What are the basics of German I should learn?

German which is the official language of both Germany and Austria and one of the official languages of Switzerland, is estimated to have approximately 90–95 million people speaking German as a first language, 10–25 million speaking it as a second language, and 75–100 million speaking it as a foreign language. This would imply approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. Modern-day German often referred to as “High German”, or Hochdeutsch, used as the language of administration, higher education, literature, and the mass media, is likely to be unrecognisable from the language that the Romans first observed.  It is a global language that is extremely popular among students due to the benefits offered by Germany to students who speak German.

1.Greetings & other Useful phrases 

Whether you’re speaking with someone face-to-face, through Skype, or over the phone, greetings are an essential part of getting your German conversation started. However, German-speakers don’t always say “hello” and “how are you?”. They also use many other German greetings expressions, also called useful phrases, to say slightly different things. You can use such expressions to sound more natural and express yourself more clearly and precisely, even at the beginner English level. Learners can also hold a “Small talk”- a polite exchange used to pass the time, share non-essential information, or learn more about the other person. It’s also a great form of German conversation practice. This kind of communication can span a wide range of topics, from weather to sleep habits. Small talk often begins naturally with questions like, “How are you?” From there, it can expand to cover greater detail and more topics.

Guten Morgen

goot-en mor-gen

Good Morning

Guten Tag

goot-en tahk

Hello/Good Day 

Guten Abend

goot-en ah-bent

Good Evening

Gute Nacht

goot-eh nakht

Good Night

Tag / Hallo / Servus

tahk / hah-loh / sair-voohs

Hi / Hello / Hi & Bye (Southern Germany & Austria)

Auf Wiedersehen

owf vee-dair-zayn

Goodbye

Grüß dich / Grüß Gott!

Hello! / Greetings! (Southern Germany & Austria)

Tschüs / Tschau

tchews / chow

Bye!

Gehen wir!

geh-en veer

Let’s go!

Bis später

biss shpay-ter

See you later

Bis bald

biss bahlt

See you soon

Bis morgen

biss mohr-gen

See you tomorrow

Bitte

bih-tuh

Please

Danke (schön / sehr)

dahn-kuh shurn/zair

Thank you

Bitte schön

bih-tuh shurn

You’re welcome

2. Build your vocabulary

A learner must pay great attention to capturing commonly used verbs, nouns, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms and more, in order to be able to frame intelligible, understandable sentences and convey your thoughts and emotions. Building vocabulary is key to fluency. You will need accurate, specific verbs to get your ideas across. The more verbs you know, the more ideas you can communicate.

3. Grammar

Learn a few basic nouns. 

Knowledge of nouns and adjectives will help you describe and identify things. Seeing the words in context will significantly improve your learning. 

Know your rules well. German nouns have grammatical gender. They can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, even words for nonliving objects. German nouns are also declined (change form) depending on their grammatical case (their function in a sentence) and whether they are singular or plural. German has four cases, nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. 

Learn a few basic adjectives. 

Know that German adjectives come before the noun, as in English, but after the verb, and (usually) are not capitalized. However, unlike English, they are generally inflected when they come before a noun: they take an ending that depends on the gender and case of the noun phrase. Note that when using an uninflected indefinite article, or when no article is used, the adjective takes the ending letter of the definite article of the noun. Most German adjectives change their form according to the case of the noun they are describing and whether the noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, singular or plural. It will also help you build your vocabulary! Start with basic nouns and adjectives that describe things you encounter regularly such as objects, pets, stationery, vehicles, food items etc. Ensure they agree to the gender. 

Learn a few basic verbs.

German verbs may be classified as either weak, with a dental consonant inflection, or strong, showing a vowel gradation (ablaut). Both of these are regular systems. Most verbs of both types are regular, though various subgroups and anomalies do arise; however, textbooks for learners often class all strong verbs as irregular. The only completely irregular verb in the language is sein (to be). There are more than 200 strong and irregular verbs, but there is a gradual tendency for strong verbs to become weak.

Know the verb conjugations. 

German verbs are conjugated depending on their use: as in English, they are modified depending on the persons (identity) and the number of the subject of a sentence, as well as depending on the tense and mood. The citation form of German verbs is the infinitive form, which generally consists of the bare form of the verb with -(e)n added to the end. To conjugate regular verbs, this is removed and replaced with alternative endings.

Learn verb tense conjugations. 

90% of the verbs in German are regular, however, there are more than 200 verbs that are irregular or also called strong verbs( but not all 200 are required to have a regular day to day conversation. Regular or weak verbs follow the regular conjugation also in the past tense and the Partizip 2, such as küssen (to kiss), lernen (to learn), arbeiten (to work). All you have to do is take the verb stem and add the present or simple past tense endings. Exceptions and similarities exist of course such as some irregular verbs are irregular throughout, which means they are irregular in both the present and the past (like sehen – to see). However,  some are regular in the present and irregular in the past (gehen – to go)! The trilogy will consist of the following: infinitive present, 1st person Präteritum, and Partizip 2. There are three significant advantages to doing so. You’ll remember whether the verb is regular or irregular.

Let the tenses settle well in the subconscious 

German does not have two present tenses like English, but only one. German has six tenses: present (Präsens), present perfect (Perfekt), simple past (Präteritum), past perfect (Plusquamperfekt), future (Futur I) and future perfect (Futur II). Learning tenses will allow you to put together basic sentences. You will also be able to describe everyday activities.

Put together simple sentences. 

Every learner eagerly looks forward to the day he/she can make their first sentences. Simpler sentences encourage and motivate a learner to build their first conversation. A learner takes a cue to make simple sentences using the gathered vocabulary, previously learnt sessions, present tense conjugations. The sentences may not be perfect, to begin with, but it’s a great step towards fluency. 

Learn to pluralize words. 

In the German language, whenever a noun is plural, the adjectives often change their word ending to reflect the same. A plural noun expresses that there is more than one person, object, idea etc. To form plural nouns in German, we can add -n/-en, -e, -r/-er, or -s to the end of the noun. Practising pluralizing both nouns and adjectives together is an important way to ensure your nouns and adjectives always agree. It is an essential building block to communicating clear ideas.

Study the case system.

Each noun’s case in a sentence indicates what role it plays in the sentence and thus shows its relationship to (i.e. how it interacts with) the other nouns in the sentence. Because German is an inflected language, German noun cases can be intimidating to English speakers. Not only does German have an extra case than English, but the two languages distinguish one case from another in different ways. In German, there are four cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (verb) (possessive). The word order in German can be changed without changing the meaning of the sentence. A case system helps one to have clear communication. 

Step out into the world and enjoy using words you have learnt on a daily basis. Be amusing, courageous, and experimental, and even if you don’t think it makes sense, say it proudly! People will make strange faces at you, but you will also get a lot of smiles and laughs!

The language is known today as German is believed to have originated from Proto-Germanic, which began to develop around 2000 B.C., as people began to settle in western areas of the Baltic Sea. The first-ever record of the German language dates back to a time when the Romans came into contact with inhabitants of the Rhine-Danube area during their occupation in the first century BC. Since then German has gone through many changes, from Old High German (from about 700 AD to the eleventh century); Middle High German (from about 1050 to 1350); Early New High German (1350 to 1600) to New High German (from about 1600 to the present).  

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