At a glance
What will be easy
Many basic words share Germanic roots with English: Haus, Wasser, alt (old), kommen (come). You’ll understand Mein Haus ist alt before you’ve learned a single rule.
German is read the way it’s written: learn ei (as in mein), ie (as in Bier), sch, ch and the umlauts, and you can pronounce almost any word.
Comparatives work the English way: schnell, schneller, am schnellsten. Many irregular verbs change like their English cousins: singen, sang, gesungen.
What will be hard
Every noun is der, die or das, often with no logic: der Löffel (spoon), die Gabel (fork), das Messer (knife). Learn each noun with its article and plural.
Articles and endings change with a noun’s role: der Hund, den Hund, dem Hund, des Hundes. Adjectives follow suit: ein großer Hund, mit einem großen Hund.
The verb comes second (Heute gehe ich ins Kino) and moves to the end of subordinate clauses (…, weil ich müde bin). Separable verbs split: Ich rufe dich morgen an.
Your first 10 phrases
| Phrase | How to say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hallo! | hah-LOH | Hi, hello |
| Guten Tag | GOO-ten tahk | Hello, good day |
| Danke schön | DAHN-kuh shurn | Thank you very much |
| Bitte | BIT-uh | Please; you’re welcome |
| Entschuldigung | ent-SHOOL-dee-goong | Excuse me, sorry |
| Wie viel kostet das? | vee feel KOS-tet dahs | How much is it? |
| Wo ist die Toilette? | voh ist dee twah-LET-uh | Where’s the toilet? |
| Ich verstehe nicht | ikh fer-SHTAY-uh nikht | I don’t understand |
| Können Sie langsamer sprechen? | KUR-nen zee LAHNG-zah-mer SHPREKH-en | Could you speak more slowly? |
| Die Rechnung, bitte | dee REKH-noong, BIT-uh | The bill, please |
From A1 to B2: what to learn at each level
- A1
Articles and gender, sein and haben, the present tense, verb-second word order, the accusative, around 1,000 common words.
- A2
The perfect tense with haben and sein, the dative, modal and separable verbs, clauses with weil and dass.
- B1
The simple past, adjective endings, relative clauses, würde, hätte and wäre, the present passive, around 3,000 words.
- B2
The passive in all tenses, reported speech (Konjunktiv I), the genitive, formal written style, 3,500 words and more.
How long it takes to learn German
According to the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI), a native English speaker needs about 36 weeks of intensive study to reach professional working proficiency in German. The closer a language is to your own, the faster the road.
More on timing: How long does it take to learn a language to B1 and B2?.
Your first month, 15–20 minutes a day
Pronunciation (ä, ö, ü, ch, ei, ie) and the 100 most common words, each with its article. Every day: 10 minutes of flashcards and 5 minutes of reading aloud.
Sein and haben, der, die, das and simple sentences about yourself. Start listening to short dialogues.
The present tense and verb-second word order. Write 3 sentences a day about your day.
Your first A1 stories and 300 words in review. Try five minutes of conversation with a native speaker or in a chat.
Typical mistakes and how to avoid them
Say Mir ist kalt, literally “to me it is cold”. Ich bin kalt sounds like you’re a cold person.
Ich will means “I want” (“I will” is ich werde), bekommen means “to get”, and Gift means “poison”.
Not “Gestern ich ging ins Kino” but Gestern ging ich ins Kino: the verb stays second, so the subject moves behind it.
Verbs of movement and change of state take sein: ich bin gegangen, ich bin eingeschlafen.
Did you know?
- German is the only major language that capitalises every noun: der Tisch, die Freiheit, das Glück.
- Words snap together like building blocks: Handschuh (glove) is literally “hand shoe”, Kühlschrank (fridge) a “cool cupboard”.
- In Switzerland the letter ß isn’t used at all: Swiss Standard German writes Strasse instead of Straße.
German exams
The main international certificates: Goethe-Zertifikat, TestDaF, telc. Many of them map their levels to the CEFR scale from A1 to C2.
→ Goethe-Zertifikat B1 and B2: how many German words you need and how to pass
How NewLexi helps you learn German
- Words on your topics. German cards are generated on request or added from the translator, text, a photo or a file.
- Spaced repetition for every word and four mastery levels.
- Stories and dialogues in German at your level, written with your words; tap any word for a translation.
- German grammar from A1 to C2, a writing trainer with AI correction and a chat.
- Lock Screen cards and iPhone widgets to review words on the go.
→ The best app to learn German words in 2026
FAQ
Is German hard for English speakers?
The start is friendly thanks to shared words and regular spelling. Genders, cases and word order take longer, and the FSI ranks German as harder than Spanish or Italian.
How long does it take to reach B1?
Germany’s integration courses plan 600 lessons of 45 minutes, about 450 hours, to reach B1: a little over a year at an hour a day.
Which certificate should I take?
The Goethe-Zertifikat is recognised worldwide; telc and the Austrian ÖSD are common alternatives. Universities usually ask for TestDaF or the DSH, and citizenship requires B1.
Is there a rule for der, die and das?
Partly: nouns in -ung, -heit, -keit and -schaft are feminine, -chen and -lein neuter, days, months and seasons masculine. Learn everything else with its article.
