Learn German đŸș

Hallo, wie geht’s? 👋 ! Here’s our curated content for training your passive understanding of the language.

👋 Instructions (Click / Tap to expand the sections below)!

⏰ Time spent here also counts towards your streak.

Language competency consists of active vocabulary, but also passive vocabulary and natural pattern recognition. Train essential listening skills, understand grammar and morphing patterns.

Knowing Basic Phrases allows you to stay in the language instead of switching to English. Listening-Reading videos is a comfortable yet intense training of your listening skills. It also allows you to explore the country through videos.

If you want to really be comfortable, have lessons. What makes Lingophant unique is that you can create your 100% personalised vocabulary from conversations. 45 minutes per week with a friend or a teacher is already enough input for a constant stream of engaging sentences to practice between lessons.

📔 Basic Phrases

These phrases are the perfect point of departure for serious learners. They help you stay in the language, without needing to switch to English. And you internalize patterns.

Unlock them one-by-one in the app, and memorize them from the “Practice” tab.

01 – Basic phrases
02 – Introductions & talking about yourself
03 – Useful reactions
04 – Clarifications
05 – Learning languages
06 – Interests, opinions & preferences
07 – Travel phrases
08 – Smalltalk
09 – Politeness

This is just to get you started. For personalized phrases, we recommend sessions of 45 minutes with a native speaker.

  • Know 300 phrases and you can make jokes and impress people
  • Know 600 phrases and you can hold basic conversations
  • Know 1000 phrases and you start communicating effortlessly

And because of working with audio, you’ll get compliments on your pronunciation a lot. We promise!

🎧 Start Your Listening Training Here (with Fabian)

Here’s a (slightly cringe) overview in German about L-R. Can you understand some parts already? Try watching it 3-4 times, and then just listen. Can you already follow along? This is how we will train your listening skills!

How to watch German content and learn to understand words and sounds:

Start right away with one of these videos:

You can watch it two times, read along in both languages. There’s a certain brain state of being able to focus on two languages at the same time. Try to get there.

So watch, rewatch, write down words. Anything that helps your brain process the sounds. Though most of it happens subconsciously.

Try to spend 30-60 minutes with videos like this each week. After like 6-8 weeks you’ll noticeably start understanding a lot.

And when you’ve watched a video 3-5 times, you can also listen to only with audio while doing something else.

🎧 Train your listening skills with proper documentaries

We have selected enjoyable documentaries and reportage channels. Watch them, listen to the language, and build a natural intuition. Some polyglots swear by this method — 30 minutes a day builds working proficiency.

NDR Doku (1.55m subs)

NDR Doku (view channel) – Dokumentationen und Reportagen des Norddeutschen Rundfunks (NDR). Mehr Videos finden Sie auf https://www.ardmediathek.de/ndr/

Terra X History (1.39m subs)

Terra X History (view channel) – Bei TERRA X History bekommt Ihr jeden Sonntag spannende Videos zu den Themen Geschichte, ArchĂ€ologie, und Zeitgeschichte – natĂŒrlich werbefrei und kostenlos. Produziert wird der Kanal vom ZDF in Zusammenarbeit mit objektiv media.

STRG_F (1.30m subs)

STRG_F (view channel) – STRG_F steht fĂŒr Suchen und Finden.

Terra X Lesch & Co (1.24m subs)

Terra X Lesch & Co (view channel) – Bei Terra X Lesch & Co bekommt Ihr spannende Videos aus der Welt der Wissenschaft – natĂŒrlich werbefrei und kostenlos. Produziert wird der Kanal vom ZDF in Zusammenarbeit mit objektiv media.

Y-Kollektiv (1.20m subs)

Y-Kollektiv (view channel) – Das Y-Kollektiv besteht aus jungen Journalist:innen. In unseren Reportagen zeigen wir die Welt, wie wir sie erleben. Recherche machen wir transparent. Unsere Reportagen sollen Diskussionen auslösen; sie sind nicht immer neutral, aber immer ehrlich.

WDR Doku (1.12m subs)

WDR Doku (view channel) – Auf dem WDR Doku Kanal findet ihr Dokumentationen und Reportagen des WDR.

SWR Doku (658k subs)

SWR Doku (view channel) – Im SWR Doku-Kanal findet Ihr spannende, grĂŒndlich recherchierte Dokumentationen und Reportagen unserer besten Journalist*innen und Dokumentarfilmer*innen. Sie decken MissstĂ€nde auf, erlĂ€utern ZusammenhĂ€nge und HintergrĂŒnde. Vor allem erzĂ€hlen sie von außergewöhnlichen Menschen und Situationen. Die Dokus stammen u. a. von den SWR-Sendereihen SWR Story, SWR PortĂ€t und 7 Tage. Allen gemeinsam ist: sie zeigen das echte Leben, seine Herausforderungen, seine Krisen und Chancen. UngekĂŒnstelt, bodenstĂ€n

DER SPIEGEL (2.30m subs)

DER SPIEGEL (view channel) – Willkommen auf dem YouTube-Kanal von SPIEGEL TV und DER SPIEGEL.

SRF Dokus & Reportagen (398k subs)

SRF Dokus & Reportagen (view channel) – Wir berichten faktentreu, verzichten auf «scripted reality» und sind der journalistischen Redlichkeit verpflichtet.

MDR Investigativ (228k subs)

MDR Investigativ (view channel) – MDR Investigativ zeigt emotionale Reportagen und investigative Recherchen zu den Debatten unserer Zeit. Unsere Reporterinnen und Reporter gehen dabei MissstĂ€nden in der Gesellschaft auf den Grund. RegelmĂ€ĂŸig veröffentlichen wir hier neue Folgen von „exactly“, unserem Reportageformat aus dem Osten.

ARD team.recherche (80k subs)

ARD team.recherche (view channel) – Die spannendsten Recherchen aus der ARD fĂŒr dich!

rbb Doku (191k subs)

rbb Doku (view channel) – Im rbb Doku-Kanal findet ihr Dokumentationen und Reportagen aus Berlin, Brandenburg und der Welt. Sie tauchen ein in die Hauptstadt und ihre Region, in die Geschichte und Geschichten. Unsere Reporter:innen decken MissstĂ€nde auf, erlĂ€utern ZusammenhĂ€nge und HintergrĂŒnde. Aber vor allem erzĂ€hlen sie von Menschen und ihrem Leben.

🎧 Train listening with weird popular YouTube videos

It’s like zapping TV through another linguistic and cultural universe. Watch what native speakers watch. We hope you find something interesting.

đŸ§‘â€đŸ« Grammar overview in 9 chapters

Below is an overview of the most important grammar topics. Each chapter has a short explanation and recommended videos.

While memorizing phrases, you’ll likely recognize patterns from grammar. You can add a note or question to a card and get it answered next time you’re with a teacher.

Noun Gender & Definite/Indefinite Articles A1

Every German noun belongs to one of three grammatical genders — masculine (der), feminine (die), or neuter (das) — and this gender affects the article and adjective endings throughout a sentence. The indefinite articles (ein, eine, ein) mirror this system. Unlike in English, gender is largely arbitrary and must be learned with each noun: it is ‘der Tisch’ (the table, masculine) but ‘die Lampe’ (the lamp, feminine) and ‘das Fenster’ (the window, neuter). The good news is that many suffixes are reliable clues: nouns ending in -ung, -heit, -keit, or -schaft are nearly always feminine, while -chen and -lein endings always signal neuter.

The most effective learning technique is to always memorise a noun together with its article as a single chunk — never learn ‘Hund’ alone, always learn ‘der Hund’. Colour-coding flashcards by gender (e.g. blue for der, red for die, green for das) builds a strong visual habit. Once you internalise this topic, you will be able to correctly refer to people, objects, and ideas in any conversation, and you will have the essential foundation that makes every other German grammar rule — case endings, adjective agreement, pronoun choice — fall into place.

The Four Cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive) A2

German uses four grammatical cases to show what role a noun plays in a sentence. The nominative marks the subject (who is doing the action): ‘Der Mann schlĂ€ft.’ The accusative marks the direct object (who receives the action): ‘Ich sehe den Mann.’ The dative marks the indirect object (to/for whom): ‘Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch.’ The genitive expresses possession: ‘Das Auto des Mannes.’ Crucially, these cases change the article forms — der/die/das shift to different forms depending on case and gender — so learning the article table (nominative, accusative, dative) is the single most high-leverage grammar task in German.

A practical shortcut is to focus first on nominative and accusative (which differ mainly in masculine nouns: der → den, ein → einen), then add dative. The dative has a memorable pattern: all definite articles end in -m for masculine and neuter (dem) and -r for feminine (der), and nouns in dative plural always add an -n. Internalising this system lets you correctly use prepositions (many of which demand a specific case, like ‘mit’ + dative or ‘durch’ + accusative), build sentences with multiple noun phrases, and understand spoken German without constantly getting lost about who is doing what to whom.

Present Tense Verb Conjugation A1

German verbs conjugate differently for each person, and the present tense covers both present actions and habitual ones — there is no separate ‘I am going’ vs ‘I go’ distinction. Regular verbs follow a predictable stem-plus-ending pattern: machen → ich mache, du machst, er/sie/es macht, wir machen, ihr macht, sie/Sie machen. However, many very common verbs are irregular — particularly strong verbs that change their stem vowel in the du and er/sie/es forms, such as ‘fahren’ (du fĂ€hrst, er fĂ€hrt) or ‘lesen’ (du liest, er liest). The verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are the most irregular and most essential to memorise immediately.

The best approach is to learn the ich, du, and er/sie/es forms first since they vary the most, then notice that wir and sie/Sie almost always match the infinitive. Grouping strong verbs by their vowel-change pattern (e, ie verbs like sehen/lesen; a, Ă€ verbs like fahren/schlafen) turns irregular learning into pattern recognition rather than rote memorisation. Once you have this topic down, you can talk about your daily routine, ask questions about other people’s lives, describe events happening right now, and make plans — in short, you can hold a basic real-time conversation on almost any everyday topic.

Modal Verbs (können, mĂŒssen, wollen, dĂŒrfen, sollen, mögen) A2

German has six core modal verbs that express ability, necessity, permission, desire, and obligation: können (can/be able to), mĂŒssen (must/have to), wollen (want to), dĂŒrfen (may/be allowed to), sollen (should/be supposed to), and mögen/möchten (like/would like). Their grammar has two key features: first, they conjugate irregularly in the singular (ich kann, du kannst, er kann — note the first and third person are identical), and second, they send the main verb to the end of the sentence as an infinitive: ‘Ich kann heute nicht kommen’ (I can’t come today). This ‘verb bracket’ structure is one of the most defining features of German sentence architecture.

A reliable learning trick is to memorise the ich/er form of each modal as a pair — they are always the same — and practise short sentences where you slot different infinitives into the end position. Starting with können and möchten will cover the majority of polite requests and everyday statements. Once you command modal verbs, you can express what you want, need, are allowed, or are able to do, which is essential vocabulary for navigating restaurants, shops, workplaces, and social situations, and you will also have cracked the ‘verb bracket’ — a sentence pattern that recurs across much of German grammar.

Word Order: Verb-Second & Subordinate Clauses A2

German main clauses follow a strict ‘verb-second’ (V2) rule: no matter what element opens the sentence, the conjugated verb always occupies the second position. If you start with a time expression, the verb still comes second and the subject is pushed after it: ‘Heute gehe ich ins Kino’ (literally: Today go I to the cinema). This is quite different from English and catches learners off guard. In subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like weil (because), dass (that), or wenn (when/if), the conjugated verb moves all the way to the end: ‘Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil ich krank bin.’

A helpful mental model is to think of the conjugated verb as magnetically attached to the second slot in a main clause, and glued to the final slot in a subordinate clause. When you first encounter a subordinating conjunction, it is a signal to move the verb to the end — almost like a grammatical alarm bell. Mastering this topic transforms your German from stilted, subject-first sentences into natural, varied speech; you can emphasise different information by fronting time, place, or manner expressions, and you can build complex, multi-clause sentences that accurately express cause, condition, and contrast — a major leap toward sounding fluent.

Separable & Inseparable Prefix Verbs A2

A large number of German verbs are formed by attaching a prefix to a base verb, and whether that prefix separates from the verb in a sentence is one of the most practically important distinctions in the language. Separable prefixes — such as an-, auf-, mit-, zurĂŒck-, ein- — detach in main clauses and are sent to the very end: ‘Ich rufe dich morgen an’ (I’ll call you tomorrow — from ‘anrufen’). Inseparable prefixes — be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp-, miss- — always stay attached and the verb behaves like a normal verb: ‘Ich verstehe das’ (I understand that — from ‘verstehen’). In subordinate clauses and with modal verbs, separable verbs reunite into their full infinitive form at the end.

The most reliable trick is to memorise prefixes as either ‘always separate’ or ‘never separate’ and to learn new verbs with a sentence example that shows the separation in action. Listening carefully to the ends of German sentences will train your ear to catch the detached prefix that completes the meaning. Owning this topic means you will no longer miss crucial meaning carried at the end of a sentence, you will be able to use a vastly expanded vocabulary of verbs accurately, and you will understand why a speaker who says ‘Ich kaufe heute ein’ is talking about going shopping (‘einkaufen’) — not just buying something.

The Perfect Tense (Conversational Past) A2

In everyday spoken German, the perfect tense (Perfekt) is the standard way to talk about past events, even though English learners might expect a simple past. It is formed with an auxiliary — either haben (to have) or sein (to be) — conjugated in the present tense, plus a past participle sent to the end of the sentence. Most verbs use haben: ‘Ich habe das Buch gelesen’ (I read the book / I have read the book). Verbs of motion or change of state — such as gehen, fahren, kommen, aufwachen — take sein: ‘Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren.’ Forming the past participle follows rules: regular verbs take ge- + stem + -(e)t (gemacht, gespielt), while strong verbs take ge- + changed stem + -en (gesehen, getrunken).

A practical two-step approach is to first master haben + participle with the most frequent regular verbs (kaufen, machen, arbeiten, sagen), then learn the high-frequency sein verbs as a fixed list. Many strong verb participles reappear as adjectives, so exposure through reading and listening reinforces them naturally. Once this tense is automatic, you can recount your day, tell stories, describe past experiences, and respond to ‘Was hast du gemacht?’ — making you a functional participant in the conversational exchanges that make up the vast majority of social German interaction.

Adjective Endings (Weak, Mixed, Strong Declension) B1

When an adjective comes before a noun in German, it must take an ending that reflects the noun’s gender, case, and the type of article preceding it. There are three declension patterns: weak endings (used after definite articles like der/die/das, where the article already signals gender and case clearly — so the adjective adds mostly -e or -en), strong endings (used when there is no article at all — the adjective itself must carry the full case signal), and mixed endings (used after indefinite articles and possessives like ein/mein, which behave like definite articles in some slots but not others). For example: ‘der alte Mann’ (nominative, weak), ‘ein alter Mann’ (nominative, mixed), ‘alter Mann’ (nominative, strong).

Rather than memorising three full tables, focus first on the insight that in each noun phrase, exactly one word carries the strong gender signal — either the article or the adjective itself. If the article already shows gender clearly (der, die, das, den, dem), the adjective relaxes into -e or -en. This ‘one signal per phrase’ principle covers the vast majority of cases. Once you have this pattern internalised, your written and spoken German takes on a much more polished, native feel; you will be able to describe people, places, and things with accuracy, understand descriptive texts and menus, and avoid the flat, article-only sentences that mark early learners.

Konjunktiv II: Polite Requests & Hypotheticals B1

Konjunktiv II is the German subjunctive mood used for two very practical purposes: expressing polite requests or wishes (‘Könnten Sie mir helfen?’ — Could you help me?; ‘Ich hĂ€tte gerne einen Kaffee’ — I’d like a coffee) and describing hypothetical or unreal situations (‘Wenn ich Zeit hĂ€tte, wĂŒrde ich mehr lesen’ — If I had time, I’d read more). In modern spoken German, Konjunktiv II is most commonly formed with ‘wĂŒrde’ + infinitive (the equivalent of ‘would’), but a set of high-frequency verbs — sein (wĂ€re), haben (hĂ€tte), können (könnte), mĂŒssen (mĂŒsste), and a few others — use their own distinctive Konjunktiv II forms, and these are the ones you will hear and need constantly.

The most efficient path is to learn the wĂŒrde + infinitive construction first as a productive template for hypotheticals, then memorise the short list of irregular forms (wĂ€re, hĂ€tte, könnte, mĂŒsste, dĂŒrfte, sollte) as fixed chunks tied to phrases you actually want to say. Noticing how native speakers soften requests with könnte or hĂ€tte in shops, emails, and phone calls will accelerate your feel for register. Commanding this topic is the difference between sounding blunt and sounding polished — you will be able to make requests naturally, express wishes and preferences, discuss imaginary scenarios, and navigate formal and semi-formal situations in a way that immediately signals social and linguistic competence.

đŸ§‘â€đŸ« Pronunciation

Musicians and sportspeople know: unlearning mistakes is quite difficult.

Luckily you’re working with phrases and audio from the beginning, using our method. But it helps to get an awareness about the details.

Learn about the pronunciation with these long videos by Fluent Forever. Come back every now and then when you feel like it.

And here is a video about the most annoying “R” sound, you can fix it if you’re unsure.

And one extra one for the Umlaute: Ä, Ö, Ü