A1 German Language Basics

Vocabulary and foundational grammar flashcards derived from the A1 German introductory lesson.

Umlaut

Special characters in the German alphabet featuring two dots on top, which are e (ä), o (ö), and u (ü).

Eszett (ß)

Also known as the sharp s, a special German character that sounds like a double S.

Hallo

A simple German greeting meaning hello.

Guten Morgen

A German morning greeting meaning good morning.

Guten Tag

A German greeting meaning good day, which can be used at virtually any time of the day.

Guten Abend

A German evening greeting meaning good evening.

Tschüss

A casual German way to say bye.

Auf Wiedersehen

The standard and formal German phrase for goodbye.

Ich heiße

A German phrase meaning My name is when followed by your name.

Ich komme aus

A German phrase meaning I come from when followed by a country.

Ich wohne in

A German phrase meaning I live in when followed by a city.

German Sentence Structure (SVO)

The standard German sentence order consisting of Subject, Verb, Object, identical to English statement structure.

German Question Structure

Sentence order where the subject and verb switch positions to Verb, Subject, Object (or begin with a question word like vas or woher).

ich

The German personal pronoun meaning I.

du

The informal German personal pronoun meaning you.

er / sie / es

German singular personal pronouns meaning he (er), she (sie), and it (es).

wir

The German personal pronoun meaning we.

ihr

The plural informal German personal pronoun meaning you all.

Woher kommst du?

A German question asking Where are you from?

Wie alt bist du?

A German question asking How old are you?

Teen Numbers Pattern

German numbers 13–19 formed by combining the root number from 3 to 9 with sehen (10), with siebsehen dropping the en ending from seben.

Heute / Morgen

German adverbs of time meaning today (heute) and tomorrow (morgen).

der / die / das

The three German words for the, categorizing nouns into masculine (der), feminine (die), and neuter (das) genders.

Mittwoch

Wednesday in German, which is the only day of the week that does not end with Tag.