Being able to greet someone and introduce yourself is useful when speaking a foreign language. These phrases will help you begin a conversation in German.
Greetings
The time of day and how well you know the person you are speaking to should help you choose which greeting to use.
Look at the vocabulary in the table below. Can you write a dialogue to greet someone?
German | English |
---|---|
hallo | hello |
guten Morgen | good morning |
guten Tag | good day |
guten Abend | good evening |
gute Nacht | good night |
迟蝉肠丑眉蝉蝉 | bye |
bis bald | see you soon |
auf Wiedersehen | goodbye |
All German nouns start with a capital letter.
Saying how you are
To ask how someone is, use the question wie geht鈥檚? This literally means 'how is it going?鈥 in German.
To say how you are, use the following phrases:
German | English |
---|---|
sehr gut, danke | very good, thanks |
und dir? | and you? |
gut | good |
sehr gut | very good |
toll | great |
nicht schlecht | not bad |
nicht so gut | not so good |
furchtbar | awful |
Saying your name
The verb 丑别颈脽别苍 is used to ask someone their name:
- Wie hei脽t du? - What is your name? (This literally means 鈥榟ow are you called?鈥)
- Ich hei脽e - I am called
- Ich hei脽e Hayley - I am called Hayley
To ask the question back, you could repeat wie hei脽t du? or simply ask und du? (and you?).
You can also say mein Name ist Hayley (my name is Hayley).
The letter 脽 is called an Eszett. It is a double 鈥榮鈥.
Saying your age
To say how old you are, use the verb sein (to be). You need to conjugate the verb depending on whether you are saying your age (ich bin - I am) or someone else鈥檚 age (er/sie ist - he/she is). Conjugate means changing the endings of a verb to match the person doing the action.
- Wie alt bist du? - How old are you?
- Ich bin zw枚lf Jahre alt - I am 12 years old.
- Sie ist dreizehn Jahre alt 鈥 She is 13 years old.
- Er ist elf Jahre alt - He is 11 years old.
When forming numbers 13-19 add -zehn (meaning 10) to 3-9. For example, dreizehn (13), vierzehn (14).
But watch out for the exceptions! The spelling of sechzehn (16) does not include the s from sechs and sieben is shortened in siebzehn (17).
Saying where you live
To talk about where you live, use the verb wohnen (to live):
- Wo wohnst du? - Where do you live?
- Ich wohne - I live
- Ich wohne in Manchester - I live in Manchester.
- Ich wohne in Leeds - I live in Leeds.
Saying your nationality
Where you live is sometimes different to where you are from. To talk about your nationality, you can use words like 贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤 (English) or Pakistaner (Pakistani).
To talk about someone who is female, add -in to the end:
- 贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤 (English male)
- 贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤in (English female)
Use the verb sein to say your nationality. Remember that this is an irregular verb so is ich bin (I am) and er/sie ist (he/she is).
- Ich bin 贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤(in) - I am English.
- Er ist Inder - He is Indian.
- Sie ist Inderin - She is Indian.
Watch out for exceptions!
- Er ist Deutscher - He is German
- Sie ist Deutsche - She is German
You can find some useful vocabulary in the table below:
German | English | |
---|---|---|
ich bin | I am | |
贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤 (m) / 贰苍驳濒盲苍诲别谤in (f) | English | |
Deutscher (m) / Deutsche (f) | German | |
Pole (m) / Polin (f) | Polish | |
搁耻尘盲苍别 (m) / 搁耻尘盲苍颈苍 (f) | Romanian | |
Pakistaner (m) / Pakistanerin (f) | Pakistani | |
Inder (m) / Inderin (f) | Indian |
Saying where you come from
Use the verb kommen to say which country you come from. Kommen is a regular verb in the present tense.
- Woher kommst du? - Where do you come from?
- Ich komme aus - I come from
The conjugations of kommen are in the table below:
Subject | Verb |
---|---|
ich | komme |
du | kommst |
er | kommt |
sie | kommt |
- Ich komme aus Schottland - I come from Scotland.
- Du kommst aus Wales - You come from Wales.
- Er kommt aus England - He comes from England.
- Sie kommt aus Nordirland - She comes from Northern Ireland.
For more vocabulary related to age and nationality, click the downloadable below.
Saying please and thank you
Good manners are equally important in German as they are in English. Here are a few ways to say please and thank you in German:
German | English |
---|---|
danke | thank you |
诲补苍办别蝉肠丑枚苍 | thank you |
vielen Dank | many thanks |
bitte | please/you鈥檙e welcome |
Test yourself
Listen to the conversation between Emily and Michael, then test your understanding in the short quiz!
Quiz
Game - FestiLingo: German. game
Visit the festival and practise German language skills in this game
More on Topics
Find out more by working through a topic
- count4 of 9
- count5 of 9