Absolute Foundations
Never studied German before? Start here. The alphabet, the words you'll use every day, and the handful of verbs and pronouns that unlock every sentence after this one.
The Alphabet
German uses the same 26 letters as English, plus four extra characters: ä, ö, ü, and ß. Tap any tile to hear it spoken aloud.
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How German Sentences Work
Before you learn a single word, there are three things you should know German just does differently than English. Get comfortable with these now and the rest of the language will click a lot faster.
Every Noun Is Capitalized
In English you only capitalize names and the first word of a sentence. In German, every noun gets a capital letter, mid-sentence, every time, no exceptions.
Der Hund sieht die Katze und das Auto.
The dog sees the cat and the car.
💡 Rule of thumb: if it names a person, place, thing, or idea, capitalize it, even in the middle of a sentence.
Three Genders: der, die, das
Every German noun has a gender, and its article tells you which one. Most of the time there's no logical reason a word is masculine, feminine, or neuter, so just learn the article together with the noun from day one.
| Article | Gender | Example |
|---|---|---|
| der | masculine | der Mann (the man) |
| die | feminine | die Frau (the woman) |
| das | neuter | das Kind (the child) |
💡 Study tip: don't memorize "Hund" on its own; memorize "der Hund". The article isn't extra, it's part of the word.
The Verb Always Takes Position 2
In a German statement, the conjugated verb always lands in second position, no matter what comes first. If something other than the subject opens the sentence, the subject just hops to after the verb instead.
1Ich 2lerne Deutsch.
1Heute 2lerne ich Deutsch.
I'm learning German (today). Either way, "lerne" stays in position 2; "ich" just slides to right after it once "Heute" grabs position 1.
⚠️ Position 2 belongs to the verb, not the subject. That single rule explains almost everything that looks "backwards" about German word order.
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Personal Pronouns
Every German sentence starts with knowing who's doing the action.
| German | English | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| ich | I | yourself |
| du | you | one friend/family (informal) |
| er | he | a male person/thing |
| sie | she | a female person/thing |
| es | it | a neuter noun |
| wir | we | yourself + others |
| ihr | you all | a group of friends/family (informal) |
| sie | they | multiple people/things |
| Sie | you (formal) | strangers, elders, business |
💡 du vs. Sie: Use du with friends, family, and other kids. Use Sie (always capitalized) with strangers, teachers, and in shops or offices; it's the polite, formal "you".
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Essential Verbs
Two irregular verbs carry an enormous share of everyday German. Learn these six forms each and you can already say who you are and what you have.
sein (to be)
haben (to have)
⚠️ Regular verbs are more predictable: most just add endings to a stem. Take lernen (to learn, stem lern-): ich lerne, du lernst, er/sie/es lernt, wir lernen, ihr lernt, sie/Sie lernen. Same six endings work for most verbs in the language.
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Conjugation
"Conjugating" a verb means changing its ending to match who's doing the action. Regular German verbs all follow the same six endings, no matter which verb it is.
lernen (to learn)
💡 The pattern: take the stem (lern-) and add -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en for ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie. Learn this once and you can conjugate hundreds of regular verbs the same way.
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Nominative & Accusative Case
German articles change depending on the job a noun plays in the sentence. The two most important jobs to know first:
Der Hund sieht den Mann.
The dog sees the man.
Nominative is the subject: the one doing the action (der Hund). Accusative is the direct object: the one receiving the action (den Mann).
| Case | Masc | Fem | Neut | Plur |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOM | der | die | das | die |
| ACC | den | die | das | die |
💡 Only masculine changes: going from nominative to accusative, der becomes den. Feminine, neuter, and plural articles stay exactly the same.
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Basic Words & Phrases
Tap any word to hear it pronounced.
Greetings & Farewells
Politeness & Yes/No
Numbers 0-10
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100 Most Common German Words
The words you'll run into again and again, grouped by part of speech. Tap any word to hear it pronounced.
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs & Prepositions
Conjunctions & Question Words
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Quick Check
Five questions to confirm the basics stuck.
Foundations
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