The Imperative is used to give commands, instructions, or requests in German. For the formal Sie form, you use the infinitive plus Sie: Kommen Sie bitte! means Please come!, and Sprechen Sie langsamer! means Speak more slowly! For the informal du form, you drop the -st ending from the present tense, leaving just the verb stem. For example, Komm! means Come! and Sprich langsamer! means Speak more slowly! Notice that strong vowel changes in the du form (such as e to i in sprechen → sprich) are kept in the imperative, but umlauts are not. For the plural ihr form, you simply drop the ihr from the conjugated form, so Kommt! means Come! and Sprecht langsamer! means Speak more slowly! Separable verbs also separate in the imperative, with the prefix going to the end, as in Mach das Fenster auf! (Open the window!).
Many useful German vocabulary items relate to the weather. The verb regnen (to rain) is used impersonally: Es regnet means It is raining. Similarly, Es schneit means It is snowing. For descriptions, you can say Heute ist es sonnig (Today is sunny) and Es ist bewölkt und windig (It is cloudy and windy). To ask about the weather, say Wie ist das Wetter heute? (What is the weather like today?). When giving the temperature, remember that numbers above one use the plural form of sein: Es sind 20 Grad (It is 20 degrees). Common nouns include der Regen (the rain), der Schnee (the snow), die Sonne (the sun), and die Wolke (the cloud, plural die Wolken). Germans use Celsius for temperature measurements.
Shopping vocabulary is essential for everyday life. Der Laden means the shop or store (plural die Läden), and die Kasse means the cash register or checkout. To ask the price, you can say Was kostet das? or Wie viel kostet das? Adjectives for cost include billig (cheap) and teuer (expensive), and you can complain Das ist mir zu teuer (That is too expensive for me). Other useful terms are der Einkaufswagen (the shopping cart), die Tüte (the bag), das Angebot (the offer or deal), and bezahlen (to pay, an inseparable verb). At the checkout, you might say Ich möchte bitte bezahlen (I would like to pay, please) or Brauchen Sie eine Tüte? (Do you need a bag?). If you wish to return an item, ask Kann ich das umtauschen? (Can I exchange this?).
German meal traditions follow a distinctive pattern throughout the day. Frühstück (breakfast) is typically eaten between 6 and 9 AM and usually consists of bread (Brot), rolls (Brötchen), jam (Marmelade), cheese (Käse), and cold cuts (Wurst), along with coffee. Mittagessen (lunch) is traditionally the main warm meal of the day and is eaten around 12 to 1 PM, often featuring meat, potatoes or pasta, and vegetables. A beloved German tradition is Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) around 3 to 4 PM, which is especially common on Sundays and resembles British afternoon tea. In the evening, dinner is called either Abendessen or Abendbrot. Abendbrot literally means evening bread and refers to a traditional cold meal of bread, cheese, and cold cuts, while Abendessen can be either warm or cold. Finishing the workday at 5 PM is called having Feierabend, and you can say Ich habe um 17 Uhr Feierabend (I finish work at 5 PM). Daily routines can be expressed with verbs like aufwachen (to wake up), duschen (to shower), frühstücken (to have breakfast), and the separable verb aufstehen, as in Ich wache um 6 Uhr auf (I wake up at 6 o'clock), Ich dusche morgens (I take a shower in the morning), and Ich frühstücke um 7 Uhr (I have breakfast at 7). To describe going somewhere, you can say Ich fahre zur Arbeit (I drive to work), where zur is the contraction of zu + der, and Ich gehe um 22 Uhr ins Bett (I go to bed at 10 PM), where ins is the contraction of in + das.