Greetings, courtesy, numbers 1–20
Greetings first, as always. But start noticing der, die and das from day one — that habit is the whole battle.
Colours live this week
6 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Articles come in from day one here, a week earlier than in French, because a German noun without der, die or das is only half learned. German nouns are always capitalised too, which is a free extra cue: a capital letter mid-sentence means orange.
Greetings and courtesy
Four new items a day this week. German is front-loaded with difficulty, so the pace is deliberately gentler than the other courses.
- [Hallo]Hello[Hallo!]
Works in almost any situation.
- [Guten Morgen]Good morning
say: GOO-ten MOR-gen
- [Guten Tag]Good day
The safe, all-purpose daytime greeting. In Bavaria you will hear Grüß Gott instead.
- [Guten Abend]Good evening
- [Auf Wiedersehen]Goodbye
Tschüss is the casual version, and far more common in daily life.
- [Bitte]Please — and also you're welcomeEinen Kaffee, [bitte].A coffee, please.
One word, three jobs. It also means here you are when handing something over.
- [Danke schön]Thank you very much
- [Ja]Yes
- [Nein]No
- [Entschuldigung]Excuse me / sorry
say: ent-SHOOL-di-goong
- [Wie geht's?]How are you?— [Wie geht's?] — [Gut, danke.]
- [Gut, danke]Fine, thank you
- [Und Ihnen?]And you? (formal)
- der Mannthe man
Masculine — bold.
- die Frauthe woman
Feminine — slanted. Also the word for Mrs.
- das Kindthe child
Neuter — bold and slanted together. A child has no grammatical gender in German, which surprises everyone.
Numbers 1–20
Numbers stay plain. Note that eins becomes ein before a noun — ein Kaffee, not eins Kaffee.
Sentence frames
- 1
[Hallo,] ich heiße name.
Hello, my name is ___.
Literally I am called ___.
- 2
Ich komme aus place.
I come from ___.
- 3
Einen Kaffee, [bitte].
A coffee, please.
Einen rather than ein — see Week 2. For now, learn it as a chunk.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Coffee Break German, Episode 1
YouTube or Spotify
Play at 0.75× and shadow. German rewards shadowing more than most — the rhythm is very regular.