100 Essential German Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	German	Type
hello	hallo	interjection
goodbye	Auf Wiedersehen	interjection
yes	ja	interjection
no	nein	interjection
please	bitte	interjection
thank you	danke	interjection
sorry	Entschuldigung	interjection
and	und	conjunction
but	aber	conjunction
or	oder	conjunction
because	weil	conjunction
here	hier	adverb
there	dort	adverb
always	immer	adverb
never	niemals	adverb
together	zusammen	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	German	Type
man	Mann	noun
woman	Frau	noun
boy	Junge	noun
girl	Mädchen	noun
friend	Freund	noun
mother	Mutter	noun
father	Vater	noun
brother	Bruder	noun
sister	Schwester	noun
son	Sohn	noun
daughter	Tochter	noun
child	Kind	noun
husband	Ehemann	noun
wife	Ehefrau	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	German	Type
to be	sein	verb
to have	haben	verb
to do	tun	verb
to go	gehen	verb
to come	kommen	verb
to eat	essen	verb
to drink	trinken	verb
to want	wollen	verb
to need	brauchen	verb
to know	wissen	verb
to speak	sprechen	verb
to read	lesen	verb
to write	schreiben	verb
to listen	zuhören	verb
to work	arbeiten	verb
to buy	kaufen	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	German	Type
good	gut	adjective
bad	schlecht	adjective
new	neu	adjective
old	alt	adjective
young	jung	adjective
tall	groß	adjective
short	klein	adjective
nice	nett	adjective
kind	gütig	adjective
shy	schüchtern	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	German	Type
red	rot	adjective
blue	blau	adjective
green	grün	adjective
yellow	gelb	adjective
black	schwarz	adjective
white	weiß	adjective
orange	orange	adjective
purple	lila	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	German	Type
one	eins	number
two	zwei	number
three	drei	number
four	vier	number
five	fünf	number
six	sechs	number
seven	sieben	number
eight	acht	number
nine	neun	number
ten	zehn	number
zero	null	number
twenty	zwanzig	number

Time

10 words

English	German	Type
today	heute	adverb
tomorrow	morgen	adverb
yesterday	gestern	adverb
afternoon	Nachmittag	noun
evening	Abend	noun
night	Nacht	noun
day	Tag	noun
week	Woche	noun
month	Monat	noun
year	Jahr	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	German	Type
water	Wasser	noun
coffee	Kaffee	noun
tea	Tee	noun
milk	Milch	noun
bread	Brot	noun
cheese	Käse	noun
fruit	Obst	noun
apple	Apfel	noun
egg	Ei	noun
rice	Reis	noun

Home

4 words

English	German	Type
house	Haus	noun
door	Tür	noun
window	Fenster	noun
bed	Bett	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these German words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts German words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with German

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German for beginners questions

What are the first German words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For German that means words like hallo (hello), danke (thank you), Wasser (water) and essen (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is German written?

German uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 8 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak German?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these German words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.