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.
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.
What the colours above mean
6 of 10 colours so farA 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.
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.
The gear icon in the player sets the speed — 0.75× is the one to start with. Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play.
What stuck?
Check it before you close the page.
Up to 10 of this week's words and frames. Say each one out loud before you look, and say whether you think you have it. Guessing first and then checking is what makes it stick — reading the answer feels better and does less.