Learn German in 25 Minutes - ALL the Basics You Need

Want to speak real German from your first lesson? Sign up for your free lifetime account at GermanPod101.com. Welcome to GermanPod101.com's Deutsch in 3 Minuten. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn German. Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Sehr erfreut. Hi. I'm Laura. Nice to meet you. In this series, we're going to learn basic German expressions. It's super easy, and it only takes 3 minutes. In this lesson, we are going to learn how to introduce ourselves in German. We'll start speaking right away, but first, it's important to clarify that in German, there is a difference between the formal and the informal language. Let's first see how German people introduce themselves in an informal situation. Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Schön, dich kennenzulernen. Hi. I'm Laura. Nice to meet you. Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Schön, dich kennenzulernen. Start by saying, Hallo. Ich heiße, then say your name. Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Finally say, Schön, dich kennenzulernen. Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Schön, dich kennenzulernen. And now, let's see the same sentence in formal speech. Guten Tag. Ich heiße Laura Meier. Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. Good day. I'm Laura Meier. Nice to meet you. Guten Tag. Ich heiße Laura Meier. Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. So, what has changed from the previous introduction? Let's take a close look at these expressions together. Hallo has been substituted with the formal greeting Guten Tag, German for good day. Ich heiße Laura has not been changed. Ich heiße simply means I am. However, during a formal self-introduction, we also say our last name. So, I said Laura Meier. Here, you would say your full name. Finally, pay attention to the ending. We went from dich kennenzulernen to Sie kennenzulernen. What is changing is the German word for you. In a formal sentence, we use the more polite word Sie. One more time. The informal way to introduce yourself in German is Hallo. Ich heiße Laura. Schön, dich kennenzulernen. The formal way to introduce yourself is Guten Tag. Ich heiße Laura Meier. Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. Now it's time for Laura's insights. When you introduce yourself, it's a good habit to shake hands. If you're not sure whether to use Schön, dich kennenzulernen or Schön, Sie kennenzulernen, just say simply Sehr erfreut, as I said at the beginning of this lesson. If you use the correct sentence with German people, they're definitely going to be impressed. In the last lesson, we learned how to introduce ourselves in German. Today, we're going to learn how to use good manners as we thank people. Fertig? Are you ready? Los! So let's start. There are several ways to thank someone. Let's start with the easiest. It's just one word. Danke. Danke. Danke means thank you. When saying thank you very much, you just need to add Sehr. Danke sehr. Sehr means a lot. So Danke sehr is like saying thank you very much. During the last lesson, we discussed the informal and the formal way of speaking German. Danke is the casual way to thank someone. If you want to be more formal, there is another phrase you should use. Let's break this phrase down. Ich is I and Danke means thanks. Ihnen is a formal word for you in the dative case. Notice that we don't use Sie as in the last lesson. We will discuss German pronouns in more depth in a later lesson. The full sentence once again. How do you answer? It's easy. Here are two different ways to do it. The first is Bitteschön. Bitte schön. Bitteschön can be used with just about anybody. The other way to say you're welcome is the expression Gern geschehen. Gern geschehen. Literally, this phrase means I liked it to happen or happened with pleasure. But it has become a common and polite way to respond to someone thanking you. So when someone says Danke to us, we can simply reply with Bitteschön or Gern geschehen. Now it's time for Laura's insights. If you're not sure about whether to use Danke or Ich danke Ihnen, keeping it simple is always your safest bet. You don't have to worry about formal or informal situations. Danke can be used with just about anyone, anywhere and at any time. In the last lesson, we learned how to be grateful to people by saying Danke. In this lesson, we learned some of the most common greetings used in Germany. Fertig? Are you ready? Los! So let's start. The most used informal greeting is Hallo. Hallo. Hallo means hi or hello. We should only use this greeting with friends or relatives. The most used formal greetings will change depending on the time of day. Let's start with Guten Tag. Guten Tag. Literally, Guten Tag means good day. As a rule of thumb, we can use Guten Tag only during the daytime, from late morning until early evening. In the morning, we say Guten Morgen. Good morning. During the evening, we say Guten Abend. Tag, Morgen and Abend is German for day, morning and evening respectively. Easy, right? What should you say when you leave? German people usually say Auf Wiedersehen when leaving in a formal situation. Auf Wiedersehen means goodbye. If we say goodbye to friends or our relatives, we use the informal word Tschüss. Tschüss. Now you can greet people in many different ways in German. Let's review them all again. First, the greetings. Informally, we simply say Hallo. Formally, use Guten Morgen in the morning, Guten Tag in the afternoon and Guten Abend in the evening. When leaving in a formal situation, we say Auf Wiedersehen. And in an informal situation, it's Tschüss. It's easy, isn't it? Now it's time for Laura's insights. Due to a huge variety of dialects in Germany, you might hear many different greeting phrases depending on the area. In Austria and in the Catholic southern part of Germany, they even say Grüß Gott, which means greetings to God. In the past, people from the north could barely talk to people from the south, since they spoke very different languages. But nowadays, if you use these common phrases, then everyone will understand you. I'm sure. In the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in German. Do you remember them? In this lesson, we are going to learn a very useful phrase. Do you speak English? If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you're asking it in German, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you're saying, even if their answer is no. Here's the informal way to say it. In German, verbs change depending on the pronoun that is used. Please notice the word du in the middle of the sentence. Remember that this is the informal way to say you. The first word is sprichst, which means to speak. Because it is referring to du, it is conjugated to du sprichst. If you ask a question in German, you change the du sprichst to the interrogative form sprichst du. And you probably recognize English to be English. To learn how to properly conjugate verbs, like sprechen, please look at our Absolute Beginner series on GermanPod101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there. We are now going to make the sentence formal. First, we need to use the formal version of you, which is Sie. If we change the word for you, we will conjugate the verb differently. It becomes sprechen instead of sprichst, like in the informal version. Everything else stays the same. Adding entschuldigen Sie, excuse me, the sentence becomes even more polite. Entschuldigen Sie, sprechen Sie Englisch? The responses you will receive could be one of these three. Ja. Yes. Ja. Ein bisschen. A little. Ein bisschen. Nein, ich spreche nicht Englisch. No, I don't speak English. Nein, ich spreche nicht Englisch. Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say nicht after the verb sprechen. Notice also that the verb spreche is slightly different than sprechen. Remember, the verb changes depending on the pronoun used. We are now talking about ich, German for I. Was I do not speak is ich spreche nicht. Now it's time for Laura's insights. For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. German people study other European languages at school, so maybe you will get lucky. Just substitute Englisch with Italienisch for Italian, Russisch for Russian, Spanisch for Spanish, Französisch for French. In this lesson, we mentioned the expression Entschuldigen Sie. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson, we will learn this and other ways to apologize in German. It's never too late to show your good manners with German people. I'll see you in our next Deutsch in drei Minuten lesson. Bis bald! Want to learn German anywhere, anytime? Get the Innovative Language 101 app for free. Hallo, ich heiße Laura. Hi everybody, I'm Laura. Welcome to GermanPod101.com's Deutsch in drei Minuten, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn German. In the last lesson, we learned the phrase Entschuldigen Sie? Sprechen Sie Englisch? Excuse me, do you speak English? We mentioned the word Entschuldigen Sie, which means excuse me in formal German. In this lesson, we are going to learn how to use Entschuldigen Sie and other words when apologizing in German. We should use Entschuldigen Sie in formal situations, such as when we are ordering something in bars or restaurants. For example, Entschuldigen Sie einen Kaffee, bitte? Excuse me, a coffee, please? We can also use it when asking a question. Entschuldigen Sie, wo ist der Ausgang? Excuse me, where is the exit, please? Sometimes we also hear people say Bitte, which means the same thing when you want to draw somebody's attention. We use this phrase if we want to be polite. Bitte. The informal way to say excuse me is Entschuldige. Entschuldige. Just like Entschuldigen Sie, we can use Entschuldige when asking a question or when apologizing. We can also use the word Entschuldigung if you are not sure whether to use the formal or informal way. All of these phrases can be used for either excuse me or I'm sorry. But if you really want to apologize for something, it might be better to use a different phrase. That phrase is Es tut mir leid. It means I'm sorry and can be used in both formal and informal situations. Es tut mir leid. First, we have es or it. Next, we have the German word for to do, conjugated for the pronoun es, tut. The word mir is German for me. Finally, we have leid, literally meaning sorrow. Es tut mir leid. Now it's time for Laura's Insights. Please remember that in Germany, if you accidentally bump into someone, we don't say I'm sorry. Es tut mir leid. Instead, we say Entschuldigen Sie, Entschuldige or Entschuldigung. Are you able to count in German? In the next lesson, we will learn the numbers in German from 1 to 10. In this lesson, we are going to learn numbers in German. Yes, numbers. Zahlen. From 1 to 10. And you are going to learn them in only 3 minutes. Drei Minuten. Are you ready? Let's start. Eins Zwei Drei Vier Fünf Sechs Sieben Acht Neun Zehn Okay, now repeat after me. I'll say the numbers and give you time to repeat each one. Eins Zwei Drei Vier Fünf Sechs Sieben Acht Neun Zehn Great job. Do you know what comes before Eins? Right, it's Null. Null You don't have any more excuses. You can now give your friends your cell phone number in German. Let's try together. We'll use the phrase Meine Nummer ist, which means My number is. Meine Nummer ist. Meine Nummer ist 03041225968 Can you read it by yourself? 03041225968 Perfect. Now it's time for Laura's Insights. When you go to the office or department store in Germany, you sometimes have to stand in a line with a number. When it's your turn to check out, they screen Nummer 1, Nummer 10 and so on. Learn your numbers well, so you can be ready. Do you know the German word for 100? It's actually very similar to the English word. In the next lesson, we are going to learn the numbers from 11 to 100 in German. In the last lesson, we learned the numbers from 1 to 10. Have you forgotten? Here, I'll tell you again. Eins Zwei Drei Vier Fünf Sechs Sieben Acht Neun Zehn And now let's continue from 11. Elf Zwölf Dreizehn Vierzehn Fünfzehn Sechzehn Siebzehn Achtzehn Neunzehn And finally we have Zwanzig Okay, now repeat after me. I'll say the numbers and give you time to repeat each one. Elf Zwölf Dreizehn Vierzehn Fünfzehn Sechzehn Siebzehn Achtzehn Neunzehn Zwanzig These numbers may seem hard to remember, but you really just have to memorize Elf Zwölf Sechzehn Siebzehn And Zwanzig For Dreizehn, Vierzehn, Fünfzehn, Achtzehn, and Neunzehn, you just have to add Zehn or Ten. Let's not stop at twenty. Counting from ten to one hundred is super easy. Now I'll give you the tens. Dreißig Vierzig Fünfzig Sechzig Siebzig Achtzig Neunzig Hundert While you have to memorize a few of these numbers, there are a couple of tricks that will make memorizing them incredibly easy. In order to build Fürzig, forty, you just add Ten, Zich to four, vier, and you get Fürzig. The same goes for Fünfzig, Achtzig, and Neunzig. Let's have a look at the pronunciation. If G comes last in the word, it makes a ch sound. So you would say Fürzig instead of Fürzig. Fürzig You probably recognize the dots on A, O, and U. Ä, Ö, Ü For example, Fünf, Five, these are called Umlaute. Ä is being pronounced like the I in Elder. Ö comes close to the O in Worry. And Ü could be imagined as something between U and E. Ä, Ö, Ü The last thing to learn today is how to form compound numbers above twenty. This is also super easy. Take the tens and simply add the numbers you learned in the previous lesson. Let's try it out. How would you say fifty-six in German? Let's take it step by step. Fifty is Fünfzig. Six is Sechs. The smaller number comes first and then add und, and in German. Sechsundfünfzig It's done. Isn't that easy? Let's make another number. For instance, ninety-eight. Take eight, acht, add and, und, and then ninety. Neunzig Achtundneunzig Now it's time for Laura's Insights. If you're talking about decades in German, like the 80s or the 20s, you just have to add er after the actual number. So you would say achtziger or zwanziger. Here you pronounce G as a G and not as a H, since it doesn't come at the end of the word. Now you can talk about the exciting 80s or golden 20s with your friends. After only two lessons, you're now able to count to 100 in German. In the next lesson, we're going to put your number knowledge to use. In the last lesson, we learned how to count in German. I hope you spend some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy today. We're going to learn how to go shopping in Germany. Before we go, you need to know how to say, How much is it? Wie viel kostet das? Are you ready to go shopping in Germany? Let's go! You see something you like and want to ask the shop clerk how much it costs. The first thing to say to the shop clerk is Entschuldigung. Do you remember what that means? Excuse me. Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet das? Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet das? If we want to be more specific when asking, How much is this? and refer to a certain type of object, we first need to drop the word das. Next, we need to know if the object is a masculine, feminine or neuter object. If it's masculine, add dieser when referring to it, or diese for a feminine object and dieses for a neuter one. And then say the noun. For example, hat is a masculine noun. Der Hut. Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet dieser Hut? Excuse me. How much is this hat? Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet dieser Hut? And pants is a feminine noun. Die Hose. Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet diese Hose? Excuse me. How much is this pair of pants? Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet diese Hose? Finally, book is a neuter noun. Das Buch. So you would say, Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet dieses Buch? Excuse me. How much is this book? Entschuldigung. Wie viel kostet dieses Buch? At this point, the shop clerk can answer by saying, Das kostet, das macht or das sind. And then the number followed by Euro. For example, Das kostet neununddreißig Euro. Das macht neununddreißig Euro. Or, Das sind neununddreißig Euro. What number is neununddreißig? I'm not telling you. Okay, okay. It's thirty-nine. It costs thirty-nine Euros. Now it's time for Laura's Insights. A quicker way to ask how much is, Wie viel? Wie viel? Which literally means how much. When you ask for a beer at the counter of a bar, you can ask the cashier, Ein Bier ist wie viel bitte? How much is one beer please? At this point, can you count Euros in German? We're going to learn how to do this and much more in the next lesson. I'll be waiting for you in our next Deutsch in drei Minuten lesson. Bis bald!