German Lesson 0: Willkommen!

A warm welcome to our accelerated German course!

If you are starting completely from scratch with German, this intensive course, consisting of 5 fundamental lessons, is just what you need to get off to the best possible start.

You will achieve a very practical foundation, a first level of language proficiency that will allow you to continue progressing as a self-learner with our training tools, gradually climbing to higher levels.

Today's lesson is designed to break the ice with German, so you can start communicating from day one. We will focus on practical and useful words and phrases that will get you started and motivate you to take the next steps.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Greet and say goodbye at different times of the day.
• Use basic courtesy expressions like "thank you" and "please".
• Introduce yourself, ask for someone's name, and how they are.
• Mention some common places and say where you are going.
• Use the numbers from 1 to 10.

With all that said, let's get started! Los geht's!

Greetings and Farewells (Grüße und Verabschiedungen)

The first thing is to learn how to start and end a conversation. In German, just like in English, there are different ways to greet depending on the time of day.

Basic Courtesy (Bitte und Danke)

Two magic words that will open many doors for you. They are essential from day one.

• Danke - Thank you
• Bitte - Please / You're welcome

The word Bitte is very versatile. It is used to ask for something, but it is also the common response to Danke.

Examples:

• To ask for something: "Einen Kaffee, bitte." (A coffee, please.)
• To respond to a "thank you": "Danke schön!" - "Bitte schön!" (Thank you very much! - You're welcome!)

Introductions (Vorstellungen)

Now that you know how to greet people, it's time to introduce yourself. In German, it's important to distinguish between the informal address (du, for friends, family, young people) and the formal address (Sie, for strangers, at work, older people).

What's your name? How are you? (Wie heißt du? Wie geht es dir?)

Introducing someone else (Das ist...)

To introduce someone, you can use a very simple structure:

• Das ist... - This is...
• Freut mich. - Nice to meet you.

Example: "Hallo, das ist meine Freundin Anna." (Hello, this is my friend Anna) - "Hallo Anna, freut mich."

Origin (Woher kommst du?)

One of the first things you ask when meeting someone new is where they are from. Let's learn how to do it!

Examples:

• "Ich komme aus Spanien." (I come from Spain.)
• "Ich komme aus Mexiko." (I come from Mexico.)

Places and Movement (Orte und Bewegung)

Learn the names of some common places and how to say you are going to them. It is very important to learn nouns with their articles (der, die, das).

Vocabulary of places

Saying "I'm going to..." (Ich gehe...)

The question is Wohin gehst du? (Where are you going?). To answer, we use the structure Ich gehe... followed by the correct form for each place. For now, learn them as set phrases.

• "Ich gehe ins Kino." (I'm going to the cinema)
• "Ich gehe in die Schule." (I'm going to school)
• "Ich gehe in den Supermarkt." (I'm going to the supermarket)
• "Ich gehe nach Hause." (I'm going home)

The German Alphabet and its Peculiarities

The German alphabet originates from the Latin alphabet, but like other alphabets, it has its own peculiarities.

It consists of:

• The 26 basic letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.
• The vowels with an Umlaut (vowels with two dots): Ä, Ö, and Ü.
• And it has a very special letter which is the Eszett (or scharfes S, the "sharp S"): ß

Equivalents

It is very important to know that special letters have an equivalent with standard letters: for vowels with an Umlaut, the two dots can be replaced by an "e" after the vowel, i.e., ae, oe, and ue. Thus, the verb "öffnen" (to open) would be transcribed as "oeffnen".

In the case of ß, the equivalent is "ss".

German special characters on non-German keyboards

These equivalents are a relief, especially when you don't have a German keyboard. In any case, using the umlauts is simple because practically all keyboards include them.

On many keyboards, you can type the umlaut (¨) character followed by the vowel. For example, to type ö, you would type the key for ¨ and then the letter "o".

The case of ß is a bit more complicated. With a standard computer keyboard (that includes a numeric keypad), you can generate this letter with the key combination ALT + 225 (typed on the numeric keypad). The problem is that laptops often don't include such a keypad.

In Windows, a simple trick is to use the "Character Map" application (search for it by this name in the start menu), copy the ß from there, and paste it where you need it. It's a bit clunky, but it gets the job done.

On a Mac, the equivalent is the "Character Viewer". You can open it quickly with the key combination Control + ⌘ Cmd + Space. Once open, search for ß to copy and paste it.

And a final simple trick is to add a bookmark in your browser to a page with a ß, like this one, for example. Give it an appropriate name, for instance, "Copy ß," and so, whenever you need to use the ß, you have it right there.

Numbers from 0 to 10 (Die Zahlen 0-10)

Counting is a basic and very useful skill. Let's learn the first numbers!

Let's practice! A final compilation with mini-dialogues

Let's apply everything we've learned in some short conversations.

Dialogue 1: A first encounter

• Julia: "Hallo! Ich heiße Julia. Wie heißt du?"
• Lukas: "Hallo Julia, ich bin Lukas. Freut mich."
• Julia: "Freut mich. Woher kommst du, Lukas?"
• Lukas: "Ich komme aus Berlin. Und du?"
• Julia: "Ich komme aus Hamburg. Wie geht's?"
• Lukas: "Sehr gut, danke! Und du?"
• Julia: "Auch gut, danke!" (I'm well too, thanks!)

Dialogue 2: Afternoon plans

• Tom: "Guten Tag, Frau Schmidt!"
• Frau Schmidt: "Guten Tag, Tom. Wohin gehen Sie?"
• Tom: "Ich gehe in den Supermarkt. Und Sie?"
• Frau Schmidt: "Ich gehe nach Hause."
• Tom: "Okay. Auf Wiedersehen!"
• Frau Schmidt: "Tschüss, Tom!"

Conclusion and Next Steps

Congratulations! You have taken your first steps in German.

Review these phrases, use the audio to get a feel for their pronunciation, practice them out loud, and you'll see how quickly you start to feel more comfortable with the language.