Main MenuBook & Article Categories
- Main Menu
Book & Article Categories
- Main Menu
Collections
Explore all collections
Articles & Books From Wendy Foster
An easy-to-follow and hands-on guide for German learners new to the language and for anyone seeking to brush up on the fundamentals German Essentials For Dummies, 2nd Edition is a quick, concise, and straightforward guide to conversational German. Perfect for anyone who wants to jumpstart their understanding of German, the book is packed with examples, definitions, and handy tips you can start using immediately.
It's easy to speak and understand German with the Dummies language method German For Dummies is a clear and easy introduction to German that speeds up the process of speaking the language. The trusted Dummies language learning method is quick and practical, so you'll know what to say and do when traveling to a German-speaking country or interacting with German speakers in your community.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-21-2025
Whether you’re planning a trip to Germany or another German-speaking country, you’ve heard an unfamiliar German phrase and want to know what it means, or you just want to get into the spirit for your town’s annual Oktoberfest, knowing some basic German can give you the confidence you need.The first part of this Cheat Sheet includes basic German expressions, questions that let you gather information or ask for help, phrases to use when ordering from a menu, and German numbers and dates.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-09-2023
Maybe you're familiar with some basics of German grammar, but you want to become more confident in both writing and speaking in German. This quick overview will reacquaint you with personal pronouns — try to memorize these and be sure you know all three cases — and help you brush up on present tense verb construction.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2022
All languages have ways of showing what role a noun plays in a sentence. In English, a noun’s position in the sentence tells you how it’s being used. In German, the endings on the adjectives and articles that accompany the noun, which are based on case, tell you the noun’s function in the sentence. Here’s a quick overview of the German cases and the relationship they have with nouns, articles, and pronouns.
Article / Updated 01-13-2020
Getting your hellos and goodbyes straight in German is a matter of keeping in mind how well you know someone. If you’re on formal terms — in other words, if you’re addressing one or more people with Sie (zee) (you, formal) — then you have one set of expressions. When you’re on du (dooh) (you, informal) terms of address, you go with conversational expressions.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Some German verbs that you use to describe your daily actions have an unusual construction. They’re the equivalent of reflexive verbs in English. Verbs in this group use a reflexive pronoun like myself or ourselves to emphasize the information about who is carrying out the action of the verb. When you say, “Cats wash themselves very thoroughly,” you’re using the reflexive pronoun themselves together with the verb wash to talk about what cats do.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If you travel to a German-speaking country and need to know the time or where something is located, or you just want to get some basic information, a few common questions can come in very handy.
English
German
Pronunciation
Do you speak English?
Sprechen Sie Englisch?
shprêH-en zee êng-lish?
How are you?
Wie geht es Ihnen?
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
German grammar has some striking differences to English grammar. One difference that newcomers to German notice right away has to do with word gender.
Basically, you have three genders in German — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and although English has the same three genders, they play a very different role in German grammar.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
In most German hotels, das Frühstück (dâs frue-shtuek) (breakfast) is generally included in the room price of the hotel accommodation. In smaller towns, if you’re staying at a Pension (pên-see-ohn) (pension) or Frühstückspension (frue-shtueks-pên-see-ohn) (bed-and-breakfast) or at a smaller hotel, you can expect a traditional German breakfast, consisting of the following:
Kaffee (kâf-ey) (coffee)
Tee (tey) (tea)
Fresh Brötchen, Brot, Butter and Marmelade (brert-Hen, broht, boot-er, [and] mâr-me-lah-de) (fresh rolls, bread, butter, and jam)
weich gekochtes Ei (vayH ge-koH-tes ay) (soft-boiled egg) served in an egg cup
Choice of Aufschnitt and Käse (ouf-shnit [and] kai-ze) (cold cuts and cheese)
The larger hotels in cities generally offer a breakfast buffet that includes the preceding items, as well as the following:
Cornflakes (cornflakes [as in English]) (cornflakes)
Müsli (mues-lee) (muesli)
frisches Obst (frish-es ohpst) (fresh fruit)
Variety of Brot and Säfte (broht [and] zêf-te) (bread and juices)
Note: If you can’t do without scrambled eggs or fried eggs, you may need to put in a special order.
