First sentence frames: I have, I want, I would like
You stop collecting words this week and start combining them. Almost no new vocabulary — reuse Weeks 1 to 3 inside these frames.
Colours live this week
10 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.
Describes a noun.
Modifies a verb or an adjective.
Joins two parts of a sentence.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
The full palette is now live. Because you met one or two colours a week, none of it should feel new.
The three core verbs
Present tense. These three carry an astonishing amount of everyday German.
| Verb | ichreviewed | Sie | wir |
|---|---|---|---|
| habento have | habe | haben | haben |
| möchtenwould like | möchte | möchten | möchten |
| hätte gernwould like (even softer) | hätte gern | hätten gern | hätten gern |
Only the ich column becomes a review card. The rest are there to be recognised, not produced — which is what keeps a day inside its fifteen minutes.
Useful phrases, learned whole
German splits these two ways, and the split is worth noticing rather than fighting.
- [Ich habe Hunger]I'm hungry
Literally: I have hunger. Same as French and Italian.
- [Ich habe Durst]I'm thirsty
- [Mir ist kalt]I'm cold
But not I have cold. Literally: to me it is cold. German uses a different structure for temperature than for hunger.
- [Mir ist warm]I'm warm
- Ich möchte reservierenI would like to book
A table or a room. Two verbs in a row — and the second one goes to the very end of the sentence.
The second verb goes to the end
Ich möchte einen Tisch reservieren. English keeps the two verbs together — I would like to book a table — and German pushes the second one all the way to the back, behind the object. This is the single most alien thing about German word order, and it starts here. Get used to holding the last word until you have finished the rest of the sentence.
Sentence frames
- 1
Ich habe noun.
I have ___.
- 2
Ich möchte noun.
I would like ___.
- 3
Ich hätte gern noun, [bitte].
I would like ___, please.
Substitution drill — ordering
Rotate the object through the frame and say each one aloud three times. Watch the article change to einen when the noun is masculine.
Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee, [bitte].
I would like ___, please.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Coffee Break German, at full speed
Wherever you listened in Week 1
Play it at normal speed for the first time. Notice how much more you catch than you did four weeks ago.
Milestone
By the end of this week you should be able to:
- 01Greet, thank, apologise, and count to twenty.
- 02Introduce yourself — name, origin, town, family, retirement — in four or five sentences.
- 03Name thirty-plus everyday home and food objects, each with der, die or das.
- 04Order a drink or a meal politely with ich hätte gern, and ask for the bill.