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Wendy Foster
Wendy Foster is a language instructor and the author of Intermediate German For Dummies.
Articles & Books From Wendy Foster
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.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-12-2022
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.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Just like English, German has many idioms, or expressions typical of a language and culture. When you translate these idioms word for word, they may sound obscure, silly, or just plain meaningless, so to use them appropriately, you need to find out what they really mean.
Some expressions have an English equivalent that’s recognizable, so using them correctly isn’t too hard.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
German has three words — der, die and das — for the definite article the. To make matters more confusing for someone learning German, these three definite articles change spelling according to the case of the noun that they appear with in a sentence.
The same is true for the indefinite articles. Just as English has two indefinite articles — a and an — that you use with singular nouns, German also has two indefinite articles (in the nominative case): ein for masculine- and neuter-gender words and eine for feminine-gender words.
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
Speaking a foreign language correctly is all about mastering the basics of pronunciation. The key to mastering pronunciation is to start small by figuring out how the individual letters sound. Then you can expand to syllables, words, and finally, sentences. The rest is practice, practice, practice.
Understanding stress in German
This type of stress doesn’t have anything to do with meeting deadlines or having a BMW tailgate you at 110 miles per hour on the Autobahn.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
In German, vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) can generally be pronounced in two ways — as short or long vowel sounds. The short vowel sounds are “clipped,” meaning they’re pronounced shorter than their English equivalents. Long vowel sounds are “steady-state” or “pure,” meaning the sound quality doesn’t change even though it’s a long sound.
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 has three extra vowels: ä, ö, and ü. The German word for those curious double dots over the vowels is Umlaut (oom-lout) (umlaut). Umlauts slightly alter the sound of the vowels a, o, and u, as outlined in this table. These sounds have no equivalent in English.
Pronouncing Vowels with Umlauts
German Letter
Phonetic Symbol
As in English
German Example
ä (long)
ai
say (“ay” in “say” with spread lips)
nächste (naiH-ste) (next)
ä (short)
ê
bet (clipped “e”)
fällen (fêl-en) (to fell [a
tree])
ö
er
her (without the “r” sound)
schön (shern) (pretty) (remember: no
“r” sound)
ü
ue
lure (“ooh” with pursed lips)
Tür (tuer) (door)
To make your German vowels ä, ö, and ü sound a bit more authentic, try progressing through the ä, ö, and ü sounds, pronouncing the vowels as though you’re getting ready to kiss someone — in other words, round your lips and pucker up, baby!