Genau
A1 · beginner 27 steps

The A1 path

27 topics are ready at this level, in order. Start at the top and move down — the sequence is not random, every step sits on the one before it. Remaining A1 topics join this path as they are written.

  1. 01 Greetings and goodbyes Hallo! Ich heiße… German greetings and goodbyes are the everyday phrases for meeting and parting: Hallo! →
  2. 02 Alphabet and pronunciation W = V, V = F, Z = TS The German alphabet has 26 letters plus three umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and ß; several letters sound different from English: W = V, Z = TS. →
  3. 03 Personal pronouns ich · du · er · sie · es Personal pronouns are the words that stand in for a noun and point to a person or thing: ich, du, er, sie, es. →
  4. 04 Numbers · time · date 21 = einundzwanzig German numbers, clock times and dates work like this: 21 = einundzwanzig, 10 Uhr, am 5. →
  5. 05 Akkusativ & Dativ the full article table Accusative vs dative: what actually changes, and what never moves at all. →
  6. 06 Verb conjugation · Präsens Ich gehe, du gehst Conjugation means the verb changes its ending to match the subject: Ich gehe, du gehst, er geht. →
  7. 07 Irregular verbs ich fahre, du fährst Irregular verbs in the German present tense are verbs whose stem vowel changes in the du and er forms: ich fahre, du fährst. →
  8. 08 sein · haben · werden ich bin, ich habe, ich werde sein, haben and werden are the three most-used German verbs, and they double as auxiliary verbs: ich bin, ich habe, ich werde. →
  9. 09 Top 50 verbs sein · haben · machen · gehen The 50 most common German verbs carry most of everyday German, split into five topic groups: basic and modal, movement, communication, thinking and … →
  10. 10 Modal verbs Ich will Deutsch lernen Modal verbs express ability, permission or obligation alongside another verb: Ich will Deutsch lernen. →
  11. 11 Separable verbs Ich rufe dich an Separable verbs are German compound verbs whose prefix splits off and moves to the end of the sentence: Ich rufe dich an. →
  12. 12 The imperative · Imperativ Komm! Kommt! Kommen Sie! The imperative (Imperativ) is the German command form; it expresses an order, a suggestion or an invitation: Komm! →
  13. 13 Nouns das Haus · die Haustür German nouns (Substantive) are the words that name things; they are always capitalised and carry a gender: das Haus, die Haustür. →
  14. 14 der · die · das read the ending, not the word Stop memorising der/die/das one word at a time; read the ending instead. →
  15. 15 Noun plurals die Bücher, die Autos The German plural is the form a noun takes to name more than one thing: die Bücher, die Autos. →
  16. 16 Possessives · mein · dein · sein mein Bruder, seine Frau German possessives show who something belongs to and agree with the thing owned: mein Bruder, seine Frau. →
  17. 17 Comparative and superlative schön · schöner · am schönsten The Steigerung (comparison of adjectives) is how German compares qualities: schön, schöner, am schönsten. →
  18. 18 The 50 top adjectives groß ↔ klein · teuer ↔ billig The 50 most common German adjectives, in 25 pairs of opposites: everyday basics, people and character, things and states. →
  19. 19 Adverbs heute · hier · schnell German adverbs describe a verb, an adjective or a whole sentence and never take an ending: heute, hier, schnell. →
  20. 20 Prepositions and cases für dich, mit dir German prepositions are small words that come before a noun, link it to the sentence and decide its case: für dich, mit dir. →
  21. 21 Perfekt haben or sein? The spoken past: choosing haben or sein, and building Partizip II. →
  22. 22 kein & nicht Ich habe kein Auto kein and nicht are the two basic German negation words: kein negates a noun (Ich habe kein Auto), nicht negates everything else. →
  23. 23 Questions Wo wohnst du? German has two kinds of questions: a W-question starts with a question word and a yes/no question starts with the verb: Wo wohnst du? →
  24. 24 7 core rules verb in 2nd place · article · kein / nicht The seven skeleton rules you need to build German sentences: verb position, subordinate clauses, articles, cases, verb endings and negation. →
  25. 25 Directions and asking the way Biegen Sie rechts ab Directions in German are given with short set phrases such as Biegen Sie rechts ab, geradeaus weiter. →
  26. 26 mir ist kalt cold · hungry · tired Why «Ich bin kalt» is the wrong sentence, and how feelings are built with mir. →
  27. 27 nur Bahnhof saying «I didn’t understand» What to say the second you stop understanding — the rescue lines and their tone. →

Where to go from here

This page lists the topics in order — the quickest way to the one you need. When a level is done, the next one picks up where it left off.

Continue to the A2 path

Missing a topic? Message us on Instagram and it goes on the next card. @genau.german