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.

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.

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.

When traveling in German-speaking countries, you'll find that German words and phrases you use most frequently will be common German greetings (Grüße). The words and phrases will quickly become second nature because you use them day in and day out with everyone you come across.As you'd expect, you should use a polite greeting when you run into someone you know or want to know.

Meeting, greeting and conversations in German often requires introductions. You might be accompanied by friends when you meet somebody, or you might have to introduce your wife or husband to your boss at a formal dinner party. On some occasions, there won't be anyone to introduce you to the person you want to meet, and you have to do it yourself.

Whether you're on a short visit to a German-speaking country or planning to live there, knowing how to order food in German is essential. Eating out can be a lot of fun, especially if you know some basic restaurant vocabulary. Speisekarte (shpy-ze-kâr-tê) (menu [F]) Rechnung (rêH-nûng) (check [F]) Trinkgeld (trîngk-gêld) n (tip [N]) Quittung (kvî-tûngk) (receipt [F]) In German-speaking countries, as in most of the rest of the world, there are three main Mahlzeiten (meals) of the day: Frühstück (fruu-shtuuk) [n] (breakfast), Mittagessen (mî-tahgk-êsn) [n] (lunch), and Abendessen (ah-bnt-êsn) [n] (dinner).

Learning the proper way to make introductions in German can help you get off to the right start. The German language tends to be a bit more formal than American English. Consequently, introductions in German follow more of a pattern than they sometimes do in the United States. Don't worry, it’s not complicated — just good manners.