CEFR A1 in German: what you can do

A1 is the first step. German looks daunting because of its genders and cases, but at this level you only need a small core: the present tense, the three articles, the verb in second position and a few hundred useful words. Germans are usually pleased when a beginner tries, so start speaking early.

What you can do

• Greet people and say goodbye: Hallo! Guten Morgen! Guten Tag! Tschüss! Auf Wiedersehen!
• Introduce yourself and ask simple questions: Ich heiße Anna. Wie heißt du? Woher kommst du? Wo wohnen Sie?
• Say thank you and ask for help: Danke schön. Bitte. Entschuldigung. Können Sie mir helfen?
• Count, give your phone number, tell the time and understand prices in euros.
• Order a coffee and a slice of cake: Einen Kaffee und ein Stück Kuchen, bitte.

A quick self-check

You are probably at A1 if you can do most of these:

• Say your name, age, home town and country, and spell your name aloud with the German alphabet.
• Ask Was kostet das? and understand the answer.
• Fill in a simple form with name, address and date of birth.
• Write a short postcard with three or four sentences.

Typical grammar at A1

Articles and genders

Every noun has a gender: masculine der, feminine die or neuter das. Nouns are always capitalised: der Mann, die Frau, das Kind, der Tisch, die Lampe, das Buch. The indefinite article is ein (m, n) or eine (f). Learn each noun with its article, because the gender is often hard to guess. See der, die, das: noun genders.

sein and haben

Both verbs are irregular and you need them from the first lesson.

Ich bin müde. Wir haben Hunger. Sie hat einen Hund.

The present tense and word order

Regular verbs take the endings -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en on the stem: ich wohne, du wohnst, er wohnt. In a main clause the conjugated verb is in second position, and in a yes/no question it comes first: Ich wohne in Berlin. Heute wohne ich in Berlin. Wohnst du in Berlin? Nicht usually comes near the end: Ich verstehe das nicht. More on this in verb position in German.

Numbers

eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn. From 21 the units come first: einundzwanzig means "one and twenty". Phone numbers are often read in pairs.

du and Sie

Du is for friends, family, children and, increasingly, colleagues in informal workplaces. Sie (always capitalised) is the polite form for strangers, shop staff and officials. It takes the same verb form as the plural sie: Wie heißen Sie? If in doubt, use Sie until the other person offers du.

Vocabulary themes

• Greetings, names, countries and languages
• Family, home and daily routine
• Food, drink and the café: see Kaffee und Kuchen
• Numbers, days, months and colours
• Shops, prices and simple directions

What you may find hard

• Genders. There are few reliable rules, so learn der Tisch, not just Tisch.
• Pronunciation. The umlauts ä, ö, ü, the ch sounds and the r take practice. See umlauts and ch.
• Word order. Heute ich wohne in Berlin is wrong; the verb stays second.
• Long words. Compounds such as Bahnhofsplatz look scary but split into familiar parts.

Exams and courses

The main A1 exam is the Goethe-Zertifikat A1: Start Deutsch 1, which tests listening, reading, writing and speaking. Many language schools also offer an A1 course based on the same level.

How to practise at this level

Learn chunks, not single words. Begin with introducing yourself and ordering at a restaurant. Say your sentences aloud every day. When ready, move on to A2.

Practice

Remember that Tisch is masculine, that the verb is second, and that Sie is the polite form.