The first part of this Cheat Sheet includes basic German expressions, questions that let you gather information or ask for help, phrases to use when ordering from a menu, and German numbers and dates. The second part of this Cheat Sheet includes some basics of German grammar that can help you build your own sentences.
Useful German expressions and greetings
Practice these German greetings and expressions, which you’ll use daily when you visit a German-speaking country. With these expressions, you can communicate politely, feel more confident, and travel more comfortably.
| English | German | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Hello! | Hallo! | hâ-loh! (informal greeting) |
| Good day! | Guten Tag! | gooh-ten tahk! |
| Good evening! | Guten Abend! | gooh-ten ah-bent! |
| Good-bye! | Auf Wiedersehen! | ouf vee-der-zey-en! |
| Please./You’re welcome. | Bitte. | bi-te. |
| Thank you. | Danke. | dân-ke. |
| Excuse me. | Entschuldigung. | ênt-shool-dee-goong. |
| My name is…. | Ich heiße…. | iH hays-e…. |
| Pleased to meet you. | Freut mich. | froyt miH. |
Basic questions in German
If you travel to a German-speaking country and need to know the time or where something is located, or you just want to get some basic information, a few common questions can come in very handy.
| English | German | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Do you speak English? | Sprechen Sie Englisch? | shprêH-en zee êng-lish? |
| How are you? | Wie geht es Ihnen? | vee geyt ês een-en? |
| Would you help me please? | Würden Sie mir bitte helfen? | vuer-den zee meer bi-te hêl-fen? |
| What’s your name? | Wie heißen Sie? | vee hays-en zee? |
| What time is it? | Wie viel Uhr ist es? | vee feel oohr ist ês? |
| What’s the weather like? | Wie ist das Wetter? | ee ist dâs vêt-er? |
| How much does . . . cost? | Wie viel kostet . . .? | vee feel kos-tet…? |
| Where do I find . . .? | Wo finde ich . . .? | voh fin-de iH…? |
| Where are the bathrooms? | Wo sind die Toiletten? | voh zint dee toy-lêt-en? |
| Do you have…? | Haben Sie…? | hah-ben zee…? |
| Where is…? | Wo ist…? | voh ist…? |
| Could you please talk more slowly? | Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen? | kern-en zee bi-te lâng-zâm-er shprêH-en? |
| Could you repeat that, please? | Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? | kern-en zee dâs bi-te vee-der-hoh-len? |
German phrases for emergencies
If you’re traveling in a German-speaking country and find yourself in an urgent situation, you can get the assistance you need by memorizing these important German phrases.
| English | German | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Help! | Hilfe! | hilf-e! |
| Police! | Polizei! | po-li-tsay! |
| Fire! | Feuer! | foy-er! |
| Get a doctor! | Holen Sie einen Arzt! | hohl-en zee ayn-en ârtst! |
| I am sick. | Ich bin krank. | iH bin krânk. |
| I don’t know my way around here. | Ich kenne mich hier nicht aus. | iH kên-e miH heer niHt ous. |
The German calendar
Getting to know the days and months of the German calendar helps you keep track of your travel plans, German holidays, and engagements.
Days of the Week in German
| English | German | Pronunciaton |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Montag | mohn-tahk |
| Tuesday | Dienstag | deens-tahk |
| Wednesday | Mittwoch | mit-voH |
| Thursday | Donnerstag | don-ers-tahk |
| Friday | Freitag | fray-tahk |
| Saturday | Samstag / Sonnabend | zâms-tahk / zon-ah-bent) |
| Sunday | Sonntag | zon-tahk |
Months of the Year in German
| English | German | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| January | Januar | yâ-noo-ahr |
| February | Februar | fey-broo-ahr |
| March | März | mêrts |
| April | April | ah-pril |
| May | Mai | may |
| June | Juni | yooh-nee |
| July | Juli | yooh-lee |
| August | August | ou-goost |
| September | September | zêp-têm-ber |
| October | Oktober | ok-toh-ber |
| November | November | no-vêm-ber |
| December | Dezember | dey-tsêm-ber |
Ordering in a German restaurant
If you go to a German restaurant, these expressions can come in very handy. Practice them first, so that you can relax and enjoy the dining experience.
| English | German | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| The menu, please. | Die Speisekarte bitte. | dee shpay-ze kâr-te bi-te. |
| I’d like…. | Ich hätte gern…. | iH hê-te gern…. |
| I’d like…. | Ich möchte gern…. | iH merH-te gern…. |
| Could you recommend something? | Könnten Sie etwas empfehlen? | kern-ten zee êt-vas êm-pfey-len? |
| Another (beer) please. | Noch (ein Bier) bitte. | noH [ayn beer] bi-te. |
| Excuse me. | Entschuldigen Sie bitte. | ênt-shool-dee-gen zee bi-te. |
| The check, please. | Die Rechnung bitte. | dee rêH-noong bi-te. |
| A receipt, please. | Eine Quittung bitte. | ayn-e kvi-toong bi-te. |
| Enjoy your meal. | Guten Appetit. | gooh-ten âp-e-teet . |
German numbers
When traveling in a German-speaking area, you need to know numbers for shopping, dining, transportation, and exchanging money. With this list, you can start practicing German numbers.
| 0 null (nool) | 17 siebzehn (zeep-tseyn) |
| 1 eins (ayns) | 18 achtzehn (âHt-tseyn) |
| 2 zwei (tsvay) | 19 neunzehn (noyn-tseyn) |
| 3 drei (dray) | 20 zwanzig (tsvân-tsîH) |
| 4 vier (feer) | 21 einundzwanzig (ayn-oont-tsvân-tsiH) |
| 5 fünf (fuenf) | 22 zweiundzwanzig (tsvay-oont tsvân-tsiH) |
| 6 sechs (zêks) | 30 dreißig (dray-siH) |
| 7 sieben (zee-ben) | 40 vierzig (feer-tsiH) |
| 8 acht (âHt) | 50 fünfzig (fuenf-tsiH) |
| 9 neun (noyn) | 60 sechzig (zêH-tsiH) |
| 10 zehn (tseyn) | 70 siebzig (zeep-tsiH) |
| 11 elf (êlf) | 80 achtzig (âHt-tsiH) |
| 12 zwölf (tsverlf) | 90 neunzig (noyn-tsiH) |
| 13 dreizehn (dray-tseyn) | 100 hundert (hoon-dert) |
| 14 vierzehn (feer-tseyn) | 200 zweihundert (tsvay-hoon-dert) |
| 15 fünfzehn (fuenf-tseyn) | 1000 tausend (tou-zent) |
| 16 sechzehn (zêH-tseyn) |
Understanding the basics of German cases
In grammar, cases indicate the role that nouns and pronouns play in a sentence. Case is important in German because four types of words — nouns, pronouns, articles, and adjectives — go through spelling changes according to the case they represent in a sentence.
German has four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. The following table breaks them down based on function.
| Case | Case Function |
| Nominative | Used for the subject of a sentence
Used for predicate nouns |
| Accusative | Used for the direct object of a sentence |
| Dative | Used for the indirect object of a sentence |
| Genitive | Used to show possession, ownership, or a close relationship |
German personal pronouns and their cases
The biggest difference between German personal pronouns and English personal pronouns is that you have to distinguish among three ways to say you: du, ihr, and Sie. Other personal pronouns, like ich and mich (I and me) or wir and uns (we and us), bear a closer resemblance to English.
The genitive case isn’t represented among the personal pronouns because it indicates possession; the personal pronouns represent only people, not something those people possess.
Check out the following table for a list of the personal pronouns. Notice that you and it don’t change in English and the accusative (for direct objects) and dative (for indirect objects) pronouns are identical.
The table lists the distinguishing factors for the three forms of you — du, ihr, and Sie — in abbreviated form. Here’s what the abbreviations mean: s. = singular, pl. = plural, inf. = informal, form. = formal.
| Subject Pronoun
(Nominative) |
Direct Object Pronoun
(Accusative) |
Indirect Object Pronoun (Dative) |
| ich (I) | mich (me) | mir (me) |
| du (you) (s., inf.) | dich (you) (s., inf.) | dir (you) (s., inf.) |
| er (he) | ihn (him) | ihm (him) |
| sie (she) | sie (her) | ihr (her) |
| es (it) | es (it) | ihm (it) |
| wir (we) | uns (us) | uns (us) |
| ihr (you) (pl., inf.) | euch (you) (pl., inf.) | euch (you) (pl., inf.) |
| sie (they) | sie (them) | ihnen (them) |
| Sie (you) (s. or pl., form.) | Sie (you) (s. or pl., form.) | Ihnen (you) (s. or pl., form.) |
Reflexive pronouns
The reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. The table below also includes personal pronouns (nominative case) for reference.
| Nominative of Personal Pronouns | Accusative (Reflexive) | Dative (Reflexive) |
| ich (I) | mich (myself) | mir (myself) |
| du (you) (s., inf.) | dich (yourself) | dir (yourself) |
| er (he) | sich (himself) | sich (himself) |
| sie (she) | sich (herself) | sich (herself) |
| es (it) | sich (itself) | sich (itself) |
| wir (we) | uns (ourselves) | uns (ourselves) |
| ihr (you) (pl., inf.) | euch (yourselves) | euch (yourselves) |
| sie (they) | sich (themselves) | sich (themselves) |
| Sie (you) (s. or pl., form.) | sich (yourself/yourselves) | sich (yourself/ yourselves) |
Interrogative pronoun who
The table below shows the interrogative (question) pronoun who.
| Case | Pronoun | English Equivalent |
| Nominative | wer | who |
| Accusative | wen | whom |
| Dative | wem | (to) whom |
| Genitive | wessen | whose |
Definite and indefinite German articles and their cases
German has three words — der, die and das — for the definite article the. To make matters more confusing for someone learning German, these three definite articles change spelling according to the case of the noun that they appear with in a sentence.
The same is true for the indefinite articles. Just as English has two indefinite articles — a and an — that you use with singular nouns, German also has two indefinite articles (in the nominative case): ein for masculine- and neuter-gender words and eine for feminine-gender words.
Another similarity with English is that the German indefinite article ein/eine doesn’t have a plural form. Depending on how you’re describing something plural, you may or may not need to use the plural definite article. Consider the following generalized statement, which requires no article: In Zermatt sind Autos verboten. (Cars are forbidden in Zermatt [Switzerland].)
The following table shows you the definite articles and the corresponding indefinite articles (nominative case):
| Gender/Number | Definite (the) | Indefinite (a/an) |
| Masculine | der | ein |
| Feminine | die | eine |
| Neuter | das | ein |
| Plural | die | (no plural form) |
