Die Grundlagen · Unit 8 of 10 · 10 min
Erste wichtige Ausdrücke
Essential first expressions
The survival set — greetings, thanks, apologies and asking people to slow down.
This is survival German: greetings, thanks, apologies, and the handful of sentences that let you stay in a conversation you only half understand.
Learning objectives
- Greet and take leave appropriately at different times of day.
- Choose between Sie and du in a given situation.
- Ask for repetition, slower speech or a translation.
Can-Do outcomes
- I can greet someone and say goodbye politely.
- I can say that I do not understand and ask for help.
- I can decide whether to use Sie or du.
Native-speaker review required
Greetings and goodbyes
- Guten MorgenGood morningUntil roughly 11.
- Guten TagGood dayThe safe all-purpose greeting.
- Guten AbendGood evening
- HalloHelloInformal, but very common.
- TschüssByeInformal.
- Auf WiedersehenGoodbyeFormal.
Politeness
- BittePlease — and also “you're welcome” and “here you go”
- DankeThanks
- Vielen DankMany thanks
- EntschuldigungExcuse me / sorry
- Es tut mir leidI'm sorry
Yes, no, maybe
- JaYes
- NeinNo
- VielleichtMaybe
When you are lost
These six sentences will carry you through your first weeks.
- Ich verstehe.I understand.
- Ich verstehe nicht.I don't understand.
- Können Sie das wiederholen?Could you repeat that?
- Langsamer, bitte.More slowly, please.
- Sprechen Sie Englisch?Do you speak English?
- Ich lerne noch Deutsch.I'm still learning German.Says more for you than any apology.
- Was bedeutet das?What does that mean?
- Wie sagt man ___ auf Deutsch?How do you say ___ in German?
Sie and du
Formal Sie for strangers, staff, officials and colleagues you have just met. Informal du for friends, family, children and anyone who offers it. When unsure, use Sie — nobody is ever offended by it.
- Wie geht es Ihnen?How are you? (formal)
- Wie geht es dir?How are you? (informal)
- Mir geht es gut.I'm well.
Say it aloud
Aussprachetrainer
Entschuldigung, ich verstehe nicht.
Excuse me, I don't understand.
Aussprachetrainer
Wie geht es Ihnen?
How are you? (formal)
Wortschatz
- dieEntschuldigung— excuse me, apologyPlural: die Entschuldigungen
- derMorgen— morningPlural: die Morgen
- derAbend— eveningPlural: die Abende
- derTag— dayPlural: die Tage
- danke— thanks
- bitte— please / you're welcome / here you go
- verstehen— to understand
- wiederholen— to repeat
Übungen
Formal or informal?
Du sprichst mit einer Ärztin, die du nicht kennst. Was sagst du?
You are speaking to a doctor you have never met. What do you say?
Optional between-session assignment
Mein Überlebensset
My survival set
Professional practice · about 10 min · Self-reported completion
- 1.Choose the five expressions from this unit that fit your life or your job best.
- 2.Write them down in the order you would actually need them.
- 3.Say each one aloud five times, then use one of them for real this week.
In-app alternative · Save the five phrases to your Wortschatz from this unit and run them through the pronunciation coach.
Willkommen zurück!
Return checkpoint
Two or three quick checks the next time you open this unit. Attempting it is what counts — anything you miss becomes a review recommendation, not a failure.
1. You meet a new client. Which do you use?
2. The other person is speaking too fast. What do you say?
3. It is 19:00 and you enter a shop. What do you say?
Completion summary
Erste wichtige Ausdrücke abgeschlossen
You have the sentences that keep you in the room: greetings, politeness, and a way out of every misunderstanding.
Unit 9 explains why every German noun arrives with an article.
Marking a unit complete adds its Can-Do outcomes to your spaced-repetition queue. Perfect scores are never required.