Learn About German

Deutsch • 95 million speakers worldwide

Indo-European Family•Medium Difficulty•ISO: de
Language Sample

"Hallo, wie geht es Ihnen?"

Pronunciation: HAH-loh, vee gayt es EE-nen?

Translation: Hello, how are you?

Language Overview

Speakers

95 million

Language Family

Indo-European (Germanic)

Writing System

Latin alphabet

Official Status

Official in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Liechtenstein

Regions (7 countries)

GermanyAustriaSwitzerlandLuxembourgBelgiumLiechtensteinSouth Tyrol (Italy)
History & Origins

German evolved from Old High German and Middle High German. It became standardized in the 16th century with Luther's Bible translation and is now the most widely spoken native language in Europe.

Language Characteristics

  • Complex case system (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive)

  • Compound words can be extremely long

  • Three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)

  • Verb-second word order in main clauses

  • Separable prefix verbs

Common Words
hello:hallo
goodbye:auf Wiedersehen
please:bitte
thank you:danke
yes:ja
no:nein
water:Wasser
food:Essen
Numbers 0-10
0:null
1:eins
2:zwei
3:drei
4:vier
5:fünf
6:sechs
7:sieben
8:acht
9:neun
10:zehn
Major Dialects

High German

Low German

Bavarian

Austrian German

Swiss German

Alemannic

Learning Tips

  • Learn articles with nouns from the beginning (der, die, das)

  • Practice the case system with simple sentences first

  • Break down compound words into their components

  • Focus on separable prefix verbs early

  • Use German children's books to practice reading

Cultural Notes

  • Punctuality is highly valued in German culture

  • Direct communication is preferred over indirect hints

  • Environmental consciousness is deeply ingrained

  • Work-life balance is important, with strong labor protections

Fun Facts

German has the longest words in the world due to compound word formation

The longest German word has 79 letters

German is the most widely spoken native language in Europe

Many English words come from German, especially in science and technology

Ready to test your German knowledge?

Try our interactive language guessing game and see if you can identify German from text samples.