Basic German Words
These are the words that appear in almost every German sentence. Learning them first makes everything else easier to follow.
The first ten
-
ja
yah
-
yes
-
nein
nyne
-
no
-
bitte
BIT-teh
-
please
Also means you're welcome
-
danke
DAN-keh
-
thank you
-
vielleicht
fee-LYKHT
-
maybe
-
Entschuldigung
ent-SHOOL-dee-goong
-
excuse me, sorry
-
gut
goot
-
good
-
schlecht
shlekht
-
bad
-
nicht
nikht
-
not
Usually sits after the verb
-
sehr
zehr
-
very
People
-
ich
ikh
-
I
-
du
doo
-
you
Informal, for friends and family
-
Sie
zee
-
you
Formal, always capitalised
-
er
ehr
-
he
-
sie
zee
-
she
-
wir
veer
-
we
-
sie
zee
-
they
Small words that hold a sentence together
-
und
oont
-
and
-
oder
OH-der
-
or
-
aber
AH-ber
-
but
-
auch
owkh
-
also
-
mit
mit
-
with
-
ohne
OH-neh
-
without
-
hier
heer
-
here
-
dort
dort
-
there
-
jetzt
yetst
-
now
Everyday things
-
das Wasser
dass VAS-ser
-
water
-
das Essen
dass ES-sen
-
food
-
das Haus
dass hows
-
house
-
der Freund
dehr froynt
-
friend
die Freundin for a female friend
-
groß
grohs
-
big
-
klein
klyne
-
small
Two habits worth building early
Every German noun is capitalised, wherever it appears in the sentence. That is why Wasser and Haus have capitals here but gut and klein do not.
Sie with a capital letter means the formal you. The same letters in lowercase, sie, mean she or they, and only the capital and the context tell them apart.
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