Genau
Topic test · A1

Survival phrases test

10questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

10 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

You are at the Ausländerbehörde. The officer says something and you catch none of it. What comes out of your mouth?

Entschuldigung, ich habe das nicht verstanden. All three are real German. But Bahnhof is an idiom for friends, and a bare Was? reads as blunt from a stranger. The middle one is the line no room can reject.

Ich habe das nicht .

verstehen → verstanden (no ge- with ver-)

verstanden. The Perfekt needs the past participle, and verbs starting with the unstressed prefix ver- never take ge-. Same family: bekommen · erklärt · entschieden.

The repeat did not help. Which line asks for a different sentence rather than a louder copy of the same one?

Können Sie das bitte anders sagen? wiederholen and noch einmal both ask for the same words back. anders forces new words — which is what you actually needed.

«I don’t understand you.» — which one is it?

Ich verstehe Sie nicht. Verb second, nicht last, and the short pronoun Sie cuts in front of it. Ich verstehe nicht Sie would mean «it is not you I understand, it is someone else».

You need the sentence slower. Which is the natural ask?

The polite machine is always Können Sie bitte …? — the bare imperative sounds like an order.

«What does that mean?» —

Word meaning takes bedeuten. A person's intent takes meinen — Was meinst du?

«How do you say that in German?» —

Fixed phrase: auf Deutsch, never in Deutsch. man is the generic «one».

Polite «pardon?» when you missed a word —

Wie bitte? is the standard, neutral repair. Bare Was? lands rude.

Spelling your name on the phone — which verb?

Können Sie das buchstabieren? = spell it letter by letter. Essential for names and addresses.

The worst move when you did not understand?

Pretending costs you appointments, amounts and dates. Asking is normal German office life.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. Four lifesavers

    Wie bitte? · Können Sie das bitte wiederholen? · Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen? · Ich habe das nicht verstanden. Memorise them as sounds — they buy you time everywhere.

    Wie bitte?

  2. Meaning questions come in a pair

    Was bedeutet das? asks what a word means. Wie sagt man … auf Deutsch? asks how to say something. Fixed phrase: auf Deutsch.

    Was bedeutet das?

  3. Spelling is a verb

    buchstabieren = to spell aloud. On the phone, for names and addresses: Können Sie das buchstabieren?

    Können Sie das buchstabieren?

  4. Asking is normal

    Germans ask for repeats constantly. Nodding along costs you dates, amounts and appointments — the polite repair phrases exist to be used.

    Entschuldigung, ich habe das nicht verstanden.

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Was?!

    Wie bitte?

    Bare Was? sounds rude; bitte makes it the standard «pardon?».

  • Wie sagt man das in Deutsch?

    Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?

    The fixed phrase takes auf.

  • Nodding and hoping

    Können Sie das bitte wiederholen?

    Pretending to understand is the only real mistake here.

  • Sprechen Sie langsam!

    Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen?

    The bare imperative reads as an order; the Können Sie…? frame keeps it polite.