German: How to Say It

This is a phrasebook and a map of German sentences in one page. First, 138 phrases for the situations you meet first, each with a play button and a note on when to use it. Then 27 sentence patterns, the frames that most everyday sentences are built on. Last, a one-page survival sheet you can print or keep on your phone.

Your device has no German voice, so the play buttons are hidden.

Phrases by topic

Pick a topic. Each phrase has a note on formality: who you can say it to, and where a region says it differently. When in doubt with a stranger, choose the polite form; nobody minds being treated with respect.

The German here is the standard of Germany. Austria and Switzerland have standards of their own; where an everyday word or phrase differs, the note names it, and none of them is more correct than the others.

Sie, with a capital S, is the polite you for strangers, shops, offices and most of working life; du is for friends, family, children and many younger people. When you are unsure, start with Sie and let the other person offer du.

Sentence patterns

A pattern is a frame you can fill with your own words. Each one below shows the structure, an example you can play, its translation and a note on the catch. Filter by level to see what to learn first: the A1 patterns are enough to ask, answer, refuse and want things; A2 adds the past and comparisons; B1 adds opinions, wishes and conditions.

Practising out loud

• Shadow the phrases. Play one, then say it at the same speed, twice. Your mouth learns the rhythm before your head learns the grammar.
• Swap one word. Take a pattern and change one piece: a different place, a different person, a different time. Ten variations of one frame teach more than ten new frames.
• Learn the repair phrases first. Sorry?, more slowly and how do you say…? keep a conversation going when everything else fails.
• Mind the formality. Use the polite forms with strangers, older people and at work until someone invites you to switch.

Survival sheet

The phrases you would want on a card in your pocket on a first trip, on one page. Print it, or take a screenshot.

What sticks

• A handful of whole phrases carries you through greetings, shops, transport and emergencies.
• Patterns are frames: learn the structure once and fill it with any words you know.
• Use the polite form with strangers; the notes tell you where regions differ.
• The repair phrases (sorry?, slower, how do you say…?) are the most useful sentences you will learn.
• Say everything aloud; play, repeat, swap one word, repeat.