German A1

This deck is your starting point for building a practical German vocabulary at the A1 beginner level. It focuses on everyday words you'll encounter right away, such as common colors, the months of the year, and the four seasons. Mastering these high-frequency words gives you a quick sense of accomplishment and helps you start recognizing German in real-life contexts, from shopping for clothes to reading a calendar.

The cards are designed for absolute beginners who have little or no prior experience with German. If you're just beginning a language course, preparing for a trip to a German-speaking country, or simply curious about how the language sounds and feels, this is a friendly first step. Because the questions move between English-to-German and German-to-English directions, you'll also start training your brain to think in both directions, which is a key skill in language learning.

To get the most out of this deck, try to review a little bit every day rather than cramming everything into one long session. Spaced repetition works best when your brain has time to almost forget a word before being reminded of it, which strengthens your long-term memory. Saying the German words out loud as you study can also help you get used to the sounds and pronunciation, and writing them down occasionally is a great way to reinforce spelling. Small, steady practice will quickly turn these basic words into familiar friends.

The German color words are straightforward to learn and appear constantly in everyday speech. The most common colors include rot (red), blau (blue), grün (green), gelb (yellow), schwarz (black), and weiß (white). You can hear them in simple sentences like "Der Apfel ist rot" (The apple is red) or "Der Himmel ist blau" (The sky is blue). Other useful colors are braun (brown), orange (orange, pronounced "oh-RAHN-zhuh"), rosa (pink), and lila (purple). Note that most color adjectives are written in lowercase in German, with the exception of "Orange," which behaves like an English loan word.

Beyond colors, German uses a rich set of descriptive adjectives that often come in opposing pairs. The most fundamental pair is groß (big or tall) and klein (small or short), as in "Das Haus ist groß" or "Die Maus ist klein." A beautiful thing is schön, while its opposite is hässlich (ugly). For age, alt means old and its opposite is neu (new). You can describe speed with schnell (fast) versus langsam (slow), as in "Die Schnecke ist langsam." For temperature, kalt means cold, while there are two words for warmth: warm describes mild warmth (such as the weather), whereas heiß means hot (such as a freshly brewed cup of tea).

Other essential descriptive adjectives include schlecht (bad), as in "Das Essen schmeckt schlecht," and the price pair teuer (expensive) versus billig (cheap), used to compare options like "Das Hotel ist teuer, aber das Hostel ist billig." Finally, müde means tired, often used in phrases like "Ich bin müde" (I am tired). Learning these adjective pairs together is an efficient way to build a vocabulary that lets you describe the world around you in German.

German months are all masculine nouns, which means each one takes the article "der" and is always capitalized. The first six months are Januar, Februar, März, April, Mai, and Juni. The second half of the year consists of Juli, August, September, Oktober, November, and Dezember. To say "in January" or in any other month, you use the contraction "im" (short for "in dem"), as in "Ich habe im Januar Geburtstag" (I have my birthday in January). One tricky pronunciation is März, which sounds like "mehrts."

The four seasons in German are der Frühling (spring), der Sommer (summer), der Herbst (autumn), and der Winter (winter), and like the months, all four are masculine. To say "in summer," you again use the contraction "im Sommer," for example, "Im Sommer gehe ich schwimmen" (In summer I go swimming). The same construction works for all four seasons: im Frühling, im Sommer, im Herbst, and im Winter, giving you a clean way to talk about when activities happen during the year.

German telling time has a few conventions that may surprise English speakers. To ask the time, you can say "Wie spät ist es?" (literally "How late is it?") or "Wie viel Uhr ist es?" For full hours, simply state the number followed by "Uhr," so 3:00 is "Es ist drei Uhr." A peculiarity is how half hours are expressed: 3:30 is "Es ist halb vier," literally "half four," meaning halfway to the next hour. For quarter past and quarter to, use "Viertel nach" and "Viertel vor," so 2:15 is "Viertel nach zwei" and 4:45 is "Viertel vor fünf." Other minutes past the hour use "nach" (after) and minutes before the hour use "vor" (before), as in "Es ist zwanzig nach sechs" for 6:20.

Family vocabulary is one of the first building blocks of any language. In German, immediate family members include die Mutter (mother, plural die Mütter), der Vater (father, plural die Väter), der Bruder (brother, plural die Brüder), and die Schwester (sister, plural die Schwestern). You can build longer sentences by combining these words, for example "Ich habe eine Schwester und zwei Brüder" (I have a sister and two brothers), where "eine" is the feminine accusative form of "ein." The extended family includes die Großmutter (grandmother, informally die Oma) and der Großvater (grandfather, informally der Opa), as well as der Onkel (uncle) and die Tante (aunt). The next generation is covered by der Sohn (son, plural die Söhne) and die Tochter (daughter, plural die Töchter).

Vocabulary for parts of the body is essential for describing health, clothing, and everyday situations. The major body parts are der Kopf (head), der Arm (arm, plural die Arme), das Bein (leg, plural die Beine), die Hand (hand, plural die Hände), and der Fuß (foot, plural die Füße, with the special ß character pronounced like "ss"). The face includes das Auge (eye, plural die Augen), das Ohr (ear, plural die Ohren), die Nase (nose, plural die Nasen), der Mund (mouth), and der Zahn (tooth, plural die Zähne). These words come up in common phrases like "Mein Kopf tut weh" (My head hurts), "Wasch dir die Hände" (Wash your hands), and "Ich putze mir die Zähne" (I brush my teeth).

German body-part nouns each take one of the three grammatical articles, and noticing these patterns helps you remember them. Many plurals follow predictable patterns by adding -e or -en, but some use umlauts (Brüder, Mütter, Väter, Füße, Zähne) and others are entirely irregular (Augen, Ohren). Building familiarity with both family and body vocabulary gives you the tools to talk about yourself and the people around you in detail, while reinforcing how articles and plurals work in German.

The rooms of a German home use the neuter article "das" because most end in the compound suffix "-zimmer" (room), which forces neuter gender. The kitchen is die Küche (a feminine exception), while the bathroom is das Bad or more formally das Badezimmer, the bedroom is das Schlafzimmer, the living room is das Wohnzimmer, and the dining room is das Esszimmer. Many of these compounds are formed by combining a verb with "Zimmer": "schlafen" (to sleep) gives Schlafzimmer, "wohnen" (to live) gives Wohnzimmer, and "essen" (to eat) gives Esszimmer. You might say "Ich koche in der Küche" (I cook in the kitchen) or "Das Bad ist neben dem Schlafzimmer" (The bathroom is next to the bedroom).

Clothing vocabulary covers the everyday items you need to dress for German weather. Common articles include das Hemd (shirt, plural die Hemden), die Hose (trousers or pants, plural die Hosen; note that "Hose" is singular in German even when referring to one pair), der Schuh (shoe, plural die Schuhe), das Kleid (dress, plural die Kleider), die Jacke (jacket, plural die Jacken), der Mantel (coat, plural die Mäntel), die Mütze (winter hat or cap, plural die Mützen), and die Socke (sock, plural die Socken). You can use these with color adjectives to make natural sentences, such as "Sie trägt ein rotes Kleid" (She wears a red dress) or "Im Winter trage ich einen Mantel" (In winter I wear a coat).

Animal words are an enjoyable category that often has surprising features. Common animals include der Hund (dog), die Katze (cat), der Vogel (bird, with the irregular plural die Vögel), der Fisch (fish, plural die Fische), das Pferd (horse, plural die Pferde), die Kuh (cow, plural die Kühe), das Schwein (pig, plural die Schweine, also used in the cheerful expression "Viel Schwein!" meaning good luck), and die Maus (mouse, with the irregular plural die Mäuse). Animal names follow all three grammatical genders, and the umlaut in plural forms (Vögel, Kühe, Mäuse) is a useful pattern to recognize. Together, these vocabulary categories of home, clothing, and animals equip you to discuss your daily life, your surroundings, and even the natural world in German.

German verbs in the present tense follow a regular pattern with six personal endings: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en. This pattern gives ich -e, du -st, er/sie/es -t, wir -en, ihr -t, and sie/Sie -en. Take the verb "machen" (to do or make) as a model: ich mache, du machst, er/sie/es macht, wir machen, ihr macht, sie/Sie machen, used in exchanges like "Was machst du? — Ich mache Hausaufgaben." The verb "spielen" (to play) conjugates similarly: ich spiele, du spielst, er/sie/es spielt, wir spielen, ihr spielt, sie/Sie spielen, as in "Die Kinder spielen im Garten" (The children play in the garden).

Other common verbs follow the same regular pattern. "Lernen" (to learn) gives ich lerne, du lernst, er/sie/es lernt, wir lernen, ihr lernt, sie/Sie lernen, used in "Ich lerne Deutsch" (I am learning German). "Wohnen" (to live or reside) gives ich wohne, du wohnst, er/sie/es wohnt, and so on, useful in questions like "Wo wohnst du?" and answers like "Ich wohne in Berlin." Once you memorize this single set of endings, you can conjugate hundreds of regular German verbs with confidence.

A particular pronunciation rule applies to verbs whose stems end in -t or -d, such as "arbeiten" (to work): an extra -e- is inserted before the endings -st and -t to make the sound easier, so du arbeitest (not arbeitst) and er arbeitet, while ich arbeite and wir arbeiten follow the normal pattern. The verb "spielen" for the "ihr" form is "ihr spielt," used when speaking to a group of friends, as in "Spielt ihr Fußball?" (Do you all play soccer?). Mastering this single conjugation table, plus the -t/-d rule, lets you handle the great majority of verbs you will meet in A1 German.

The basic German question words form the foundation of conversation. They are Wer? (Who?), Was? (What?), Wo? (Where?), Wann? (When?), Warum? (Why?), and Wie? (How?). A useful phrase is "Wie heißt du?" which literally means "How are you called?" but functions as "What is your name?" You can ask about quantity with Wie viel? (How much?) for uncountable things like prices ("Wie viel kostet das?") and Wie viele? (How many?) for countable items ("Wie viele Kinder hast du?"). These question words can be combined with vocabulary you already know to build an enormous range of simple conversations.

A small set of phrases covers a remarkable amount of self-introduction. To say where you are from, use "Ich komme aus..." followed by a country in the dative case, as in "Ich komme aus den USA" or "Ich komme aus Frankreich." To say where you live, use "Ich wohne in..." with the same preposition plus a place: "Ich wohne in Berlin" or, for countries that take an article, "Ich wohne in der Schweiz" (Switzerland). Your age is expressed with the verb "sein" (to be), not "haben" as English speakers might expect: "Ich bin fünfundzwanzig Jahre alt" (I am 25 years old). To describe what languages you speak, say "Ich spreche Deutsch" (and add "und Englisch" for more than one).

To talk about preferences, German uses "gern" or "gerne" placed after the verb to indicate that you enjoy an activity: "Ich lese gern" (I like to read) or "Ich koche gern" (I like to cook). For liking specific things, the verb "mögen" is used with nouns: "Ich mag Musik" (I like music), "Ich mag Schokolade" (I like chocolate), and "Ich mag Hunde" (I like dogs). To ask about hobbies, you can say "Was ist dein Hobby?" (informal) or "Was ist Ihr Hobby?" (formal), and answer with "Mein Hobby ist Lesen" (My hobby is reading). To describe your family in summary, "Meine Familie ist klein oder groß" gives a starting point, which you can expand with "Ich habe drei Geschwister" (I have three siblings).

One of the most important cultural lessons in German is the distinction between the formal "Sie" and the informal "du." Use "Sie" with strangers, older people, professionals, and in any business or professional setting such as a job interview. Use "du" with friends, family, children, and peers. A useful tip is to wait for the other person to offer "du"; if they suggest it, you might hear "Wir können uns duzen" (We can use du with each other). In a job interview, always use "Sie," for example, "Könnten Sie mir mehr über die Stelle erzählen?" (Could you tell me more about the position?). Switching to "du" uninvited in a professional setting is considered rude. Together, these question words, key phrases, and social rules form a complete toolkit for beginning to communicate in German.