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Alex and Lena go to a café after class.
From this lesson on, learn every noun with its article. Not Kaffee but der Kaffee, not Wasser but das Wasser. The gender is not guessable from the thing itself — a fork is feminine, a spoon masculine, a knife neuter, and they are lying next to each other on the table — and it decides the shape of almost every word that goes near the noun. Learning them apart and hoping to attach them later is the single most expensive shortcut in German. Notice that Ich möchte einen Kaffee has einen, while Ich möchte ein Wasser has ein. Nothing changed about the water; what changed is that Kaffee is masculine. When a masculine noun is the thing being acted on, ein becomes einen. This is the accusative case, and it is the reason German looks so different from English on paper. It only ever marks the masculine in this way — die and das never change here — so the whole of the accusative is, for now, one letter on one gender. German has three answers to a yes/no question, not two. ja and nein work as expected, but doch exists for contradicting a negative: Sie möchten nichts? — Doch, einen Kaffee! English has to reach for "Actually, yes I do"; German has a word for it, and Germans use it constantly.
How do I read these pronunciations? See the pronunciation guide.
1. Ich möchte — would like
möchte is the politest way to ask for anything in German, and it is what you should reach for in any shop, café or ticket office. For now, learn just two forms: ich möchte for yourself, and möchten Sie for asking someone politely. It is technically part of the modal verb system, which arrives properly in Lesson 23 — until then treat it as a fixed phrase and use it freely.
2. Every noun has a gender
German nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter, marked by der, die or das. The gender is grammatical, not biological, and it very rarely follows any logic you can predict: der Löffel (spoon) is masculine, die Gabel (fork) feminine, das Messer (knife) neuter. There are a few reliable hints — nouns ending in -ung, -heit, -keit and -schaft are always feminine, and most ending in -chen are neuter — but the honest advice is to memorise the article as part of the word.
3. ein, eine, einen — the first case ending
The indefinite article changes shape depending on the gender of the noun and on the job the noun is doing in the sentence. As the subject it is ein (masculine), eine (feminine), ein (neuter). As the object of a verb like möchten, only the masculine changes — to einen. So Ich möchte einen Kaffee but Ich möchte ein Wasser, and Ich möchte eine Suppe. If that seems like an oddly small rule to make a fuss about, it is the doorway into the case system, which is the shape of the whole language.
4. bitte and danke do more than you expect
bitte is please, but it is also "here you are" when handing something over, "you're welcome" in reply to thanks, and "sorry?" when you did not catch something. bitte schön and bitte sehr are the fuller forms used when serving someone. danke is thank you — but be careful, because danke on its own in answer to an offer means no. If you want the thing, say ja, bitte.
5. ja, nein — and doch
doch is the word English is missing. It answers a negative question or contradicts a negative statement, and means roughly "yes, on the contrary". Sie möchten nichts? — Doch! means "Actually, I do." Answering that question with ja would be genuinely ambiguous, and Germans would not do it. You will also hear doch sprinkled into sentences as a softener, which is a different job — meet it properly later.
A. Fill in the Blank · Ergänzen Sie
Fill in the blank with a word from this lesson's vocabulary.
- 1.Ich einen Kaffee, bitte.would like
- 2.Ich möchte Tee.a (masculine, object)
- 3.Für mich Wasser.a (neuter)
- 4.Ich habe .hunger
B. Multiple Choice · Wählen Sie
Choose the correct German.
- 1.How do you order a coffee?
- 2.Which article does Kuchen take?
- 3.Which is correct for "a water"?
- 4.How does the waiter ask what you'd like to drink?
C. Word Order · Bilden Sie Sätze
Put the words in the right order.
- 1.Tap tiles below…
- 2.Tap tiles below…
- 3.Tap tiles below…
- 4.Tap tiles below…
D. True or False · Richtig oder falsch
Decide whether each statement about the dialogue is true.
- 1.Alex orders a coffee.
- 2.Lena orders something to eat.
- 3.Lena orders two things to drink.
- 4.Alex is hungry.
E. Matching · Ordnen Sie zu
Match each line to the reply that fits it.
F. Translation · Übersetzen Sie
Translate between German and English.
- 1.I'd like a coffee, please.
- 2.I'm hungry.
- 3.Möchten Sie auch etwas essen?
- 4.Für mich nichts, danke.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 16 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
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Together or separately?
You pay at the table in Germany, not at a counter, and you wait for the bill rather than getting up. When you ask for it — Zahlen, bitte — the server will almost always ask Zusammen oder getrennt? Together or separately. Splitting a bill four ways with four different totals is completely normal and causes nobody any difficulty; servers do the arithmetic in their heads and are startlingly quick at it. Tipping is modest: round up to the nearest euro or add roughly five to ten per cent, and say the total you want to pay as you hand over the money rather than leaving coins on the table. If your coffee and cake come to €7.40, handing over a ten and saying acht, bitte means you want €2 back. One more thing worth knowing: tap water is not normally served, and if you ask for Wasser you will get a bottle and a bill for it.