Hallo! This free, self-paced starter course is built especially for English speakers. Master greetings, German sounds (ß, ü, ö, ä), numbers, the two power verbs sein & haben, everyday phrases, ordering food and your first real conversation — then earn your free iLinguist certificate.
A gentle, practical introduction to German designed for native English speakers. No grammar overwhelm — just the words and structures you will actually use from day one.
Greetings and introductions that work the moment you land in Germany, Austria or Switzerland — or join a German-speaking video call.
Every new sound is explained the way an English speaker's ear expects: "w" = the English "v", "v" = "f", "z" = "ts", "sch" = "sh".
Thousands of German words already look like English (Haus, Wasser, Brot, trinken, Musik). Learn the patterns and triple your vocabulary instantly.
Pass the quiz with 70% to unlock your downloadable, printable iLinguist certificate.
Ten short modules take you from your very first "Hallo" to a complete mini-conversation.
Start with the words you already half-know: Hallo (hello / hi) is the all-purpose greeting for any time of day, and Guten Morgen (good morning) works until around noon. Guten Tag (good day) covers the rest of the daytime, Guten Abend (good evening) takes over after dark, and Gute Nacht is strictly for bedtime.
To ask how someone is, use Wie geht es dir? (informal) or Wie geht es Ihnen? (formal, capital I). Reply: Mir geht es gut, danke! — "I'm doing well, thanks!". To say goodbye use Tschüss (friendly "bye") or Auf Wiedersehen (formal "goodbye").
Introducing yourself is easy: Ich heiße… ("my name is…", literally "I am called…") and Ich komme aus… ("I come from…"). Ask back with Wie heißt du? (informal) or Wie heißen Sie? (formal). When you meet someone new, Freut mich! means "Nice to meet you!".
German spelling is refreshingly honest — almost every letter is always pronounced the same way. The letters you must not skip: ß (called Eszett) is a long "s" — Straße (street) ≈ "shtrah-seh". The umlauts are made by rounding: ä ≈ the "e" of bed, ö ≈ round your lips while saying "ay", ü ≈ purse your lips while saying "ee".
The consonants that trip English speakers are few and predictable: w sounds like the English "v" (wie ≈ "vee"), v often sounds like "f" (Vater ≈ "fah-ter"), and z sounds like "ts" (Zug ≈ "tsoog"). The cluster sch = "sh" (Schule ≈ "shoo-leh"), while ch after "a, o, u" is a gentle throaty "hh" (Buch, book) and after "e, i" it softens to a "hy" whisper (ich, I).
Long vowels are the last piece: a vowel followed by one consonant is long (gut ≈ "goot"), and German even marks the length in writing — ie is always "ee" (Bier, Liebe), ee in See (lake). Double a consonant after a vowel and the vowel snaps short: bitte vs Biene.
Learn 0–12 by heart — they are your building blocks: null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn, elf, zwölf. Loop them aloud until they feel like English: eins ("ines"), zwei ("tsvye"), drei ("dry"), vier ("feer").
From 13–19 the pattern is "digit + zehn" (ten): dreizehn (13), vierzehn (14), fünfzehn (15), sechzehn (16), siebzehn (17), achtzehn (18), neunzehn (19). Then 20 is zwanzig — and the -zig ending carries you onward: dreißig (30), vierzig (40), fünfzig (50), sechzig (60), siebzig (70).
Only two numbers behave badly: 16 is sechzehn, not "sechszehn", and 17 is siebzehn, not "siebenzehn". Learn them as quirks and you will never slip.
The days all end in Tag (day): Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag — Mittwoch is literally "mid-week". The months should look familiar: Januar, Februar, März, April, Mai, Juni, Juli, August, September, Oktober, November, Dezember.
For time, the magic question is Wie spät ist es? — "what time is it?", literally "how late is it?". Reply with Es ist drei Uhr ("it's three o'clock"). The tricky one: halb fünf means "four-thirty" — it is half toward five, the opposite of English. Ask when things happen with Um wie viel Uhr? → Um neun Uhr ("at nine o'clock").
The 24-hour clock is the norm in German, so 3 PM is fünfzehn Uhr (fifteen o'clock), and dates use a full stop: 21. September 2026. To ask the date: Der wievielte ist heute? ("what's the date today?").
The most important German verb is sein (to be): ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind. Build real sentences immediately: Ich bin Student (I am a student), Du bist müde (you are tired), Er ist Lehrer (he is a teacher).
The second power verb is haben (to have): ich habe, du hast, er hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie haben. As in English, you "have" hunger and thirst: Ich habe Hunger (I'm hungry), Ich habe Durst (I'm thirsty), Ich habe Zeit (I have time).
Then three everyday movers: gehen (to go — Ich gehe nach Hause, "I'm going home"), kommen (to come — Ich komme aus England, "I come from England"), and wollen (to want — Ich will…). For politeness, swap ich will for ich möchte ("I would like") — the single most useful phrase in cafés, shops and trains.
German and English are cousin languages, so you already know far more German than you think. Look at these familiar faces: Haus (house), Wasser (water), Brot (bread), Mann (man), Kind (child), Hand, Finger, Mutter (mother), Vater (father), trinken (to drink), helfen (to help), gut (good), Musik (music), Haus zu verkaufen (house for sale).
Regular letter shifts multiply your haul instantly: English "th" becomes German d (three → drei, thirst → Durst, this → dies), English "sh" becomes sch (shoe → Schuh, ship → Schiff), and English "y" often becomes g (day → Tag, way → Weg).
Even whole verbs travel well: kommen ↔ come, singen ↔ sing, schwimmen ↔ swim, finden ↔ find. Same family, same story.
Every German noun wears one of three "genders", and you must learn the article together with the word: der (masculine), die (feminine — and the plural "the"), das (neuter). Family words are the perfect warm-up: der Vater (father), die Mutter (mother), der Bruder (brother), die Schwester (sister), der Sohn (son), die Tochter (daughter), die Familie (family).
Gender is not random chaos — endings give strong clues. Die (feminine): -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ion (die Zeitung, newspaper; die Universität, university). Das (neuter): the small ones -chen, -lein, plus most metals and weather (das Mädchen, girl; das Gold, gold). Der (masculine): -er, -en, -ling (der Lehrer, the teacher). Not perfect — but these patterns beat blind guessing almost every time.
Describing people: groß (tall / big), klein (small), jung (young), alt (old), schön (beautiful), nett (nice). Put it together: Mein Bruder ist groß und nett — "my brother is tall and nice".
The question words are English's best friends — most are one small step from home: Was? (what), Wo? (where), Wann? (when), Warum? (why), Wie? (how), Wer? (who). Add Woher? for origin: Woher kommst du? — "where do you come from?".
Yes/no questions are even easier: move the verb to the front. Du sprichst Deutsch (you speak German) → Sprichst du Deutsch? (do you speak German?). The answer is Ja (yes) or Nein (no).
Negation has two twins: nicht negates verbs, adjectives and adverbs (Ich spreche nicht — I don't speak; Das ist nicht teuer — that's not expensive), while kein / keine negates nouns and swallows the article (Ich habe kein Geld — I have no money; Er hat keine Zeit — he has no time).
German cafés and Kneipen (pubs) run on a few classics: der Kaffee (coffee), das Bier (beer), das Wasser (water), das Brot (bread), der Käse (cheese), die Wurst (sausage) and der Kuchen (cake). Ask for the menu with Die Speisekarte, bitte — literally "the food-card, please".
Ordering is gloriously short: Ein Bier, bitte ("a beer, please") — and in a lively pub you will also hear the famous Eins Bier, bitte! The polite version is Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee ("I would like a coffee") or simply Einen Kaffee, bitte. When you are done, catch the server's eye and say Die Rechnung, bitte — "the bill, please".
Watch the "one" dance: das Bier stays ein Bier, but the masculine der Kaffee stretches to einen Kaffee after the verb. For day one, just learn the two full phrases and you will never be stuck at the counter.
Everything you have learned fits into a real conversation. Read this dialogue out loud twice — once slowly, once at a natural speed:
Notice how every piece you learned appears here: greetings, Wie geht es dir?, Ich heiße, Woher kommst du?, sein, numbers, kommen, and ordering coffee with bitte.
Shadowing drill (the habit that builds accent): replay this dialogue aloud from memory once a day. Match the melody of the sentences, not just the words. Thirty seconds a day beats one big cram session every week.
Your go-to cheat sheet — say it out loud a few times and you will keep it. The highlighted word is the one that carries the sentence.
Answer all 20 questions and score 70% or above to unlock your certificate. Enter your details below — your certificate is released only after your details are recorded.
Complete the Basic German quiz with 70% or above to generate your personalised "Basic German for English Speakers" certificate.
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