You do not need thousands of words to start using German. These essentials will carry you through greetings, politeness, shopping, directions and small talk. Learn them as whole phrases — it is faster than building each sentence from scratch.
Greetings and basics
- Hallo / Guten Tag — Hello / Good day
- Guten Morgen / Guten Abend — Good morning / Good evening
- Tschüss / Auf Wiedersehen — Bye / Goodbye
- Wie geht es Ihnen? — How are you? (formal)
- Mir geht es gut, danke — I’m fine, thank you
Politeness (these open every door)
- Bitte — Please / You’re welcome
- Danke / Vielen Dank — Thank you / Thank you very much
- Entschuldigung — Excuse me / Sorry
- Es tut mir leid — I’m sorry
- Kein Problem — No problem
When you’re still learning
- Sprechen Sie Englisch? — Do you speak English?
- Ich verstehe nicht — I don’t understand
- Können Sie das wiederholen? — Can you repeat that?
- Langsamer, bitte — Slower, please
- Wie sagt man … auf Deutsch? — How do you say … in German?
Getting around and shopping
- Wo ist …? — Where is …?
- Wie viel kostet das? — How much does that cost?
- Ich möchte … — I would like …
- Die Rechnung, bitte — The bill, please
- Ich suche … — I’m looking for …
Small talk that makes you sound natural
- Ich heiße … — My name is …
- Ich komme aus … — I’m from …
- Freut mich — Nice to meet you
- Was machst du beruflich? — What do you do for work?
- Schönes Wochenende! — Have a nice weekend!
How to make these stick
Don’t just read them. Say each one out loud, put the ones you’ll use most on flashcards, and try to use three of them in a real (or imagined) situation today. Whole-phrase learning means you can speak before you have mastered the grammar underneath — which is exactly how confidence is built.
Ready to go beyond phrases and understand how German fits together? Start with noun genders and the case system.