Basic German Words and Phrases for Beginners (With Pronunciation)

The basic German words and phrases a beginner needs first are greetings (Hallo, Guten Tag, Tschüss), polite words (bitte, danke, Entschuldigung), question words (wo, was, wie viel), numbers, days and a few dozen everyday nouns. Learn every noun together with der, die or das, use Sie with strangers, and you can handle most first conversations.

How German sounds: a cheat sheet for English speakers

German spelling is far more regular than English. Learn these few letters and you can read most beginner words aloud correctly the first time.

The ei and ie pair is the one to drill: the second letter tells you the sound. Wein (wine) sounds like "vine", and wie (how) sounds like "vee". In the south and in Austria, final g stays closer to a real g, so you will hear both.

Greetings, and when to say du or Sie

German has two words for "you". Use Sie with strangers, shop staff, officials and new colleagues: Wie heißen Sie? (What is your name?). Use du with friends, family, children and other students: Wie heißt du? Sie is always capitalized, even mid-sentence. When in doubt, start with Sie and switch when the other person offers du. Our du vs Sie guide covers the gray areas.

Polite words you will use every day

Bitte does double duty: Ein Wasser, bitte (a water, please), and after someone says Danke, you answer Bitte.

Question words

Watch the swap: wer sounds like English "where" but means who, and wo means where. Every question word starts with w, so every one starts with a v sound.

Everyday nouns, always with der, die or das

Every German noun has a gender, and the gender usually cannot be guessed from the meaning. Learn the article as part of the word (das Wasser, never just Wasser), because it changes the endings around it. All nouns are also capitalized, which makes them easy to spot in a sentence. Die is also the article for every plural.

The der, die, das guide has the patterns that make gender easier to guess, such as -ung words (die Wohnung, die Rechnung) being feminine.

Numbers one to twenty, then the tens

The tens: zwanzig (twenty), dreißig (thirty, spelled with ß, not -zig), vierzig, fünfzig, sechzig, siebzig, achtzig, neunzig, then hundert (a hundred).

The big trap: from twenty-one on, German says the ones first, "four-and-twenty" style. Twenty-one is einundzwanzig (one-and-twenty), and forty-seven is siebenundvierzig (seven-and-forty), written as one word. When someone says a phone number or a price, listen for the second number first, or you will write the digits backward.

Days of the week

All days are masculine, and "on Monday" is am Montag. Sonnabend is the regional word for Saturday in northern and central Germany. Three time words to learn with them: heute (today), morgen (tomorrow), gestern (yesterday).

False friends that catch beginners early

Ich bekomme einen Kaffee means "I'll have a coffee", a normal way to order, not "I become a coffee". The false friends guide has the longer list.

Say this today: five sentences

Notice einen Kaffee: der Kaffee becomes einen after a verb like hätte gern. That is the accusative case, and our accusative vs dative guide explains it in a few minutes. For now, just learn the sentence whole. The ordering and paying guide adds what the server says back.

Saying these five sentences out loud, rather than reading them, is what makes them stick. Practice them with Polly, the PollyStop tutor, until they come out without thinking.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most basic German words to learn first?

Start with Hallo, Guten Tag, Tschüss, bitte, danke, Entschuldigung, ja, nein and the question words wer, was, wo and wie. Add numbers one to twenty and about twenty everyday nouns, each learned with der, die or das.

How do you say hello and goodbye in German?

Hallo works everywhere and Guten Tag is the polite daytime greeting. Tschüss is a casual bye, and Auf Wiedersehen is the polite goodbye for shops, offices and people you address as Sie.

Do I really have to learn der, die or das with every German noun?

Yes. Gender is part of the word and cannot be reliably guessed from the meaning, and it changes the endings of articles and adjectives around it. Learning das Wasser instead of Wasser costs nothing extra and saves relearning later.

Why do Germans say numbers backward?

From twenty-one to ninety-nine, German puts the ones before the tens, so twenty-one is einundzwanzig, literally one-and-twenty. English once did the same in phrases like four-and-twenty. Practice by listening for the second number first.

How do you pronounce ch in German?

After a, o and u it is the throaty sound in Scottish loch, as in acht. After e, i, the umlauts and consonants it is a soft hiss close to the h in huge, as in ich and nicht.