Learning German from the beginning
This article is a guide for 10 of the most important subjects that you have to tackle to start studying German.
Saying "hello"
Saying "hello" in German is as easy as:
hallo
hello
If you want to learn more, you can check out ways of saying hello and typical phrases
7 colors in German
After having learned to say hello, we are going to increase our vocabulary by learning the most important colors:
| Farbe | Color | |
|---|---|---|
| gelb | yellow |  |
| blau | blue |  |
| weiß | white |  |
| schwarz | black |  |
| rot | red |  |
| grün | green |  |
Visit this link if you want to learn more colors.
Pronouns
Next, we will show you the most important pronouns (personal pronouns in the nominative).
| Pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ich | I |
| du | you |
| er | he |
| sie | she |
| es | it |
| wir | we |
| ihr | you |
| sie | they |
| Sie | you (formal) |
Visit this link if you want to learn more about pronouns.
Numbers from 1 - 10
The most important numbers, let's learn 1 - 10.
| die Zahlen | Numbers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | eins | one |
| 2 | zwei | two |
| 3 | drei | three |
| 4 | vier | four |
| 5 | fünf | five |
| 6 | sechs | six |
| 7 | sieben | seven |
| 8 | acht | eight |
| 9 | neun | nine |
| 10 | zehn | ten |
More information about numbers.
The verb "sein" (simple present)
The verb "sein" means "to be" and is the most important verb in German. Unfortunately, it's conjugation is irregular which is why you'll have to memorize it:
| Conjugation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ich bin | I am |
| du bist | you are |
| er ist | he is |
| sie ist | she is |
| es ist | it is |
| wir sind | we are |
| ihr seid | you are |
| sie sind | they are |
| Sie sind | you are (formal) |
More information in sein verb.
Nouns
First and foremost, an example of a noun:
Lampe
Lamp
Basic notes about nouns:
- Nouns are written with the first letter capitalized ("Lampe").
- Nouns can have 3 genders: Masculine, feminine or neutral. "Lampe", for example, is feminine.
- There are several ways to make the plural. For example, "Lampen" is "lamps".
To know more, visit nouns.
The definite article
There are three definite articles in German ("der", "die" and "das"), one for each gender.
Masculine definite article:
der Käse
the cheese
Feminine definite article:
die Lampe
the lamp
Neuter definite article:
das Auto
the car
To know more, visit articles.
My first sentence in German
What we have learned up to now can help us make our first sentence:
Das Auto ist rot
The car is red
We applied what we have learned in the previous lessons about articles, nouns, the verb "sein" and colors in this first sentence.
To learn more, visit forming sentences.
The verb 'haben' (simple present)
The Verb "haben" means "to have" and is the second most important verb in German after "sein". Its conjugation is also irregular:
| Conjugation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ich habe | I have |
| du hast | you have |
| er hat | he has |
| sie hat | she has |
| es hat | it has |
| wir haben | we have |
| ihr habt | you have |
| sie haben | they have |
| Sie haben | you have (formal) |
With what we already know, we can form a sentence with the verb "haben":
Du hast eine Lampe
You have a lamp
More information on the verb haben.
Saying "yes" and "no" in German
Saying yes in German is very easy:
Ja
Yes
There are several ways to say "no" in German, one of them is:
Nein
No
More information about saying "yes" and "no" in German.
Next Lessons:
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