 26 letters as English, plus three vowels with umlauts, ä, ö, and ü, and one extra letter, ß, called the eszett. The umlaut dots are not decorations; they change the vowel sound. Knowing the letter names lets you spell your name aloud and read signs. A few names differ from English: j is said yot, w is said veh, v is said fau, y is upsilon, and z is tsett. The five plain vowels a, e, i, o, u keep simple names that are close to their own sounds.

A head start from English

English and German both descend from an older Germanic language, so they share a large core of everyday words. Recognizing these cognates gives you an instant vocabulary, although you still must pronounce them the German way. Notice how regular the matches are: an English th often shows up as a German d, and an English p often shows up as a German f or pf.

German	English	German	English
Haus	house	Buch	book
Wasser	water	Vater	father
Freund	friend	Garten	garden
Milch	milk	Apfel	apple
Bruder	brother	gut	good

Do not trust every look-alike, though. A few common words look English but mean something else, and we call these false friends. You will meet them throughout the course, starting with the fact that the German also means so or therefore, not the English also.

Vowels, long and short

Every German vowel has a long version and a short version. A vowel is usually long when it is doubled, when a silent h follows it, or when a single consonant follows. It is short when a double consonant follows. Compare ihn (him, long i) with in (in, short i), or Saal (hall) with Stadt (city). Length can change meaning, so it is worth hearing.

Vowel	Long, as in	Short, as in
a	Vater (father)	Mann (man)
e	See (lake)	Bett (bed)
i	wir (we)	mit (with)
o	Boot (boat)	Sonne (sun)
u	Uhr (clock)	und (and)

The three umlauts

The umlauts change the mouth position for a, o, and u. They are real, meaning-bearing letters: schon means already, but schön means beautiful. Two of them, ö and ü, do not exist in English, so they take a little practice. They are worth the effort, because they separate many everyday words.

Letter	How to make it	Example	English
ä	like the e in bed	Mädchen	girl
ö	say eh, then round your lips	schön	beautiful
ü	say ee, then round your lips	über	over, above

A reliable trick: to make ö, say the German e sound (eh) and push your lips forward into a tight circle. To make ü, say ee and round your lips the same way. Keep the tongue where it was for eh or ee and only move the lips. Try Tür (door), hören (to hear), and fünf (five).

The letter ß

The eszett, ß, is a single letter that stands for a sharp, voiceless s, the same sound as ss. You will see it after long vowels and after diphthongs, as in Straße (street), groß (big), weiß (white), and Fuß (foot). After a short vowel, German writes ss instead, as in Fluss (river) and muss (must). In Switzerland the letter is not used at all, and ss is written everywhere. The eszett is not a capital B and not the Greek letter beta.

Consonants that surprise English speakers

Most German consonants match English, but a few are traps. Learn these first and your accent improves at once.

Letter	Sounds like	Example	English
w	English v	Wasser	water
v	English f	Vater	father
j	English y	ja	yes
z	ts	Zeit	time
s (before a vowel)	English z	Sonne	sun
sch	English sh	Schule	school

Two more rules matter. At the start of a word, sp and st are said as shp and sht, so Sport sounds like shport and Stadt like shtat. And at the end of a word, the letters b, d, and g harden into p, t, and k. This is called final devoicing, so Tag (day) ends like tahk, und (and) ends like unt, and halb (half) ends like halp.

The ch and r sounds

The pair ch has two sounds. After the bright vowels e, i, ä, ö, ü and after l, n, r, it is soft, made near the front of the mouth, like a whispered h in the word huge. This is the ich-Laut, heard in ich (I), nicht (not), and Milch (milk). After the dark vowels a, o, u, au it is a raspier sound from the back of the throat, the ach-Laut, heard in Buch (book), ach, and auch (also). When ch is followed by s, it simply says ks, as in sechs (six).

The German r is also different. In standard German it is usually made at the back of the throat, near where you gargle, rather than with the tip of the tongue as in English or Spanish. At the end of a syllable it often softens almost to a short ah, so Mutter (mother) sounds close to mutta. Do not aim for perfection at first; a clear back r and clean vowels already carry you a long way.

Diphthongs

A diphthong is two vowels pronounced as one glide. German has three common ones, and a simple rule helps. The pair ei is said like the English word eye, while ie is said like the English ee in see. So mein (my) rhymes with mine, but vier (four) sounds like veer. The pair eu and its cousin äu both sound like the oy in boy, as in neu (new) and Häuser (houses). Confusing ei and ie is the single most common reading mistake for beginners.

A few letter combinations

Some clusters of letters have their own fixed sounds. Learn these and very little on the page will surprise you.

Combination	Sounds like	Example	English
sch	sh	Schule	school
tsch	ch in church	Deutsch	German
pf	p and f together	Apfel	apple
qu	kv	Quelle	spring, source
ng	ng in singer	Finger	finger
ck	k	Ecke	corner

The cluster pf feels strange at first, because English never begins a word with it, yet Pferd (horse) and Apfel (apple) are everyday words. For qu, remember it is not kw as in the English quick but kv, so Quelle begins like kvel. The cluster tsch matches the English ch, which is why the word for the language itself, Deutsch, ends much like the English word coach without its final vowel.

Where the stress falls

In most native German words the stress lands on the first syllable, as in DAN-ke (thank you), MOR-gen (morning), and AR-beit (work). Words built with a few common prefixes, such as be-, ge-, and ver-, place the stress on the syllable after the prefix, so be-KOM-men (to receive) and ver-STE-hen (to understand) are stressed on their second syllable. Borrowed words often keep a foreign stress, as in Stu-DENT and Uni-ver-si-TÄT. When in doubt with a plain German word, stress the first syllable and you will usually be right.

Putting the sounds together

Read these aloud and apply the rules. Each line gives the English meaning and a hint.

• Guten Tag! (Good day. The g in Tag hardens to a k sound.)
• Ich heiße Sophie. (My name is Sophie. Note the soft ch and the sharp ß.)
• Wir wohnen in München. (We live in Munich. w is v, and ü is rounded.)
• Das Wasser ist weiß. (The water is white. w is v, ei is eye, ß is ss.)
• Sechs Bücher, bitte. (Six books, please. chs says ks, and ü is rounded.)

A short dialogue: spelling a name

Spelling aloud is one of the first real tasks you will face. Here is a tiny exchange.

• Anna: Wie ist Ihr Name? (What is your name?)
• Björn: Ich heiße Björn. (My name is Björn.)
• Anna: Wie schreibt man das? (How do you spell that?)
• Björn: B, j, o-Umlaut, r, n. (B, j, ö, r, n.)
• Anna: Danke schön. (Thank you very much.)

Common misconceptions

• The German w sounds like the English w. It does not. German w is the English v, and German v is usually the English f.
• The letter ß is a capital B or a Greek beta. It is neither. It is a single s sound, equal to ss, used after long vowels.
• ch is always pronounced like k. Only the group chs says ks. Otherwise ch is the soft ich sound or the raspier ach sound.
• German is harsh and hard to read. It is one of the most phonetic major languages, so its spelling reliably predicts its sound.

Recap

• German is highly phonetic, so a few rules let you read new words aloud.
• Vowels are long or short, and the umlauts ä, ö, ü change both the sound and the meaning.
• The letter ß is a sharp s used after long vowels; Switzerland writes ss instead.
• w is v, v is f, z is ts, j is y, and s before a vowel is z.
• ch has a soft and a hard form, and ei sounds like eye while ie sounds like ee.

Sources

1. "German orthography." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "ß." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "Standard German phonology." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Learn German." Deutsche Welle, dw.com.
5. "Grimm Grammar." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

Every German conversation opens with a greeting, and a dozen set phrases will carry you into almost any exchange. German also makes an early choice that English does not: it has two words for you. One, du, is informal and warm; the other, Sie, is formal and respectful. Picking the right one is a matter of courtesy, not grammar alone, so we will learn the rule clearly. This lesson gives you greetings, farewells, the phrases for introducing yourself, and the polite words that smooth every interaction.

Key idea: Learn a small stock of greetings plus the du and Sie distinction, and you can start and end real conversations from day one.

Hello and goodbye

German greetings often depend on the time of day, much like English. The neutral, all-purpose greeting is Guten Tag, literally good day. Note that the words below are used across the German-speaking world, with some regional favorites.

German	English	When
Guten Morgen	Good morning	until about 11 a.m.
Guten Tag	Good day, hello	during the day
Guten Abend	Good evening	from early evening
Gute Nacht	Good night	when going to bed
Hallo	Hi, hello	informal, any time
Auf Wiedersehen	Goodbye	formal farewell
Tschüss	Bye	informal farewell

Regions have their own flavors. In Bavaria and Austria you will hear Grüß Gott for hello and Servus for both hello and bye. In the north, Moin works all day. To say see you soon, use Bis bald; for see you tomorrow, Bis morgen.

How are you?

To ask how someone is, the form again depends on formality. Informally you say Wie geht es dir? or the casual Wie geht's? Formally you say Wie geht es Ihnen? A natural follow-up is Und dir? or the formal Und Ihnen? Here are common answers, from best to worst.

German	English
Sehr gut, danke.	Very well, thank you.
Gut, danke.	Fine, thanks.
Es geht.	So-so, okay.
Nicht so gut.	Not so good.
Schlecht.	Bad.

German answers tend to be a little more literal than the automatic English fine. Es geht honestly means so-so, and people may actually tell you if their day is hard. A common friendly exchange runs like this: Hallo, wie geht's? Danke, gut. Und dir? Auch gut, danke. Notice that danke can come before or after the adjective, and that dir is the informal partner of the formal Ihnen.

Introducing yourself

Now you can say who you are. There are a few common patterns for names, origin, and where you live. Notice that komme aus means come from, and wohne in means live in.

German	English
Ich heiße Anna.	My name is Anna. (literally, I am called Anna)
Mein Name ist Anna.	My name is Anna.
Wie heißt du? / Wie heißen Sie?	What is your name? (informal / formal)
Ich komme aus Österreich.	I come from Austria.
Woher kommst du?	Where do you come from?
Ich wohne in Berlin.	I live in Berlin.
Freut mich.	Pleased to meet you.

Saying where you are from

To give your origin, use Ich komme aus plus a country. Most countries take no article, but a few do, such as die Schweiz, die USA, and die Türkei, and then aus combines with the article. Here are common examples you can drop straight into a conversation.

Country	Origin phrase	English
Deutschland	Ich komme aus Deutschland.	from Germany
Österreich	Ich komme aus Österreich.	from Austria
die Schweiz	Ich komme aus der Schweiz.	from Switzerland
die USA	Ich komme aus den USA.	from the USA
England	Ich komme aus England.	from England
Kanada	Ich komme aus Kanada.	from Canada

du or Sie?

This is the heart of German politeness. Use du with family, close friends, children, fellow students, and animals. Use Sie with strangers, older people you do not know, officials, and anyone in a shop, office, or formal setting. When you meet an adult for the first time, Sie is the safe, respectful choice, and people will invite you to switch to du when they are ready. The verb changes with the pronoun: with Sie you say Wie heißen Sie, and with du you say Wie heißt du.

Key idea: The pronoun Sie, meaning formal you, is always written with a capital S, which sets it apart from sie, meaning she or they.

Please, thank you, and sorry

A few courtesy words appear constantly. Learn bitte (please), danke (thank you), and danke schön or vielen Dank for a warmer thank you. To reply to thanks, say bitte or gern geschehen (you are welcome). To apologize or get attention, use Entschuldigung (excuse me, sorry). One useful quirk: bitte does double duty, meaning please, you are welcome, and here you go, depending on the situation.

A short dialogue

Two adults meet for the first time, so they use the formal Sie.

• Herr Klein: Guten Tag! Mein Name ist Klein. Wie heißen Sie? (Good day. My name is Klein. What is your name?)
• Frau Weber: Guten Tag, Herr Klein. Ich heiße Weber. Freut mich. (Good day, Mr. Klein. My name is Weber. Pleased to meet you.)
• Herr Klein: Woher kommen Sie, Frau Weber? (Where are you from, Mrs. Weber?)
• Frau Weber: Ich komme aus Österreich, aus Wien. Und Sie? (I am from Austria, from Vienna. And you?)
• Herr Klein: Ich komme aus Hamburg. (I am from Hamburg.)

Titles and last names

In formal German you address people with a title and their last name. Herr means Mr., and Frau means Mrs. or Ms., so you say Herr Klein or Frau Weber. The older word Fräulein for an unmarried woman now sounds outdated and is best avoided; use Frau for any adult woman. Titles pair naturally with Sie, so Guten Tag, Frau Weber, wie geht es Ihnen? is a complete, polite greeting for someone you have just met.

A little more small talk

Two more sets of phrases keep a first conversation moving. To say which languages you speak, use Ich spreche plus the language: Ich spreche Englisch und ein bisschen Deutsch means I speak English and a little German. When you do not catch something, you can say Wie bitte? (Pardon?), Langsamer, bitte (Slower, please), or Ich verstehe nicht (I do not understand). To check whether someone speaks English, ask Sprechen Sie Englisch? These repair phrases are as valuable as any greeting, because they keep you afloat when your vocabulary runs short.

A few more useful questions

With a small set of question words you can keep learning about a new acquaintance. Each one pairs with a simple verb, and you will study these verbs closely in the next module.

German	English
Wie heißt du?	What is your name?
Woher kommst du?	Where are you from?
Wo wohnst du?	Where do you live?
Was machst du?	What do you do?
Sprichst du Deutsch?	Do you speak German?

A second dialogue: two students

Two classmates of the same age use the informal du.

• Lena: Hallo! Ich heiße Lena. Und du? (Hi. My name is Lena. And you?)
• Tom: Hi Lena, ich bin Tom. Freut mich. (Hi Lena, I am Tom. Nice to meet you.)
• Lena: Woher kommst du, Tom? (Where are you from, Tom?)
• Tom: Ich komme aus den USA, aus Chicago. Und du? (I am from the USA, from Chicago. And you?)
• Lena: Ich komme aus der Schweiz. Wie geht's? (I am from Switzerland. How are you?)
• Tom: Sehr gut, danke! (Very well, thanks.)

From Sie to du

Relationships in German often begin with Sie and later move to du. The older person, the host, or the person of higher rank usually offers the switch with a phrase like Wir können uns duzen (We can use du with each other). Accepting is friendly and completely normal. Until that moment, staying with Sie signals respect rather than distance, so there is no rush and no risk in waiting for the invitation.

Common misconceptions

• You can always use du to be friendly. With strangers and elders, du can seem rude. Start with Sie and let the other person offer du.
• Sie and sie are the same word. The capital letter matters. Sie is formal you, while sie is she or they.
• The German word also means the English also. It is a false friend. German also means so or therefore, while the English also is auch.
• bitte only means please. It also means you are welcome and here you go, so listen for the context.

Recap

• Greetings depend on the time of day: Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Guten Abend, and Gute Nacht.
• Ask how someone is with Wie geht es dir or the formal Wie geht es Ihnen.
• Introduce yourself with Ich heiße, say origin with Ich komme aus, and say where you live with Ich wohne in.
• Use du with friends and family, and Sie with strangers and elders; when unsure, choose Sie.
• bitte, danke, and Entschuldigung are the courtesy words you will use most.

Sources

1. "T-V distinction." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "Nico's Weg, beginner course." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.
3. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.
4. "also." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.

The big picture

German nouns work differently from English in two visible ways. First, every noun is written with a capital letter, always, whether it starts a sentence or not: der Tag (the day), das Haus (the house). Second, every noun has one of three genders, masculine, feminine, or neuter, and the word for the changes with it: der, die, or das. Gender is grammatical, not biological, so a table is feminine and a girl is neuter. The safest habit is to learn each noun together with its article, as one unit.

Key idea: Do not learn Tisch; learn der Tisch. The article is part of the word, and knowing it unlocks the grammar around the noun.

The three genders and the word for "the"

English has one definite article, the. German has three in the singular, one for each gender, plus one shared form for all plurals.

Gender	Article	Example	English
Masculine	der	der Mann	the man
Feminine	die	die Frau	the woman
Neuter	das	das Kind	the child
Plural (all)	die	die Kinder	the children

For people, grammatical gender usually follows natural gender, so der Vater (father) is masculine and die Mutter (mother) is feminine. For things it is unpredictable: der Tisch (table) is masculine, die Lampe (lamp) is feminine, and das Fenster (window) is neuter. There is no deep reason, so treat gender as spelling to be memorized with the noun.

Clues that predict gender

Gender is not entirely random. The ending of a noun often reveals it, and a handful of patterns cover thousands of words. These are strong tendencies rather than absolute laws, but they are well worth knowing.

Usually masculine	Usually feminine	Usually neuter
-er (der Lehrer)	-e (die Lampe)	-chen (das Mädchen)
-ling (der Frühling)	-ung (die Zeitung)	-lein (das Büchlein)
-ismus (der Tourismus)	-heit (die Freiheit)	-um (das Zentrum)
days, months (der Montag)	-keit, -schaft, -ion, -tät	-ment (das Dokument)

So die Universität, die Nation, and die Freundschaft are feminine from their endings, der Kapitalismus is masculine, and das Instrument is neuter. Notice one famous case: das Mädchen (girl) is neuter, not feminine, because the ending -chen always makes a noun neuter, no matter what it means.

The indefinite article: a and an

For a or an, German uses ein for masculine and neuter and eine for feminine. There is no plural of ein, just as English has no plural of a. To say not a or no, add a k to make kein, keine, kein.

Gender	a / an	Example	English
Masculine	ein	ein Mann	a man
Feminine	eine	eine Frau	a woman
Neuter	ein	ein Kind	a child

The nominative case

German nouns change their form depending on their job in the sentence, and these jobs are called cases. The first and most basic is the nominative, the case of the subject, the person or thing doing the action. In Der Hund schläft (The dog is sleeping), der Hund is the subject, so it stands in the nominative. The article forms you have just learned, der, die, das and ein, eine, ein, are the nominative forms. Later lessons add the accusative and dative, but the subject is always nominative.

The nominative appears in a second place: after the linking verbs sein (to be), werden (to become), and bleiben (to stay). What follows these verbs describes the subject, so it too stays nominative. In Das ist ein Lehrer (That is a teacher), ein Lehrer is nominative because it renames the subject, not because it is acted upon.

Making nouns plural

English usually just adds an s. German has several plural patterns, and the plural article is always die. The main types are shown below; many also add an umlaut to the stem vowel.

Type	Singular	Plural
add -e (often umlaut)	der Tag / der Stuhl	die Tage / die Stühle
add -er (often umlaut)	das Kind / das Buch	die Kinder / die Bücher
add -(e)n	die Frau / die Blume	die Frauen / die Blumen
add -s (loanwords)	das Auto	die Autos
no ending (maybe umlaut)	der Lehrer / der Vater	die Lehrer / die Väter

Because the plural is so varied, dictionaries list it for you, and it is smart to learn the plural along with the article. Learn the full package: der Mann, die Männer.

Pronouns follow gender

When you replace a noun with a pronoun, German chooses the pronoun by grammatical gender, not by whether the thing is alive. A masculine noun becomes er, a feminine noun becomes sie, and a neuter noun becomes es, even for lifeless objects. So Der Tisch ist neu becomes Er ist neu (It is new), Die Lampe ist alt becomes Sie ist alt, and Das Buch ist gut becomes Es ist gut. English would say it for all three, but German keeps the gender alive in the pronoun. This is one more reason to learn every noun with its article.

Compound nouns

German builds long words by gluing nouns together, and the last noun decides the gender and the plural of the whole. Take das Haus (house) and die Tür (door): joined, they make die Haustür (front door), feminine like Tür. Likewise die Hand (hand) and der Schuh (shoe) give der Handschuh (glove), masculine like Schuh. This rule is a gift: once you know the final part, you know the article of the whole compound, no matter how long it grows.

Naming jobs

To state a profession, German usually drops the article: Er ist Lehrer (He is a teacher), Sie ist Ärztin (She is a doctor). Many job words add -in for a woman, so der Lehrer becomes die Lehrerin and der Arzt becomes die Ärztin, often with an umlaut. The article returns only when an adjective is added, as in Er ist ein guter Lehrer (He is a good teacher). Notice that the profession word stays in the nominative, because it describes the subject after sein.

When to use der and when ein

The choice between der, die, das and ein, eine mirrors English. Use the definite article for something specific or already known: Der Mann dort ist mein Lehrer (The man there is my teacher). Use the indefinite article to introduce something new: Das ist ein Mann (That is a man). Once a thing has been mentioned, German switches to the definite article, exactly as English moves from a to the. Every example here stays in the nominative, the subject case, which you will build on in later lessons.

A strategy for learning gender

Since gender must be memorized, give yourself the best odds. Always store a new noun with its article and its plural, say them together out loud, and picture the three genders in three colors if that helps you. Group nouns by their endings, because a single rule such as words ending in -ung are feminine covers hundreds of words at once. Over time your ear starts to expect der, die, or das, and the articles feel less like a list to recite and more like a habit you already have.

Example sentences

• Der Mann ist groß. (The man is tall. Der Mann is the nominative subject.)
• Die Frau liest ein Buch. (The woman is reading a book.)
• Das Kind ist müde. (The child is tired.)
• Das ist eine Lampe. (That is a lamp. Eine Lampe is a predicate nominative after ist.)
• Die Bücher sind neu. (The books are new. Plural article die.)

A short dialogue: what is that?

A simple way to practice articles is to point and ask.

• Lehrer: Was ist das? (What is that?)
• Schülerin: Das ist ein Tisch. (That is a table.)
• Lehrer: Und das? Ist das eine Tür? (And that? Is that a door?)
• Schülerin: Nein, das ist ein Fenster. (No, that is a window.)
• Lehrer: Richtig. Der Tisch ist braun und das Fenster ist groß. (Correct. The table is brown and the window is big.)

Common misconceptions

• Gender follows meaning, so girl must be feminine. It does not. das Mädchen is neuter because the ending -chen always makes a noun neuter.
• You can guess the article most of the time. Endings give strong hints, but for many everyday nouns you must simply memorize der, die, or das.
• German nouns are capitalized only at the start of a sentence. Every noun is capitalized, everywhere, which actually helps you spot them.
• The plural is always -e or -s. German has five main plural patterns, so learn the plural together with the noun.

Recap

• Every German noun is capitalized and has a gender: der (masculine), die (feminine), or das (neuter).
• Endings such as -ung, -heit, -chen, and -er often predict gender, though exceptions exist.
• The indefinite article is ein for masculine and neuter and eine for feminine; kein means no or not a.
• The nominative is the case of the subject and of nouns after sein, werden, and bleiben.
• The plural article is always die, and German forms plurals in several ways, so memorize each one.

Sources

1. "German nouns." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "Grammatical gender." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "German articles." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
4. "der." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
5. "Grimm Grammar: nouns and gender." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

To make sentences you need verbs, and German verbs are wonderfully systematic. A verb in its base form is the infinitive, and it nearly always ends in -en, such as spielen (to play) or wohnen (to live). To use it, you drop the -en to find the stem, then add an ending that matches the subject. Learn one set of six endings and you can handle thousands of verbs. Two verbs, sein and haben, are irregular and so common that you will memorize them whole.

Key idea: German has one present tense, and it covers both I play and I am playing. There is no separate progressive form, so spiele does the work of both.

The personal pronouns

First, meet the subjects. German has more you-words than English: informal singular du, informal plural ihr, and formal Sie for one or many.

Pronoun	English	Pronoun	English
ich	I	wir	we
du	you (informal sg.)	ihr	you all (informal pl.)
er / sie / es	he / she / it	sie / Sie	they / you (formal)

Regular present-tense endings

Take the stem and add these endings. Here is spielen (to play) as the model, with wohnen (to live) beside it.

Pronoun	Ending	spielen	wohnen
ich	-e	spiele	wohne
du	-st	spielst	wohnst
er / sie / es	-t	spielt	wohnt
wir	-en	spielen	wohnen
ihr	-t	spielt	wohnt
sie / Sie	-en	spielen	wohnen

So Ich spiele Fußball means I play or I am playing soccer, and Wir wohnen in Berlin means We live in Berlin. Other easy regular verbs to practice include kommen (to come), machen (to do or make), lernen (to learn), gehen (to go), and heißen (to be called).

Small spelling adjustments

Two groups of verbs need a tiny change so they stay pronounceable. If the stem ends in -t or -d, add an e before the -st and -t endings, so arbeiten (to work) gives du arbeitest and er arbeitet. If the stem already ends in an s-sound, such as -s, -ss, -ß, or -z, the du form adds only -t, not -st, so heißen gives du heißt and tanzen (to dance) gives du tanzt. These are the only common wrinkles in an otherwise steady system.

The verb sein (to be)

The most important verb, sein, is completely irregular, exactly like the English to be. Memorize it as a little song.

Pronoun	sein	Example	English
ich	bin	Ich bin müde.	I am tired.
du	bist	Du bist nett.	You are nice.
er / sie / es	ist	Sie ist Lehrerin.	She is a teacher.
wir	sind	Wir sind hier.	We are here.
ihr	seid	Ihr seid jung.	You all are young.
sie / Sie	sind	Sie sind aus Wien.	They are from Vienna.

The verb haben (to have)

The other everyday giant is haben. It is regular except for the du and er forms, which drop the b.

Pronoun	haben	Example	English
ich	habe	Ich habe Zeit.	I have time.
du	hast	Du hast Recht.	You are right.
er / sie / es	hat	Er hat einen Hund.	He has a dog.
wir	haben	Wir haben Hunger.	We are hungry.
ihr	habt	Ihr habt Glück.	You all are lucky.
sie / Sie	haben	Sie haben ein Auto.	They have a car.

Fixed expressions with haben and sein

Many everyday states use haben where English uses to be. You say Ich habe Hunger, literally I have hunger, for I am hungry, and likewise Ich habe Durst (I am thirsty), Ich habe Angst (I am afraid), and Ich habe Recht (I am right). With sein, common phrases include Ich bin fertig (I am finished) and Es ist kalt (It is cold). Learning these as whole chunks saves you from translating word for word and makes you sound natural very quickly.

The verb comes second

German main clauses follow a firm rule: the conjugated verb is the second element. The first element is often the subject, but it can be a time word or place, and then the subject slides to just after the verb. So both of these are correct: Ich spiele heute Fußball and Heute spiele ich Fußball. In the second sentence heute (today) is first, so the verb spiele stays in position two and ich follows it. You will study this word order in depth later; for now, keep the verb in slot two.

The present tense and the future

German often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially with a time word that makes the meaning clear. Morgen fahre ich nach Hamburg means I am going to Hamburg tomorrow, even though fahre is a present-tense form. This is very common in speech, so you can express many future plans without learning a new tense at all.

Asking questions

Turning a statement into a yes-or-no question is easy: put the verb first. Du kommst aus Berlin becomes Kommst du aus Berlin? (Do you come from Berlin?), and Sie spielt Tennis becomes Spielt sie Tennis? For questions that ask for information, start with a question word and keep the verb second. Common question words are wer (who), was (what), wo (where), wann (when), wie (how), warum (why), and woher (from where). So Was machst du? asks what you are doing, and Wo wohnst du? asks where you live.

Saying no: nicht and kein

German has two main ways to say not. Use nicht to negate a verb, an adjective, or a whole idea, placing it late in the sentence: Ich spiele heute nicht (I am not playing today), Das ist nicht gut (That is not good). Use kein to negate a noun that would otherwise take ein or no article: Ich habe kein Auto (I have no car), Das ist keine Lampe (That is not a lamp). A quick test: if the English is not a or no, use kein; otherwise use nicht.

Doing things gladly: gern

To say you like doing something, German does not need a special verb. Instead it adds the little word gern (gladly) after the verb. Ich spiele gern Fußball means I like playing soccer, literally I play soccer gladly. Ich trinke gern Kaffee means I like drinking coffee. To say you dislike it, use nicht gern: Ich koche nicht gern (I do not like cooking). This single word lets you express taste and preference from your very first week.

More everyday verbs

The regular pattern unlocks a large set of daily verbs. Practice these in full sentences: sagen (to say), fragen (to ask), hören (to hear), kaufen (to buy), brauchen (to need), suchen (to look for), and lieben (to love). For example, Ich brauche Hilfe (I need help), Wir kaufen Brot (We are buying bread), and Sie liebt Musik (She loves music). Each one follows the same six endings you already know, so growing your vocabulary does not mean learning new grammar.

Putting it together

Read these aloud and find the subject, the verb, and the verb's position.

• Ich komme aus Kanada und wohne in Köln. (I come from Canada and live in Cologne.)
• Was machst du am Wochenende? (What are you doing on the weekend?)
• Wir haben heute keine Zeit. (We have no time today.)
• Sie lernt gern Deutsch. (She likes learning German.)
• Seid ihr müde? (Are you all tired?)

A short dialogue

Two friends talk about their day using present-tense verbs.

• Jan: Was machst du heute? (What are you doing today?)
• Mia: Ich lerne Deutsch und dann spiele ich Tennis. (I am studying German and then I am playing tennis.)
• Jan: Hast du Zeit am Abend? (Do you have time in the evening?)
• Mia: Ja, ich habe Zeit. Wir kochen zusammen. (Yes, I have time. We are cooking together.)
• Jan: Super. Ich bin um sieben da. (Great. I will be there at seven.)

Common misconceptions

• German needs a special form for I am playing. It does not. The simple present spiele means both I play and I am playing.
• haben is fully regular. Almost. The du and er forms drop the b, giving du hast and er hat.
• The subject must start the sentence. No. A time or place word can come first, but then the verb still stays in second position and the subject follows it.
• You need a future tense to talk about tomorrow. Usually not. The present tense with a time word, like morgen, expresses the future naturally.

Recap

• Drop -en from the infinitive to get the stem, then add -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en.
• Stems ending in -t or -d insert an e (du arbeitest); stems ending in an s-sound add only -t (du heißt).
• sein is bin, bist, ist, sind, seid, sind; haben is habe, hast, hat, haben, habt, haben.
• In a main clause the conjugated verb is always the second element.
• The present tense also expresses the future when a time word makes the meaning clear.

Sources

1. "German verbs." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German conjugation." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "sein." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "haben." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
5. "Learn German." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.

The big picture

Numbers run through daily life: prices, ages, phone numbers, addresses, dates, and the clock. German numbers are regular and easy to build, but they hold one famous surprise. From 21 upward, German says the units before the tens, so 21 is one-and-twenty and 45 is five-and-forty. Once that click happens, the whole system falls into place. This lesson gives you the numbers, the days, months, and seasons, how to say a date, and two ways to tell the time.

Key idea: German reads two-digit numbers back to front compared with English. Say the small digit first, then und, then the ten.

Numbers from zero to twenty

Start with the building blocks. A few are irregular in spelling, so read them carefully: sechzehn drops the s of sechs, and siebzehn drops the en of sieben.

#	German	#	German
0	null	11	elf
1	eins	12	zwölf
2	zwei	13	dreizehn
3	drei	14	vierzehn
4	vier	15	fünfzehn
5	fünf	16	sechzehn
6	sechs	17	siebzehn
7	sieben	18	achtzehn
8	acht	19	neunzehn
9	neun	20	zwanzig
10	zehn	100	hundert

Building bigger numbers

The tens are zwanzig (20), dreißig (30, spelled with ß), vierzig (40), fünfzig (50), sechzig (60), siebzig (70), achtzig (80), and neunzig (90). To make the numbers in between, join the unit and the ten with und, and write it as one word. So 21 is einundzwanzig, 34 is vierunddreißig, and 99 is neunundneunzig. Notice that eins loses its s inside these numbers, becoming ein. For hundreds and thousands, put the count in front: 200 is zweihundert, 1000 is tausend, and 2025 is zweitausendfünfundzwanzig.

German writes large numbers without commas, using a space or a period to group digits, and it uses a comma where English uses a decimal point. So 3,5 is read drei Komma fünf, meaning three point five.

Days, months, and seasons

The days and months are all masculine, so they take der, though you will most often use them with the little words am (on) and im (in). The days are Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, and Sonntag. You say am Montag for on Monday. The seasons are der Frühling (spring), der Sommer (summer), der Herbst (autumn), and der Winter, and you say im Sommer for in summer.

Month	German	Month	German
January	Januar	July	Juli
February	Februar	August	August
March	März	September	September
April	April	October	Oktober
May	Mai	November	November
June	Juni	December	Dezember

Ordinal numbers and dates

To give a date you need ordinal numbers, the words like first and second. In German you generally add -te to numbers up to 19 and -ste from 20, with a few irregular forms: erste (1st), zweite (2nd), dritte (3rd), siebte (7th), and achte (8th). In writing, an ordinal is a number followed by a period, so der 1. Mai means der erste Mai, the first of May.

To ask the date, say Der wievielte ist heute? (What is the date today?). To answer, use Heute ist der plus the ordinal, as in Heute ist der 5. Mai (Today is the fifth of May). To say on a date, German uses am with a dative ending: Am fünften Mai habe ich Geburtstag means On the fifth of May I have my birthday.

Telling the time

To ask the time, say Wie spät ist es? or Wie viel Uhr ist es? In casual speech Germans use the twelve-hour clock with nach (past) and vor (to). One word needs special care: halb points to the coming hour, not the past one. So halb drei is 2:30, literally halfway to three, which trips up nearly every beginner.

Clock	German (informal)	English
3:00	Es ist drei Uhr.	It is three o'clock.
3:15	Es ist Viertel nach drei.	quarter past three
3:30	Es ist halb vier.	half past three
3:45	Es ist Viertel vor vier.	quarter to four
3:10	Es ist zehn nach drei.	ten past three

In official settings, such as timetables, radio, and appointments, German uses the 24-hour clock. There you simply say the hour, the word Uhr, and the minutes: 15:30 is fifteen thirty, spoken as fünfzehn Uhr dreißig, and 20:05 is zwanzig Uhr fünf. To say at what time something happens, use um: Der Zug fährt um acht Uhr means the train leaves at eight.

Numbers in real life

Numbers show up first in prices and phone numbers. German prices use a comma, so 3,50 Euro is spoken drei Euro fünfzig, and the coin is der Cent. To ask a price, say Was kostet das? (What does that cost?). Phone numbers are usually read as single digits or in pairs, so 0176 could be null, eins, sieben, sechs. When you shop, you will hear prices like neun Euro neunundneunzig, which is a very German way to say 9,99.

Age and years

To ask someone's age, say Wie alt bist du? or the formal Wie alt sind Sie? Answer with Ich bin plus a number plus Jahre alt, as in Ich bin dreißig Jahre alt. Years have their own rhythm. A year in the twentieth century is read in hundreds, so 1990 is neunzehnhundertneunzig, literally nineteen hundred ninety. From the year 2000 onward, German reads the year as a plain number, so 2025 is zweitausendfünfundzwanzig. You will use years to talk about birthdays, history, and travel plans.

Parts of the day

Beyond the clock, German names the parts of the day, and most are masculine. They are der Morgen (morning), der Vormittag (late morning), der Mittag (midday), der Nachmittag (afternoon), and der Abend (evening); only die Nacht (night) is feminine. Use am with them, as in am Morgen and am Abend, but say in der Nacht for at night. The words heute (today), morgen (tomorrow), and gestern (yesterday) combine with these, so heute Abend means this evening and morgen früh means tomorrow morning.

How often? Frequency words

To say how often something happens, German uses a scale of adverbs: immer (always), oft (often), manchmal (sometimes), selten (rarely), and nie (never). You can also count the interval with jeden, as in jeden Tag (every day), jede Woche (every week), and jedes Jahr (every year). For example, Ich lerne jeden Tag Deutsch means I study German every day, and Wir gehen manchmal ins Kino means We sometimes go to the movies. These words make your daily descriptions much more precise.

Simple arithmetic

You can even do quick math aloud. Use plus (plus), minus (minus), and mal (times), with ist or macht for the result. So zwei plus drei ist fünf means two plus three is five, and vier mal zwei macht acht means four times two makes eight. These little phrases are handy when you split a bill or count your change at a market.

Weekdays and the weekend

Two useful group words round out the calendar. Die Woche is the week, das Wochenende is the weekend, and der Arbeitstag is a working day. Germans often say unter der Woche for during the week and am Wochenende for on the weekend. So Am Wochenende schlafe ich lange means On the weekend I sleep late, and Unter der Woche arbeite ich means During the week I work. With these you can describe a whole schedule.

Time in context

• Der Film beginnt um zwanzig Uhr. (The film begins at 8 p.m.)
• Ich stehe jeden Tag um sieben Uhr auf. (I get up at seven every day.)
• Wir haben im Sommer oft frei. (We often have time off in summer.)
• Heute Abend koche ich. (This evening I am cooking.)

Example sentences

• Ich bin einundzwanzig Jahre alt. (I am twenty-one years old.)
• Der Kurs beginnt um neun Uhr. (The course begins at nine o'clock.)
• Am Sonntag spielen wir Fußball. (On Sunday we play soccer.)
• Heute ist der dritte Oktober. (Today is the third of October.)
• Es ist halb acht. (It is half past seven, that is 7:30.)

A short dialogue

Two colleagues arrange to meet.

• Ben: Wie spät ist es? (What time is it?)
• Eva: Es ist Viertel vor eins. (It is a quarter to one.)
• Ben: Um wie viel Uhr ist die Sitzung? (At what time is the meeting?)
• Eva: Um vierzehn Uhr, also um zwei. (At 2 p.m., so at two.)
• Ben: Gut, bis dann! (Good, see you then.)

Common misconceptions

• halb vier means 4:30. It means 3:30. German counts toward the next hour, so halb points forward, not back.
• You say the tens before the units. German is the reverse of English: einundzwanzig is literally one-and-twenty.
• eventuell means eventually. It is a false friend. eventuell means possibly, while eventually is schließlich or am Ende.
• eine Billion equals a billion. No. A German Billion is a trillion; the English billion is eine Milliarde.

Recap

• Learn 0 to 20, then build higher numbers with units first: einundzwanzig is 21.
• The tens end in -zig, except dreißig, and hundreds and thousands go in front.
• Days and months are masculine; use am Montag and im Mai.
• Dates use ordinals with a period: der 5. Mai is der fünfte Mai.
• Ask the time with Wie spät ist es; remember halb drei is 2:30 and use um for at.

Sources

1. "Date and time notation in Germany." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "Nico's Weg, beginner course." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.
3. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.
4. "German-English dictionary." dict.cc, dict.cc.

The big picture

You already know the nominative, the case of the subject. Now meet the accusative, the case of the direct object, the person or thing that directly receives the action. In Ich sehe den Mann (I see the man), ich is the subject in the nominative, and den Mann is the object in the accusative. Here is the best news in all of German grammar: in the accusative, only the masculine articles change. Feminine, neuter, and plural forms look exactly the same as in the nominative.

Key idea: Learn one change and you have the accusative: masculine der becomes den, and ein becomes einen. Everything else stays put.

The article change

Compare the two cases side by side. Watch the masculine column; the rest do not move.

Gender	Nominative	Accusative
Masculine	der / ein	den / einen
Feminine	die / eine	die / eine
Neuter	das / ein	das / ein
Plural	die	die

The same -en ending appears on the negative and possessive words for masculine objects: kein becomes keinen and mein becomes meinen. So Ich habe keinen Bruder means I have no brother, and Ich sehe meinen Lehrer means I see my teacher. If you can spot a masculine noun as the object, you know to add the -en.

Why German has cases

Cases do real work. Because the article shows a noun's job, German word order can be freer than English. Der Hund sieht den Mann and Den Mann sieht der Hund both mean the dog sees the man, because den still marks the man as the object no matter where he stands. English relies on word order alone, so The dog sees the man and The man sees the dog mean opposite things. In German the endings carry that information for you.

Accusative pronouns

Pronouns change in the accusative too, just as English shifts from I to me. Learn this set; you will use it constantly.

Nominative	Accusative	Nominative	Accusative
ich	mich (me)	wir	uns (us)
du	dich (you)	ihr	euch (you all)
er	ihn (him)	sie / Sie	sie / Sie (them / you)
sie / es	sie / es

So Ich liebe dich means I love you, Er sieht mich means he sees me, and Wir kennen sie means we know her or them. The masculine er becomes ihn, which is the pronoun most likely to catch you out.

Verbs that take an accusative object

Most verbs that act on a thing take an accusative object. Common ones include haben (to have), kaufen (to buy), brauchen (to need), suchen (to look for), essen (to eat), trinken (to drink), lieben (to love), and besuchen (to visit). For example, Ich kaufe einen Tisch (I am buying a table), Er trinkt einen Kaffee (He is drinking a coffee), and Wir besuchen einen Freund (We are visiting a friend). Each masculine object shows the tell-tale einen.

Accusative prepositions

A small group of prepositions always sends the noun after it into the accusative, no matter its role. The five to memorize are durch (through), für (for), gegen (against), ohne (without), and um (around, at). A simple way to hold them is the string durch, für, gegen, ohne, um. Examples: Das Geschenk ist für dich (The gift is for you), Wir gehen durch den Park (We walk through the park), and Ich habe nichts gegen ihn (I have nothing against him).

There is and there are: es gibt

One very common phrase always takes the accusative: es gibt, meaning there is or there are. So Es gibt einen Supermarkt means There is a supermarket, and Es gibt keinen Kaffee means There is no coffee. Because es gibt is followed by an object, a masculine noun after it appears as einen or keinen. This tidy phrase lets you describe what a place has.

Time phrases in the accusative

German marks a specific point or a length of time with the accusative, even when no ordinary object is in sight. This is why you say jeden Tag (every day), jeden Morgen (every morning), and jedes Wochenende (every weekend), all with accusative endings. The same holds for diesen Sommer (this summer), nächste Woche (next week), and einen Moment (one moment). So Ich warte einen Moment means I wait a moment, and Wir bleiben eine Woche means We are staying a week. You need not analyze these; simply learn them as accusative time chunks.

The weak masculine nouns

A small group of masculine nouns, sometimes called n-nouns, add -n or -en in every case except the nominative singular. Common ones are der Junge (boy), der Student, der Name, der Herr, and der Kollege (colleague). So the boy as an object is den Jungen, and the student is den Studenten. This is why the greeting Guten Tag carries an -n on Guten: Tag is masculine and the phrase is a hidden accusative wish meaning have a good day. Watch for these nouns, because the extra -n surprises beginners.

Where the object goes

The usual order is subject, verb, then object, as in Ich kaufe einen Tisch. When you add a time word, it typically comes before the object, giving the pattern time then object: Ich kaufe heute einen Tisch (I am buying a table today). If the object is a pronoun, it likes to sit right after the verb, so Ich sehe ihn heute means I see him today. These are gentle tendencies, and the case endings keep the meaning clear even when the order shifts.

Two more accusative prepositions

Besides the core five, two more prepositions take the accusative. The word bis means until or up to, as in bis nächsten Montag (until next Monday) and the friendly bis morgen (see you tomorrow). The word entlang means along, and unusually it follows its noun, as in Wir gehen den Fluss entlang (We walk along the river). Add these to durch, für, gegen, ohne, and um, and you have the full everyday set of accusative prepositions.

Finding the object in a sentence

A quick method helps you spot the accusative. Find the verb, then ask whom or what the action affects. In Der Mann kauft einen Wagen, the verb is kauft (buys), and what he buys is einen Wagen, so that phrase is the object in the accusative. The subject, der Mann, does the buying and stays nominative. Practicing this one question, whom or what, trains your eye to place den and einen exactly where they belong.

Nominative or accusative? A comparison

It helps to see the same masculine noun in both roles. As a subject: Der Hund schläft (The dog is sleeping), nominative der. As an object: Ich sehe den Hund (I see the dog), accusative den. The dog has not changed, but its job in the sentence has, and German shows that job through the article. Every time a masculine noun moves from doing the action to receiving it, der becomes den.

Having things: haben with the accusative

The verb haben almost always takes an accusative object, so it is perfect practice. Ich habe einen Bruder und eine Schwester means I have a brother and a sister, with the masculine Bruder showing einen and the feminine Schwester keeping eine. Add descriptions freely: Wir haben einen Hund und ein Auto. Notice too that many haben expressions of feeling, such as Ich habe Hunger, hide an accusative noun with no article at all. Because so much of daily talk is about what you have, mastering haben plus the accusative pays off at once.

A short dialogue

Two friends plan a small dinner.

• Nora: Was brauchen wir für heute Abend? (What do we need for tonight?)
• Tim: Wir brauchen einen Salat und ein Brot. (We need a salad and a bread.)
• Nora: Gibt es einen Supermarkt hier? (Is there a supermarket here?)
• Tim: Ja, ich sehe ihn dort. Ich kaufe auch einen Kuchen. (Yes, I see it over there. I will also buy a cake.)
• Nora: Perfekt. Ich lade dich ein! (Perfect. I am inviting you.)

Common misconceptions

• All the articles change in the accusative. Only the masculine changes: der to den, ein to einen. Feminine, neuter, and plural stay the same.
• den is a plural word. In the accusative, den is the masculine singular article; the plural is die.
• The accusative always means motion. No. It marks the direct object; some prepositions like für take it with no motion at all.
• er stays er as an object. It does not. The object form of er is ihn, as in Ich sehe ihn.

Recap

• The accusative marks the direct object, the thing that receives the action.
• Only masculine articles change: der to den, ein to einen, kein to keinen, mein to meinen.
• Accusative pronouns include mich, dich, ihn, uns, and euch.
• The prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, and um always take the accusative.
• es gibt (there is or there are) is followed by an accusative object.

Sources

1. "Accusative case." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German declension." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "German articles." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Grimm Grammar: the accusative case." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

Family is one of the warmest and most useful early topics, and it introduces a handy new tool: possessive articles, the words for my, your, his, and her. The good news is that they are not a fresh piece of grammar. Possessive articles take exactly the same endings as ein and kein, so if you can say ein Vater and einen Vater, you can already say mein Vater and meinen Vater. This lesson gives you the family vocabulary, the full set of possessives, and the phrases to describe the people you love.

Key idea: Possessives are ein-words. Learn one ending pattern and it covers ein, kein, mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, and euer all at once.

The family

Here are the core members. Notice that many come in a masculine and feminine pair, and that some group words exist only in the plural.

German	English	German	English
der Vater	father	die Mutter	mother
die Eltern	parents	das Kind	child
der Bruder	brother	die Schwester	sister
der Sohn	son	die Tochter	daughter
der Opa	grandpa	die Oma	grandma
der Onkel	uncle	die Tante	aunt

A few more fill out the picture: die Geschwister (siblings), die Großeltern (grandparents), der Cousin and die Cousine (cousin), der Mann (husband), and die Frau (wife). As with people-words generally, a mixed group uses the masculine plural, so meine Geschwister covers brothers and sisters together.

The possessive articles

Each pronoun has a matching possessive. Learn the base forms first, then add the ein-word endings.

Owner	Possessive	Owner	Possessive
ich	mein (my)	wir	unser (our)
du	dein (your)	ihr	euer (your, pl.)
er / es	sein (his / its)	sie / Sie	ihr / Ihr (their / your)
sie	ihr (her)

Adding the endings

The ending depends on the gender, number, and case of the noun owned, not on the owner. In the nominative, masculine and neuter take no ending, while feminine and plural add -e. So it is mein Vater (masc.), meine Mutter (fem.), mein Kind (neut.), and meine Eltern (pl.). In the accusative, only the masculine changes, adding -en, exactly like einen. So Ich liebe meinen Vater means I love my father, while meine Mutter and mein Kind stay the same as objects.

Case	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Plural
Nominative	mein	meine	mein	meine
Accusative	meinen	meine	mein	meine

One spelling note: euer drops its second e when an ending is added, so your mother is eure Mutter, not eurer Mutter. All the other possessives simply take the ending straight onto the base.

his or her? Choose by the owner

English speakers must slow down for one point. German picks sein or ihr by the gender of the owner, not of the thing owned. A man uses sein for everything he owns, and a woman uses ihr for everything she owns. So Tom und sein Bruder means Tom and his brother, but Anna und ihr Bruder means Anna and her brother, even though Bruder is the same masculine word in both. Keep your eye on who owns the thing, and the choice becomes clear.

Describing people

To describe family, pair sein with adjectives and haben with features. Common describing words include groß (tall), klein (short, small), jung (young), alt (old), nett and freundlich (nice, friendly), lustig (funny), and ruhig (calm). So Mein Bruder ist groß und lustig means My brother is tall and funny. For hair and eyes, use haben: Meine Schwester hat lange Haare und blaue Augen means My sister has long hair and blue eyes. You will study adjective endings in detail later; for now these set phrases work well.

Example sentences

• Meine Familie ist groß. (My family is big.)
• Hast du Geschwister? (Do you have siblings?)
• Ich habe einen Bruder und zwei Schwestern. (I have one brother and two sisters.)
• Ihr Vater kommt aus der Schweiz. (Her father comes from Switzerland.)
• Unsere Großeltern wohnen in Wien. (Our grandparents live in Vienna.)

A short dialogue

Two friends look at a photo.

• Lars: Ist das deine Familie? (Is that your family?)
• Sara: Ja, das sind meine Eltern und mein Bruder. (Yes, those are my parents and my brother.)
• Lars: Und wer ist das? (And who is that?)
• Sara: Das ist meine Oma. Sie ist sehr nett. (That is my grandma. She is very nice.)
• Lars: Wie alt ist dein Bruder? (How old is your brother?)
• Sara: Er ist zwanzig und studiert in Berlin. (He is twenty and studies in Berlin.)

Common misconceptions

• sein can mean her. It cannot. sein means his or its; her is ihr. The choice depends on the owner's gender.
• The possessive ending matches the owner. No. The ending matches the noun owned, in its gender, number, and case.
• Eltern has a singular you can use for one parent. Eltern is plural only; for one parent say mein Vater or meine Mutter.
• euer keeps its shape with endings. It drops the second e, giving eure, as in eure Mutter.

Recap

• Learn family words in pairs and note the plural-only group words like Eltern and Geschwister.
• Possessive articles are ein-words: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, and ihr.
• In the nominative, feminine and plural add -e; in the accusative, only the masculine adds -en.
• Choose sein or ihr by the gender of the owner, not of the thing owned.
• Describe people with sein plus adjectives and haben plus features like Haare and Augen.

Sources

1. "Possessive determiner." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German nouns." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "Nico's Weg, beginner course." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.
4. "German-English dictionary." dict.cc, dict.cc.

The big picture

Food is one of the most rewarding topics for a beginner, because you can use it the same day in a real cafe. German-speaking countries have a rich cafe and bakery culture, and a handful of phrases will let you order, ask the price, and pay with confidence. This lesson gives you the vocabulary for meals, drinks, and dishes, the polite verb möchte for I would like, and the little rituals of ordering and paying that differ from what you may expect.

Key idea: To order politely, reach for möchte (would like) or Ich nehme (I will have), and remember that the food you order is a direct object in the accusative.

Meals and drinks

The three meals are das Frühstück (breakfast), das Mittagessen (lunch), and das Abendessen (dinner). The verbs you need are essen (to eat) and trinken (to drink). Here are common drinks to start.

German	English	German	English
das Wasser	water	der Kaffee	coffee
der Tee	tea	der Saft	juice
die Milch	milk	das Bier	beer
der Wein	wine	die Cola	cola

Food on the table

Now the food itself. Bakeries are central to daily life, so bread words come first.

German	English	German	English
das Brot	bread	das Brötchen	bread roll
der Käse	cheese	die Butter	butter
das Ei	egg	die Wurst	sausage
der Salat	salad	die Suppe	soup
der Kuchen	cake	das Obst	fruit

To talk about hunger and thirst, remember the haben expressions from earlier: Ich habe Hunger (I am hungry) and Ich habe Durst (I am thirsty). To say a meal tastes good, use Es schmeckt gut (It tastes good), a phrase every cook loves to hear.

The polite verb möchte

The most useful ordering verb is möchte, meaning would like. It is the polite form of mögen (to like) and works as a fixed set. Learn these forms: ich möchte, du möchtest, er möchte, wir möchten, ihr möchtet, sie möchten. It takes an accusative object, so you say Ich möchte einen Kaffee (I would like a coffee) and Ich möchte ein Brötchen. You can add bitte for warmth: Ich möchte bitte eine Suppe. This one verb turns a bare noun into a courteous request.

Ordering: nehmen and other phrases

A second common choice is nehmen (to take, to have), which is slightly irregular: ich nehme, du nimmst, er nimmt, wir nehmen. So Ich nehme den Salat means I will have the salad. Waiters may ask Was möchten Sie? or Was bekommen Sie? (literally what are you receiving), and you answer with your order. Useful phrases include Für mich bitte einen Tee (For me a tea, please), Noch etwas? (Anything else?), and Das ist alles (That is all).

Saying what you prefer

To express taste, use gern, lieber, and am liebsten. Ich trinke gern Tee means I like drinking tea, ich trinke lieber Kaffee means I prefer coffee, and am liebsten trinke ich Wasser means most of all I like water. This little ladder, gern then lieber then am liebsten, lets you compare your likes without any new grammar. It works with any verb, so Ich esse gern Kuchen is I like eating cake.

Paying the bill

Paying works differently from many countries. You usually pay at the table, not at a counter, so you catch the server's eye and say Die Rechnung, bitte or simply Zahlen, bitte (I would like to pay). The server may ask Zusammen oder getrennt? (Together or separately?). A tip, das Trinkgeld, is modest, often rounding up or about five to ten percent, and you state the total you want to pay rather than leaving coins on the table. To round up, you can say Stimmt so (Keep the change).

A short dialogue

A guest orders breakfast in a cafe.

• Kellner: Guten Morgen. Was möchten Sie? (Good morning. What would you like?)
• Gast: Ich möchte einen Kaffee und ein Brötchen mit Käse, bitte. (I would like a coffee and a roll with cheese, please.)
• Kellner: Gern. Noch etwas? (Gladly. Anything else?)
• Gast: Nein, danke, das ist alles. (No thanks, that is all.)
• Gast (später): Die Rechnung, bitte. (Later: The bill, please.)

Common misconceptions

• bekommen means to become. It is a classic false friend. bekommen means to receive or get, so Ich bekomme einen Kaffee means I am getting a coffee.
• das Menü is the menu. No. das Menü is a set or fixed meal; the menu you read is die Speisekarte.
• You pay at the front counter. In most cafes you pay at your table and tell the server the amount.
• Tap water arrives free and automatically. Often it does not; water is usually ordered and paid for, so say what you want.

Recap

• The meals are das Frühstück, das Mittagessen, and das Abendessen.
• Order politely with möchte (would like) or Ich nehme (I will have), plus an accusative object.
• Express preference with gern, lieber, and am liebsten.
• Pay at the table with Die Rechnung, bitte, and answer Zusammen oder getrennt.
• Beware the false friends: bekommen means to receive, and das Menü is a set meal, not the menu.

Sources

1. "bekommen." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
2. "Learn German." Deutsche Welle, dw.com.
3. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.
4. "German-English dictionary." dict.cc, dict.cc.

The big picture

You know two cases now: the nominative for the subject and the accusative for the direct object. The third is the dative, and it marks the indirect object, the person who receives or benefits from something. In Ich gebe dem Kind ein Buch (I give the child a book), ein Buch is the direct object in the accusative, and dem Kind is the indirect object in the dative, the one who gets the book. English shows this with to or for; German shows it by changing the article.

Key idea: Ask to whom or for whom, and that receiver is the dative. Its signature articles are dem for masculine and neuter, der for feminine, and den for the plural.

The article change

Here are all three cases side by side. The dative changes every gender, so it is more visible than the accusative. The plural takes den and also adds an -n to the noun itself.

Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Dative
Masculine	der	den	dem
Feminine	die	die	der
Neuter	das	das	dem
Plural	die	die	den (+ n)

The ein-words follow the same dative endings: einem for masculine and neuter, einer for feminine, and likewise keinem, keiner, meinem, and meiner. So mit einem Freund means with a friend, and aus einer Stadt means from a city. Learn the little chant dem, der, dem, den and you have the dative articles.

Dative pronouns

Pronouns have a special dative form too, just as English turns he into to him. This set appears constantly, so say it aloud until it sticks.

Nominative	Dative	Nominative	Dative
ich	mir (to me)	wir	uns (to us)
du	dir (to you)	ihr	euch (to you all)
er / es	ihm (to him / it)	sie / Sie	ihnen / Ihnen (to them / you)
sie	ihr (to her)

So Er gibt mir das Buch means he gives me the book, and Ich danke dir means I thank you. The masculine ihm (to him) and the feminine ihr (to her) are the two forms most often confused, so give them extra practice.

The dative prepositions

A fixed group of prepositions always sends the following noun into the dative. The core eight are aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, and zu. Many learners memorize them as a chant, because they never change their case.

Preposition	Meaning	Example	English
aus	from, out of	aus dem Haus	out of the house
bei	at, near, with	bei dem Arzt	at the doctor
mit	with, by	mit dem Auto	by car
nach	after; to (cities)	nach dem Essen	after the meal
seit	since, for	seit einem Jahr	for a year
von	from, of	von meinem Freund	from my friend
zu	to	zu der Schule	to the school

Several of these shrink in speech. The pair zu dem becomes zum, zu der becomes zur, bei dem becomes beim, and von dem becomes vom. So you say zum Arzt (to the doctor), zur Schule (to school), and beim Essen (while eating). These contractions are normal and expected, not sloppy, so use them freely.

Verbs that take the dative

A small but important group of verbs takes a dative object where English would use a plain object. The most common are helfen (to help), danken (to thank), gefallen (to please), gehören (to belong to), antworten (to answer), and glauben (to believe). So Ich helfe dem Mann means I help the man, and Das Buch gehört mir means the book belongs to me. There is nothing to translate here; simply learn these as dative verbs.

The verb gefallen deserves a closer look, because it flips the English pattern. It literally means to be pleasing to, so the thing liked is the subject and the person is in the dative. Das Buch gefällt mir means I like the book, literally the book is pleasing to me. Likewise Wie gefällt dir Berlin? asks how you like Berlin. This mirror image surprises beginners, so practice it as a set phrase.

Order: dative before accusative

When a sentence has both a dative and an accusative noun, the normal order is dative first, then accusative: Ich gebe dem Kind das Buch. But if one of them is a pronoun, the pronoun jumps in front: Ich gebe es dem Kind (I give it to the child). If both are pronouns, the accusative comes first: Ich gebe es ihm (I give it to him). A short rule of thumb is that lighter pronouns like to lead.

Example sentences

• Ich helfe meiner Mutter. (I help my mother. helfen takes the dative.)
• Wir fahren mit dem Zug. (We are going by train.)
• Das Auto gehört meinem Bruder. (The car belongs to my brother.)
• Nach dem Essen trinke ich Kaffee. (After the meal I drink coffee.)
• Wie gefällt dir die Stadt? (How do you like the city?)

A short dialogue

A visitor asks a local for a small favor.

• Tourist: Entschuldigung, können Sie mir helfen? (Excuse me, can you help me?)
• Frau: Natürlich. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen? (Of course. How can I help you?)
• Tourist: Wie komme ich zum Bahnhof? (How do I get to the train station?)
• Frau: Fahren Sie mit dem Bus, Linie fünf. (Take the bus, line five.)
• Tourist: Vielen Dank. Das hilft mir sehr. (Thank you very much. That helps me a lot.)

Common misconceptions

• Only the masculine changes, as in the accusative. No. The dative changes every gender: dem, der, dem, and den in the plural.
• With gefallen the person is the subject. It is reversed. The thing liked is the subject and the person is dative: Das Buch gefällt mir.
• mit can sometimes take the accusative. It never does. mit, bei, and the rest of the list are always dative.
• The plural dative article is just die. It is den, and the noun adds an -n, as in mit den Kindern.

Recap

• The dative marks the indirect object, the receiver or beneficiary of the action.
• The dative articles are dem (masc.), der (fem.), dem (neut.), and den plus noun -n (plural).
• Dative pronouns include mir, dir, ihm, ihr, uns, euch, and ihnen.
• The prepositions aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, and zu always take the dative.
• Dative verbs include helfen, danken, gefallen, gehören, antworten, and glauben.

Sources

1. "Dative case." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German declension." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "mit." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "helfen." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
5. "Grimm Grammar: the dative case." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

Modal verbs are helper verbs that shade the meaning of another verb. They let you say not just I go but I want to go, I have to go, or I am allowed to go. German has six: können, müssen, wollen, sollen, dürfen, and mögen. They are among the most useful words in the language, because a beginner with a small vocabulary can still express intention, duty, and possibility. Best of all, they follow one clear sentence pattern that you can reuse every time.

Key idea: A modal verb is conjugated in second position, and the main verb drops to the very end of the clause as an infinitive. Ich muss heute arbeiten means I have to work today.

The bracket structure

German wraps a sentence around its verbs. The modal takes the normal second slot, and the action verb waits, unchanged, at the end. This frame is called the Satzklammer, the sentence bracket. So Ich kann Deutsch sprechen (I can speak German) has kann in second place and sprechen at the end. Everything else, such as objects and time words, sits inside the bracket. Once you expect the infinitive at the end, German word order starts to feel predictable.

The six modal verbs

Each modal carries a core meaning. Learn one example for each and you have a template to fill.

Modal	Meaning	Example	English
können	can, to be able to	Ich kann schwimmen.	I can swim.
müssen	must, to have to	Ich muss lernen.	I have to study.
wollen	to want to	Ich will schlafen.	I want to sleep.
sollen	should, to be supposed to	Ich soll warten.	I should wait.
dürfen	may, to be allowed to	Ich darf gehen.	I may go.
mögen	to like	Ich mag Kaffee.	I like coffee.

How modals conjugate

Modals are irregular in the singular, where most change their stem vowel, but regular in the plural. One feature helps you: the ich form and the er form are identical, with no ending at all. Here is können in full.

Pronoun	können	Pronoun	können
ich	kann	wir	können
du	kannst	ihr	könnt
er / sie / es	kann	sie / Sie	können

The other singulars follow the same shape: ich muss, du musst, er muss; ich will, du willst, er will; ich darf, du darfst, er darf; and ich mag, du magst, er mag. Only sollen keeps its vowel, giving ich soll, du sollst, er soll. In every case the ich and er forms match, which is the easiest way to spot a modal.

Ability and permission: können and dürfen

These two are easy to mix up. können means to be able to, a matter of skill or possibility: Ich kann gut kochen (I can cook well). dürfen means to be allowed to, a matter of permission: Darf ich hier parken? (May I park here?). English blurs them, since we say can for both, but German keeps them apart. If you mean do I have permission, reach for dürfen, not können.

A famous trap: must not

Here is the most important warning about modals. The negative of müssen does not mean must not. Ich muss nicht gehen means I do not have to go, not I must not go. To say something is forbidden, use nicht dürfen: Du darfst nicht gehen means you must not go, you are not allowed to. Confusing these can reverse your meaning, so store the pair carefully: nicht müssen is no obligation, and nicht dürfen is a prohibition.

Wanting: wollen and möchte

To say what you want, use wollen: Ich will einen Kaffee (I want a coffee). It is direct and strong, a little blunt in a shop. For politeness, Germans reach for möchte, the softer would like that you met when ordering food, so Ich möchte einen Kaffee sounds friendlier. Both are useful; think of wollen as I want and möchte as I would like. Note the false friend: will here means want, never the English future will.

Leaving out the infinitive

Sometimes the action verb is so obvious that German simply drops it. With a clear object, Ich kann Deutsch means I can speak German, and Ich muss nach Hause means I have to go home. The missing verb, sprechen or gehen, is understood. This is common with languages, directions, and movement, so do not be surprised to see a modal standing alone with just an object. You can use these tidy short forms yourself once they feel natural.

Example sentences

• Kannst du mir helfen? (Can you help me? Modal second, infinitive last.)
• Wir müssen heute nicht arbeiten. (We do not have to work today.)
• Darf ich Sie etwas fragen? (May I ask you something?)
• Ich will nach Berlin fahren. (I want to travel to Berlin.)
• Du sollst mehr Wasser trinken. (You should drink more water.)

A short dialogue

Two roommates plan the evening.

• Ali: Willst du heute Abend ins Kino gehen? (Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?)
• Ben: Ich möchte gern, aber ich muss noch lernen. (I would like to, but I still have to study.)
• Ali: Wann kannst du fertig sein? (When can you be finished?)
• Ben: Um acht. Dann dürfen wir gehen. (At eight. Then we may go.)
• Ali: Super, ich kann die Tickets kaufen. (Great, I can buy the tickets.)

Common misconceptions

• ich will means I will. A false friend. wollen means to want, so Ich will means I want; the future is expressed another way.
• nicht müssen means must not. No. It means do not have to. For must not, use nicht dürfen.
• können and dürfen are the same. können is ability; dürfen is permission. Darf ich? asks may I, not can I.
• The main verb keeps its normal place. It does not. With a modal, the action verb moves to the end as an infinitive.

Recap

• The six modals are können, müssen, wollen, sollen, dürfen, and mögen.
• The modal is conjugated in second position and the main verb goes to the end as an infinitive.
• Modals change their stem vowel in the singular, and the ich and er forms are identical.
• nicht müssen means do not have to, while nicht dürfen means must not.
• Use wollen for I want and the polite möchte for I would like.

Sources

1. "Modal verb." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German verbs." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "können." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.
5. "Grimm Grammar: modal verbs." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

German has a large family of verbs built from a small verb plus a prefix, much as English builds get up, come back, and turn off. The twist is that in a main clause the prefix breaks away and flies to the very end. The verb aufstehen (to get up) becomes Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf (I get up at seven). The stehe is conjugated in second position and auf lands at the end. These are called separable-prefix verbs, and they fill everyday speech.

Key idea: In a simple sentence, conjugate the base verb in second position and send the prefix to the end. The two halves form a bracket around the middle of the clause.

How separation works

You have already met the sentence bracket, the Satzklammer, with modal verbs. Separable verbs use the same frame. The conjugated part sits second, the prefix waits at the end, and the meaning is not complete until you hear that final piece. So in Ich rufe dich morgen an (I will call you tomorrow), the little an at the end turns rufe into anrufen, to call. Listen to the end of the sentence, because the prefix can change the meaning entirely.

Common separable verbs

Here are everyday separable verbs, each shown with its prefix split off. Notice how the prefix carries much of the meaning.

Verb	Meaning	In a sentence
aufstehen	to get up	Ich stehe früh auf.
anrufen	to call	Er ruft mich an.
einkaufen	to shop	Wir kaufen heute ein.
fernsehen	to watch TV	Sie sieht abends fern.
ankommen	to arrive	Der Zug kommt an.
mitkommen	to come along	Kommst du mit?
anfangen	to begin	Der Film fängt an.
einladen	to invite	Ich lade dich ein.

The prefixes that separate

Most separable prefixes are little words you already know as prepositions or directions. The common ones are ab, an, auf, aus, ein, mit, nach, vor, zu, zurück, weg, los, hin, and her. Because these words carry a clear meaning, they colour the verb in a way you can often guess. For example, mitkommen is come with, zurückkommen is come back, and wegfahren is drive away. Learning the prefixes as a set makes dozens of new verbs feel familiar.

Prefixes that never separate

A second, smaller group of prefixes is glued on for good and never moves. These inseparable prefixes are be, ge, er, ver, zer, ent, emp, and miss. So verstehen (to understand) stays whole, giving Ich verstehe, and bekommen (to receive) gives Ich bekomme, never a split form. These prefixes are unstressed and usually carry no meaning of their own. If a verb starts with one of these eight, treat it as a normal, unbreakable verb.

Telling them apart by stress

There is a reliable spoken clue: the stress. A separable prefix is stressed, so you say AUF-stehen and AN-rufen with the weight on the prefix. An inseparable prefix is unstressed, so ver-STE-hen and be-KOM-men put the weight on the stem. This is why some verbs can mean two different things depending on the stress. For a beginner, the safe rule is short: the eight inseparable prefixes never split, and almost everything else does.

Separable verbs with a modal

When a modal verb enters, the separable verb goes to the end as a single, joined infinitive. It does not split. So Ich stehe früh auf becomes Ich muss früh aufstehen (I have to get up early), with aufstehen whole at the end. The same happens in other end-of-clause spots: Ich will dich anrufen (I want to call you). The rule is simple: the prefix separates only when the base verb is the one being conjugated.

In questions and commands

The prefix still travels to the end in yes-or-no questions and in commands. To ask do you come along, you say Kommst du mit?, with mit at the end. To tell someone to get up, the command is Steh auf!, and the polite form is Stehen Sie auf! In each case the base verb leads and the prefix closes the sentence. This steady pattern means you can form questions and orders from separable verbs without learning a new rule.

Example sentences

• Ich stehe jeden Tag um sechs Uhr auf. (I get up at six every day.)
• Rufst du mich später an? (Will you call me later?)
• Wir kaufen am Samstag ein. (We go shopping on Saturday.)
• Der Zug kommt um zehn Uhr an. (The train arrives at ten.)
• Ich muss heute früh aufstehen. (I have to get up early today. With a modal, the verb stays whole.)

A short dialogue

Two friends make a weekend plan.

• Nina: Wann fängt das Konzert an? (When does the concert begin?)
• Ole: Um acht. Kommst du mit? (At eight. Are you coming along?)
• Nina: Ja, gern. Ich rufe dich vorher an. (Yes, gladly. I will call you beforehand.)
• Ole: Gut. Ich kaufe noch Getränke ein. (Good. I will still buy drinks.)
• Nina: Super, dann fangen wir früh an. (Great, then we will start early.)

Common misconceptions

• Every prefix separates. No. The eight prefixes be, ge, er, ver, zer, ent, emp, and miss never separate.
• bekommen splits into komme and be. It does not. bekommen is inseparable and means to receive, so it is Ich bekomme.
• The prefix stays next to the verb. In a main clause it moves to the end: Ich stehe um sieben auf.
• Separable verbs split even after a modal. They do not. With a modal they join again at the end: Ich muss aufstehen.

Recap

• Separable-prefix verbs split in a main clause: the base verb is second and the prefix goes to the end.
• Common separable prefixes include ab, an, auf, aus, ein, mit, vor, zu, and zurück.
• The inseparable prefixes be, ge, er, ver, zer, ent, emp, and miss never separate.
• A separable prefix is stressed; an inseparable prefix is not.
• With a modal, the separable verb joins again as one infinitive at the end.

Sources

1. "Separable verb." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German verbs." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "aufstehen." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "Nico's Weg, beginner course." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.
5. "Grimm Grammar: separable prefix verbs." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

Some actions loop back onto the person who does them. When you wash yourself, dress yourself, or feel happy, the subject and the object are the same. German marks this with a reflexive pronoun, a word meaning myself, yourself, or himself. The all-purpose reflexive word is sich, and it appears in the dictionary form of these verbs, as in sich waschen (to wash oneself). Reflexive verbs are perfect for describing a daily routine, which is exactly what this lesson builds toward.

Key idea: A reflexive verb needs a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject. For ich it is mich, for du it is dich, and for er, sie, es, and the formal Sie it is always sich.

The accusative reflexive pronouns

Most reflexive verbs use the accusative pronoun, because the subject acts directly on itself. Here is sich waschen (to wash oneself). Only the ich and du forms differ from the object pronouns you already know; everything else is sich.

Pronoun	waschen	Pronoun	waschen
ich	wasche mich	wir	waschen uns
du	wäschst dich	ihr	wascht euch
er / sie / es	wäscht sich	sie / Sie	waschen sich

Common reflexive verbs

These verbs describe feelings and daily care. Learn each with sich, the way a dictionary lists it.

Verb	Meaning	Example
sich duschen	to shower	Ich dusche mich.
sich anziehen	to get dressed	Er zieht sich an.
sich freuen	to be glad	Wir freuen uns.
sich fühlen	to feel	Ich fühle mich gut.
sich beeilen	to hurry	Beeil dich!
sich setzen	to sit down	Setz dich!

When the reflexive is dative

Something changes when the sentence already has a direct object. Then the reflexive pronoun becomes dative, because the real object is the other noun. The classic example is brushing your teeth: Ich putze mir die Zähne, literally I brush the teeth to myself. Here die Zähne is the accusative object, so the reflexive mir is dative. The only forms that change from the accusative set are mich to mir and dich to dir; the rest stay sich, uns, and euch. Use this whenever you clean a body part.

Where the reflexive pronoun goes

The reflexive pronoun likes to sit right after the conjugated verb. In a plain statement it follows the verb: Ich freue mich. When something else comes first, the pronoun follows the verb and subject: Heute freue ich mich. In a yes-or-no question the verb leads and the pronoun comes next: Freust du dich? Keeping the pronoun close to the verb is the safe habit, and it sounds natural to German ears.

Telling your daily routine

Now put the verbs to work. A routine is a chain of actions, and a few ordering words tie them together: zuerst (first), dann (then), danach (after that), and schließlich (finally). Many routine verbs are separable, so the prefix still goes to the end. A simple day might run: Ich stehe auf, dann dusche ich mich, dann ziehe ich mich an, und danach frühstücke ich. Notice how the separable auf and an sit at the ends of their clauses while the reflexive mich follows the verb.

Reflexive verbs with a fixed preposition

Several reflexive verbs pair with a set preposition that you memorize together with the verb. Three common ones are sich freuen auf (to look forward to), sich interessieren für (to be interested in), and sich erinnern an (to remember). So Ich freue mich auf das Wochenende means I am looking forward to the weekend, and Er interessiert sich für Musik means he is interested in music. Treat the verb and its preposition as one unit, because the preposition is not always the one English would choose.

Example sentences

• Ich wasche mich und ziehe mich an. (I wash and get dressed.)
• Wie fühlst du dich heute? (How do you feel today?)
• Wir freuen uns auf die Ferien. (We are looking forward to the holidays.)
• Zuerst putze ich mir die Zähne. (First I brush my teeth. Dative mir with the object die Zähne.)
• Beeil dich, der Bus kommt! (Hurry up, the bus is coming!)

A short dialogue

A parent moves a child along in the morning.

• Mutter: Steh auf, es ist schon sieben Uhr! (Get up, it is already seven.)
• Kind: Ich bin müde. (I am tired.)
• Mutter: Dusch dich und zieh dich an. (Shower and get dressed.)
• Kind: Und dann frühstücke ich? (And then I have breakfast?)
• Mutter: Ja, aber beeil dich, bitte. (Yes, but hurry, please.)

Common misconceptions

• The reflexive pronoun for er is ihn. No. For er, sie, es, and formal Sie the reflexive is always sich.
• Reflexive verbs always use the accusative. Not when another object is present. Then the reflexive is dative: Ich putze mir die Zähne.
• You can guess the preposition after a reflexive verb. Often not. Learn sich freuen auf and sich interessieren für as fixed units.
• sich means only himself. It covers himself, herself, itself, themselves, and the formal yourself.

Recap

• Reflexive verbs loop the action back on the subject and use a reflexive pronoun.
• The accusative reflexives are mich, dich, sich, uns, euch, and sich.
• When another object is present, the reflexive becomes dative: mich to mir, dich to dir.
• The reflexive pronoun sits right after the conjugated verb.
• Order a routine with zuerst, dann, danach, and schließlich, keeping separable prefixes at the end.

Sources

1. "Reflexive verb." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German pronouns." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "sich." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "Learn German." Deutsche Welle, dw.com.
5. "Grimm Grammar: reflexive verbs." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

To talk about the past in everyday German, you use the Perfekt, the present perfect. It is the normal spoken past, so Germans say Ich habe Fußball gespielt for I played football, even when English would use a simple past. The Perfekt is a team of two parts: a helper verb, either haben or sein, standing in second position, and a past participle sitting at the very end. You already know the bracket shape from modal and separable verbs, and the Perfekt uses it again.

Key idea: Perfekt equals a conjugated haben or sein in second place plus a past participle at the end. Ich habe gegessen means I ate or I have eaten.

Building weak participles

Regular, or weak, verbs form their participle with a simple recipe: put ge in front of the stem and add t at the end. So machen becomes gemacht, spielen becomes gespielt, and kaufen becomes gekauft. If the stem ends in -t or -d, an extra e keeps it pronounceable, giving gearbeitet from arbeiten. This pattern covers the large majority of German verbs, so once the recipe is automatic, most past participles cost you no effort.

Infinitive	Participle	English
machen	gemacht	done, made
spielen	gespielt	played
kaufen	gekauft	bought
arbeiten	gearbeitet	worked
lernen	gelernt	learned

Building strong participles

Strong, or irregular, verbs also start with ge, but they end in -en, and many change their stem vowel. There is no shortcut here; you learn them one by one, just as English learns sing, sang, sung. The good news is that the most common verbs recur constantly, so they stick quickly. Here are several you will use daily.

Infinitive	Participle	English
gehen	gegangen	gone
sehen	gesehen	seen
trinken	getrunken	drunk
essen	gegessen	eaten
schreiben	geschrieben	written

haben or sein?

Most verbs build the Perfekt with haben, but a group uses sein. Use sein for verbs of movement from one place to another, such as gehen, fahren, kommen, and laufen, and for verbs of change of state, such as aufstehen and werden. The verbs sein and bleiben also take sein. So it is Ich bin nach Hause gegangen (I went home) but Ich habe Kaffee getrunken (I drank coffee). A quick test: if the verb shows motion to a new place, reach for sein.

Separable, inseparable, and -ieren verbs

Three special groups follow neat rules. In a separable verb, the ge slots between the prefix and the stem, so aufstehen gives aufgestanden and einkaufen gives eingekauft. Inseparable-prefix verbs take no ge at all, so verstehen gives verstanden and bekommen gives bekommen. Verbs ending in -ieren also drop the ge, so studieren gives studiert and telefonieren gives telefoniert. These look tricky at first, but each rule is consistent, so a little practice fixes them in place.

Where the parts go

The word order is the familiar bracket. The helper verb takes second position and agrees with the subject, while the participle waits, unchanged, at the end. So Wir haben gestern einen Film gesehen puts haben second and gesehen last, with the whole middle of the sentence between them. In a question the helper leads: Hast du gut geschlafen? The participle never changes its form for the subject, which makes the Perfekt easier than it first looks.

Example sentences

• Ich habe einen Kuchen gebacken. (I baked a cake.)
• Wir sind nach Berlin gefahren. (We traveled to Berlin. Motion, so sein.)
• Hast du meine Nachricht gelesen? (Did you read my message?)
• Er hat mich gestern angerufen. (He called me yesterday. Separable participle angerufen.)
• Sie ist um sechs Uhr aufgestanden. (She got up at six. Change of state, so sein.)

A short dialogue

Two friends talk about the weekend.

• Mara: Was hast du am Wochenende gemacht? (What did you do on the weekend?)
• Tom: Ich bin nach Hamburg gefahren. (I traveled to Hamburg.)
• Mara: Schön! Und was hast du dort gesehen? (Nice! And what did you see there?)
• Tom: Ich habe den Hafen besucht. (I visited the harbor.)
• Mara: Ich habe nur gelernt und geschlafen. (I only studied and slept.)

Common misconceptions

• All verbs form the Perfekt with haben. No. Verbs of motion and change of state use sein: Ich bin gegangen.
• Every participle starts with ge. Not the inseparable and -ieren verbs: verstanden, bekommen, and studiert take no ge.
• The participle changes for each subject. It never does. Only the helper verb haben or sein is conjugated.
• The Perfekt only means have done. In German it also covers the plain past, so gespielt can mean played.

Recap

• The Perfekt is the everyday past: a conjugated haben or sein plus a past participle.
• Weak participles are ge + stem + t; strong participles are ge + stem + en, often with a vowel change.
• sein is used for verbs of motion and change of state; most other verbs use haben.
• Separable verbs insert ge in the middle; inseparable and -ieren verbs take no ge.
• The helper verb stands second and the participle goes to the very end.

Sources

1. "German verbs." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "Present perfect." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "gehen." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "Nico's Weg, beginner course." Deutsche Welle, learngerman.dw.com.
5. "Grimm Grammar: the present perfect." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

Adjectives let you add colour and detail, turning a house into a big old house. In German an adjective behaves in one of two ways. When it stands after the verb sein, it takes no ending at all, which is wonderfully easy. When it stands in front of a noun, it takes an ending that depends on the article, the gender, and the case. This second pattern is the one beginners worry about, but a couple of clear tables tame it, and the gains in expressiveness are large.

Key idea: After sein an adjective has no ending: Das Haus ist groß. Before a noun it needs one: das große Haus. Learn where the ending comes from and you can describe anything.

Adjectives after sein: no ending

Start with the easy case. When an adjective follows a linking verb such as sein, werden, or bleiben, it never changes: Der Mann ist alt, Die Frau ist alt, Das Kind ist alt. One form fits every gender and number. This is called a predicate adjective, and it is a free gift, because you can describe things from your first week without touching an ending. So Die Blume ist schön and Die Blumen sind schön use the very same schön.

Adjectives before a noun

The work begins when the adjective moves in front of its noun. Now it must carry an ending, and that ending answers three questions at once: which article stands before it, what gender and number the noun has, and what case the phrase is in. There are two common situations: after a der-word, meaning der, die, das and their relatives, and after an ein-word, meaning ein, kein, and the possessives. Each has its own small table.

After the definite article

After a der-word, the endings are gentle, only -e or -en. In the nominative and accusative singular they are mostly -e, and the plural is always -en. The one change to watch is the masculine accusative, which takes -en to match den.

After der-words	Nominative	Accusative
Masculine	der gute Mann	den guten Mann
Feminine	die gute Frau	die gute Frau
Neuter	das gute Kind	das gute Kind
Plural	die guten Kinder	die guten Kinder

After the indefinite article

After an ein-word, the adjective sometimes has to do extra work. Because ein has no ending in the masculine nominative or in the neuter, the adjective steps in to show the gender, taking -er for masculine and -es for neuter. Elsewhere the endings match what you just saw.

After ein-words	Nominative	Accusative
Masculine	ein guter Mann	einen guten Mann
Feminine	eine gute Frau	eine gute Frau
Neuter	ein gutes Kind	ein gutes Kind
Plural	keine guten Kinder	keine guten Kinder

Colours

Colours are among the most useful adjectives, and they follow the same rules. Here are the basic ones.

German	English	German	English
rot	red	blau	blue
grün	green	gelb	yellow
schwarz	black	weiß	white
braun	brown	grau	grey

So you can say ein rotes Auto (a red car), die grüne Tür (the green door), and der schwarze Hund (the black dog), each with the ending its noun and case require.

Two colours that never change

A small warning about colours. The words rosa (pink) and orange (orange), both borrowed, never take an ending. So it is ein rosa Kleid (a pink dress) and die orange Blume (the orange flower), with the bare adjective in front of the noun. Learners often try to add an ending by analogy, but these two words simply refuse it. If a colour looks foreign and ends in a vowel, suspect that it stays unchanged.

A helpful shortcut

Two facts lighten the load. First, in the plural after any der-word or ein-word, the ending is always -en, so you never have to weigh plural genders. Second, in the dative case every attributive adjective ends in -en, whatever the gender: mit dem guten Freund, in einer kleinen Stadt. Between these two rules, a large share of adjective endings turns out to be a simple -en, which is the most common ending by far.

Example sentences

• Das ist ein schönes Haus. (That is a beautiful house. Neuter -es after ein.)
• Ich kaufe den roten Wagen. (I am buying the red car. Masculine accusative -en.)
• Die kleine Katze schläft. (The little cat is sleeping.)
• Wir haben einen guten Lehrer. (We have a good teacher.)
• Der Kaffee ist heiß. (The coffee is hot. After sein, no ending.)

A short dialogue

A shopper looks for a jacket.

• Kundin: Ich suche eine warme Jacke. (I am looking for a warm jacket.)
• Verkäufer: Wir haben eine blaue und eine schwarze. (We have a blue one and a black one.)
• Kundin: Die schwarze Jacke gefällt mir. (I like the black jacket.)
• Verkäufer: Sie ist sehr schön und nicht teuer. (It is very nice and not expensive.)
• Kundin: Gut, ich nehme die schwarze. (Good, I will take the black one.)

Common misconceptions

• Adjectives always take an ending. No. After sein, werden, and bleiben they have no ending: Das Auto ist neu.
• The ending depends only on gender. It depends on the article, the gender and number, and the case together.
• All colours take endings. rosa and orange never change: ein rosa Kleid.
• The masculine looks the same in both cases. It does not. der gute Mann becomes den guten Mann in the accusative.

Recap

• After sein, werden, and bleiben, an adjective takes no ending.
• Before a noun, the ending depends on the article, the gender and number, and the case.
• After der-words the endings are -e or -en; the masculine accusative is -en.
• After ein-words the adjective shows the gender with -er (masc.) and -es (neut.).
• The plural and the whole dative always end in -en, and rosa and orange never change.

Sources

1. "German adjectives." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "German declension." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "gut." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
4. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.
5. "Grimm Grammar: adjective endings." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

So far your sentences have been short. To sound natural you need to join ideas, and German gives you two kinds of joining words. One kind, the coordinating conjunctions, links two equal sentences and leaves the word order alone. The other kind, the subordinating conjunctions, attaches a dependent clause and pushes its verb all the way to the end. Knowing which is which is the key to building longer, correct German, and it explains the famous image of the German verb arriving late.

Key idea: Coordinating conjunctions like und and aber keep the verb in second position. Subordinating conjunctions like weil and dass send the verb to the very end of their clause.

A quick review: verb second

Recall the core rule of a German main clause: the conjugated verb stands in second position. Whatever comes first, a subject, a time word, or a place, the verb holds slot two and the subject follows if needed. Ich gehe heute ins Kino and Heute gehe ich ins Kino are both correct. Keep this rule in mind, because coordinating conjunctions respect it while subordinating conjunctions bend the clause into a new shape.

Coordinating conjunctions

These words link two full main clauses, and they sit outside the count, so the verb after them still comes second. The five to know are und (and), aber (but), oder (or), denn (because, for), and sondern (but rather). For example, Ich lerne Deutsch, und ich spreche Englisch keeps ich first and the verb second in each half. Because they do not disturb the word order, these conjunctions are the easy ones.

Conjunction	Meaning
und	and
aber	but
oder	or
denn	because, for
sondern	but rather

aber or sondern?

Two of these both translate as but, so English speakers must choose with care. Use aber for a plain contrast: Es ist klein, aber schön (It is small but nice). Use sondern only after a negative, to correct it and say but rather: Das ist nicht rot, sondern orange (That is not red, but rather orange). The test is simple: if the first clause contains nicht or kein and you are replacing that idea, use sondern; otherwise use aber.

Subordinating conjunctions

Now the important twist. A subordinating conjunction opens a dependent clause, one that cannot stand alone, and it kicks the conjugated verb to the very end of that clause. The most common are weil (because), dass (that), wenn (if, when), ob (whether), obwohl (although), and da (since). Watch the verb move: Ich bleibe zu Hause becomes, after weil, the clause weil ich krank bin, with bin at the end. A comma always separates the two clauses.

Subordinator	Meaning
weil	because
dass	that
wenn	if, when
ob	whether
obwohl	although

When the subordinate clause comes first

You can also lead with the subordinate clause, and then a neat thing happens. The whole subordinate clause counts as the first element, so the main verb must come right after the comma, keeping the verb-second rule for the sentence as a whole. Compare: Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil ich krank bin and Weil ich krank bin, bleibe ich zu Hause. In the second version the two verbs, bin and bleibe, sit next to each other across the comma, which is perfectly normal in German.

Indirect questions

Question words can also open a subordinate clause, and they send the verb to the end just like weil. This makes indirect questions, the polite reported kind. The direct Wo wohnst du? becomes Ich weiß nicht, wo du wohnst (I do not know where you live), with wohnst at the end. Likewise Wann kommt der Zug? becomes Weißt du, wann der Zug kommt? Use these to soften a question or to report one, and remember that the verb goes last.

Example sentences

• Ich möchte kommen, aber ich habe keine Zeit. (I would like to come, but I have no time.)
• Wir bleiben zu Hause, weil es regnet. (We are staying home because it is raining.)
• Ich glaube, dass Deutsch nützlich ist. (I believe that German is useful.)
• Wenn ich Zeit habe, lese ich viel. (When I have time, I read a lot. Subordinate clause first.)
• Das ist nicht Tee, sondern Kaffee. (That is not tea, but rather coffee.)

A short dialogue

Two colleagues discuss a plan.

• Eva: Kommst du mit, oder bleibst du hier? (Are you coming along, or staying here?)
• Jan: Ich bleibe hier, weil ich noch arbeiten muss. (I am staying because I still have to work.)
• Eva: Schade. Weißt du, wann du fertig bist? (Too bad. Do you know when you will be done?)
• Jan: Ich glaube, dass ich um sechs fertig bin. (I think that I will be done at six.)
• Eva: Gut, dann warte ich. (Good, then I will wait.)

Common misconceptions

• weil and denn work the same way. They share the meaning because, but denn keeps the verb second while weil sends it to the end.
• but is always aber. After a negative, the correcting but is sondern: nicht rot, sondern blau.
• wenn and wann are the same. wann asks a question (when?), while wenn means if or when inside a statement.
• Subordinate clauses need no comma. German always sets them off with a comma.

Recap

• Coordinating conjunctions und, aber, oder, denn, and sondern keep the verb in second position.
• Use sondern, not aber, for the correcting but after a negative.
• Subordinating conjunctions such as weil, dass, and wenn send the verb to the end of the clause.
• When the subordinate clause comes first, the main verb follows right after the comma.
• Question words open indirect questions and also push the verb to the end.

Sources

1. "German grammar." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "V2 word order." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "Grammatical conjunction." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
4. "weil." Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org.
5. "Grimm Grammar: subordinating conjunctions." COERLL, University of Texas at Austin, coerll.utexas.edu.

The big picture

You have built a real foundation in German. This final lesson puts it to use in the most practical setting of all, travel, and then introduces the places where German is spoken. First you will learn to ask for and follow directions and to move around a city by train, bus, and on foot. Then you will meet the three main German-speaking countries, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, often grouped by the friendly label DACH. It is a fitting way to close the course.

Key idea: With a few direction words and the polite question Wie komme ich zum ...?, you can find your way anywhere in the German-speaking world. The label DACH combines the country codes D for Deutschland, A for Austria, and CH for Switzerland.

Asking for directions

Start with the polite opener Entschuldigung (excuse me), then ask your question. The two workhorses are Wie komme ich zum Bahnhof? (How do I get to the station?) and Wo ist die Post? (Where is the post office?). Remember the dative after zu, which contracts to zum for masculine and neuter places and zur for feminine ones. If you do not catch the answer, fall back on Langsamer, bitte (slower, please) or Können Sie das wiederholen? (Can you repeat that?).

Direction words

The answers you hear will lean on a short list of words. Learn these and you can follow most directions.

German	English	German	English
links	left	rechts	right
geradeaus	straight ahead	die Ecke	corner
die Kreuzung	intersection	die Ampel	traffic light
die Straße	street	der Platz	square

So a typical reply might be Gehen Sie geradeaus und dann links (Go straight ahead and then left) or An der Ampel rechts (Right at the traffic light). These are set phrases you can memorize whole.

Getting around

German-speaking cities have excellent public transport, and the words are worth knowing.

German	English	German	English
der Zug	train	der Bus	bus
die U-Bahn	subway	die Straßenbahn	tram
das Fahrrad	bicycle	das Flugzeug	airplane

Recall that you travel with mit plus the dative: mit dem Zug (by train), mit dem Bus (by bus), and mit dem Fahrrad (by bike). The one exception is on foot, which is simply zu Fuß.

Places in town

To ask where something is, you need the names of common places. Here are the ones a traveler reaches for most.

German	English	German	English
der Bahnhof	train station	der Flughafen	airport
das Hotel	hotel	das Museum	museum
die Apotheke	pharmacy	die Bank	bank
das Rathaus	town hall	die Post	post office

The German-speaking world

German is the native language of about one hundred million people and an official language in six countries. The three main ones are grouped as DACH, which combines the codes D for Deutschland, A for Austria, and CH for Switzerland. Together they span central Europe, from the North Sea to the Alps, and they share a language while keeping distinct accents, foods, and customs. Knowing a little about each makes your German feel connected to real places.

Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

Here is a quick portrait of the three countries at a glance.

Country	Capital	Currency
Deutschland (Germany)	Berlin	Euro
Österreich (Austria)	Wien (Vienna)	Euro
die Schweiz (Switzerland)	Bern	Swiss Franc

Germany is the largest, with about eighty-three million people. Austria, smaller and mountainous, is famous for music, from Mozart to the Vienna New Year concert. Switzerland is not in the European Union and keeps its own currency, the Swiss Franc.

A note on Swiss and Austrian German

The written standard is shared, but the spoken language varies. In Switzerland people speak Swiss German dialects that even other Germans find hard to follow, and a common hello is Grüezi. Switzerland also drops the letter ß entirely, writing ss everywhere, as in Strasse. In Austria and southern Germany you will hear Grüß Gott for hello and Servus among friends. These differences are a delight, not an obstacle, and your standard German will be understood throughout.

Where else German is spoken

Beyond the big three, German is official in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, and it is spoken by communities in eastern Belgium, in the South Tyrol region of northern Italy, and in pockets around the world. This wide reach is one reason German is such a useful language to learn. Wherever you meet it, the grammar and vocabulary from this course will carry you, from ordering a coffee to asking the way to the station.

A short dialogue: finding the way

A traveler stops a passerby near the town center.

• Reisende: Entschuldigung, wie komme ich zum Bahnhof? (Excuse me, how do I get to the station?)
• Mann: Gehen Sie geradeaus, dann an der Ampel links. (Go straight, then left at the traffic light.)
• Reisende: Ist es weit? (Is it far?)
• Mann: Nein, fünf Minuten zu Fuß. (No, five minutes on foot.)
• Reisende: Vielen Dank! (Thank you very much!)

Bringing the course together

Look how far you have come. You can pronounce German, greet people, and choose du or Sie. You give nouns their gender and use the nominative, accusative, and dative. You conjugate verbs, including sein, haben, the modals, separable verbs, and reflexives, and you talk about the past with the Perfekt. You describe things with adjectives and join your ideas with weil and dass. With this toolkit and a little practice, you are ready to keep going. Viel Erfolg und viel Spaß.

Common misconceptions

• Switzerland uses the Euro. It does not. Switzerland keeps the Swiss Franc and writes ss instead of ß.
• Everyone in the DACH countries speaks the same way. The written standard is shared, but accents and greetings differ, such as Grüezi and Grüß Gott.
• DACH is one country. It is a label for three: Deutschland, Austria, and Switzerland, with tiny Liechtenstein nearby.
• zu never changes. It contracts with the dative article: zum Bahnhof and zur Post.

Recap

• Ask directions with Entschuldigung and Wie komme ich zum ...?, then follow links, rechts, and geradeaus.
• Travel with mit plus the dative, as in mit dem Bus, except zu Fuß for on foot.
• The DACH countries are Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, sharing a language across central Europe.
• Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc and writes ss for ß; greetings vary by region.
• German is official in six countries, so your new skills travel widely.

Sources

1. "German-speaking world." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
2. "Germany." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
3. "Austria." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Switzerland." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
5. "Deutsch üben." Goethe-Institut, goethe.de.