Introduce yourself, greet people and ask simple questions

Your name

German has two everyday ways to give your name. Ich heiße Ayesha is what most people say. Mein Name ist Ayesha Khan sounds a little more formal; you hear it on the phone and at an office counter. Both are correct, so pick one and use it until it comes out without thinking. In a form you will see two boxes: der Vorname (first name) and der Nachname (surname, family name). Qaiser also teaches der Rufname, the name people actually call you. If your passport says Omar Danish Khan and everybody calls you Danish, then Danish is your Rufname.

Where you come from, where you live

aus means "from" and goes with kommen: Ich komme aus Pakistan, aus Karachi. in means "in" and goes with wohnen (to live, to have your home): Ich wohne in Berlin. You can join the two with aber (but): Ich komme aus Indien, aber ich wohne in Köln. Most countries need no article: aus Pakistan, aus Indien, aus Deutschland, in Österreich. A few countries do have one, for example die Türkei and die Schweiz; you will learn how they behave later in the course.

Your job: man and woman

To say your job, use ich bin and the job word with nothing in between: Ich bin Lehrer. English needs "a teacher"; German does not. A woman uses the form with -in: Ich bin Lehrerin. Urdu does something similar with ustad and ustani. A few words also take an umlaut in the female form: der Arzt → die Ärztin, der Koch → die Köchin. Every female job word with -in is a die word, and its plural ends in -innen: die Lehrerinnen, die Ingenieurinnen.

Your languages

Languages are written with a capital letter and need no article: Ich spreche Deutsch, Englisch, Urdu. Add ein bisschen (a little) or sehr gut (very well) to say how well: Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Watch the verb sprechen: ich spreche, wir sprechen and Sie sprechen are regular, but du sprichst and er/sie spricht change e to i. For now, learn those two forms as they are.

• Ich heiße Ayesha Khan.

  My name is Ayesha Khan.

  میرا نام عائشہ خان ہے۔

• Mein Name ist Omar Danish Khan. Danish ist mein Rufname.

  My name is Omar Danish Khan. People call me Danish.

  میرا نام عمر دانش خان ہے۔ لوگ مجھے دانش کہتے ہیں۔

  With Mein Name the verb is ist, not heiße.

• Ich komme aus Pakistan, aus Lahore.

  I am from Pakistan, from Lahore.

  میں پاکستان سے ہوں، لاہور سے۔

• Ich wohne in Mönchengladbach.

  I live in Mönchengladbach.

  میں Mönchengladbach میں رہتا ہوں۔

• Ich komme aus Indien, aber ich wohne in Berlin.

  I am from India, but I live in Berlin.

  میں ہندوستان سے ہوں، لیکن برلن میں رہتی ہوں۔

  aber joins two sentences and does not change the word order.

• Ich bin Informatikerin.

  I am a computer scientist. (a woman speaking)

  میں کمپیوٹر سائنس کی ماہر ہوں۔ (عورت بول رہی ہے)

  No word for "a", and -in because the speaker is a woman.

• Danish ist Koch. Hina ist Ärztin.

  Danish is a cook. Hina is a doctor.

  دانش باورچی ہے۔ حنا ڈاکٹر ہے۔

• Ich spreche Urdu, Englisch und ein bisschen Deutsch.

  I speak Urdu, English and a little German.

  میں اردو، انگریزی اور تھوڑی سی جرمن بولتا ہوں۔

A pronoun stands in for a person or a thing. German has seven that you need now. Notice that sie appears three times. Small sie with a singular verb means "she": sie wohnt. Small sie with the full infinitive means "they": sie wohnen. Capital Sie means the polite "you", for one person or several: Sie wohnen. In writing the capital letter tells you which it is; in speech the verb ending and the situation tell you. es is the pronoun for das words: das Kind → es, das Mädchen → es. For things, the article decides, not English "it": der Name → er, die Stadt → sie, das Land → es.

Take the infinitive, for example wohnen, and cut off -en. What is left, wohn-, is the stem. Then add the ending that belongs to the person. Qaiser lists the pronouns in the order below because it groups the endings: ich takes -e, du takes -st, er/sie/es and ihr both take -t, and Sie, wir, sie all take -en, which is simply the infinitive again. Two small adjustments: if the stem ends in -t or -d (arbeit-, find-), add an e before -st and -t so you can pronounce it: du arbeitest, er arbeitet. If the stem ends in -ß or -s (heiß-), du takes only -t: du heißt.

sein (to be) and haben (to have) do not follow the pattern, and you need them in almost every sentence, so learn them by heart today. Use sein for your job (Ich bin Lehrerin), your age (Ich bin 27 Jahre alt) and how things are (Ich bin verheiratet). Use haben for what you have: Wir haben zwei Kinder. Hast du heute Zeit?

du or Sie?

Use du with family, friends, children and the other learners in your class. Use Sie with adults you do not know, in shops and offices, with your teacher, and at work until a colleague offers you du. Many German workplaces move to du quickly, but wait until the older or more senior person offers it. ihr is simply du for two or more people: Lena und Jonas, wo wohnt ihr?

• Woher kommst du, Lena?

  Where are you from, Lena?

  لینا، تم کہاں سے ہو؟

  A friend: du + -st.

• Woher kommen Sie, Frau Fischer?

  Where are you from, Ms Fischer?

  مسز فشر، آپ کہاں سے ہیں؟

  An adult you address by surname: Sie + -en.

• Sara und Omar wohnen in Hamburg. Sie lernen Deutsch.

  Sara and Omar live in Hamburg. They are learning German.

  سارہ اور عمر ہیمبرگ میں رہتے ہیں۔ وہ جرمن سیکھ رہے ہیں۔

• Er heißt Arjun und ist Student.

  His name is Arjun and he is a student.

  اس کا نام ارجن ہے اور وہ طالب علم ہے۔

• Lukas arbeitet in Köln.

  Lukas works in Cologne.

  لوکاس کولون میں کام کرتا ہے۔

  Stem ends in -t, so -et.

• Ich bin 27 Jahre alt.

  I am 27 years old.

  میری عمر 27 سال ہے۔

• Ihr seid aus Indien, oder?

  You are from India, aren't you?

  تم لوگ ہندوستان سے ہو، ہے نا؟

• Hast du heute Zeit?

  Do you have time today?

  کیا آج تمہارے پاس وقت ہے؟

Count the parts of a German sentence, not the words. In a normal statement the conjugated verb is always part number 2: Ich | wohne | in Köln. Arjun | kommt | aus Delhi. In a W-question the W-word takes position 1, so the verb still stands second and the person moves behind it: Wo | wohnst | du? A yes/no question has no W-word at all. The verb simply jumps to the front: Wohnst du in Köln? The answer starts with Ja or Nein, and then you can repeat the sentence in normal order: Ja, ich wohne in Köln. Nein, ich wohne in Bonn.

One W-word surprises English speakers. To ask a name, German uses wie (how), not was: Wie heißen Sie? Wie ist Ihr Name? Think of it as "How are you called?". For a job, the fixed question is Was sind Sie von Beruf? or, to a friend, Was bist du von Beruf?

• Wie heißen Sie? – Ich heiße Omar Khan.

  What is your name? – My name is Omar Khan.

  آپ کا نام کیا ہے؟ – میرا نام عمر خان ہے۔

• Woher kommt Arjun? – Aus Indien.

  Where is Arjun from? – From India.

  ارجن کہاں سے ہے؟ – ہندوستان سے۔

• Wo wohnt ihr? – Wir wohnen in Berlin.

  Where do you live? – We live in Berlin.

  تم لوگ کہاں رہتے ہو؟ – ہم برلن میں رہتے ہیں۔

• Was sind Sie von Beruf? – Ich bin Elektriker.

  What do you do for a living? – I am an electrician.

  آپ کا پیشہ کیا ہے؟ – میں الیکٹریشن ہوں۔

• Sprechen Sie Englisch? – Ja, ein bisschen.

  Do you speak English? – Yes, a little.

  کیا آپ انگریزی بولتے ہیں؟ – جی، تھوڑی سی۔

  Yes/no question: verb first.

• Bist du Studentin? – Nein, ich bin Lehrerin.

  Are you a student? – No, I am a teacher.

  کیا تم طالبہ ہو؟ – نہیں، میں استانی ہوں۔

• Bist du verheiratet? – Ja.

  Are you married? – Yes.

  کیا تمہاری شادی ہو چکی ہے؟ – ہاں۔

der, die, das: every noun has one

Every German noun belongs to one of three groups, shown by its article: der (masculine), die (feminine) or das (Neutrum). Nouns are always written with a capital letter. In this unit you only need two habits: learn every noun together with its article (not "Name" but "der Name"), and remember two helpers. Words for men are mostly der, words for women die, and every word for a woman ending in -in is die (die Lehrerin, die Ärztin). In the plural, every noun takes die: die Länder, die Städte. The articles change form later in the course; for now der, die and das are enough.

Numbers from 0 to 1000

Learn 0 to 12 by heart; after that German builds numbers from pieces. 13 to 19 are the unit plus -zehn: dreizehn, vierzehn. The tens end in -zig, except dreißig (30), which has ß. Watch 16, 17, 60 and 70: sechzehn, siebzehn, sechzig, siebzig lose a few letters. From 21 on, German says the unit first and joins it with und: 21 is einundzwanzig, "one-and-twenty". It is written as one word. Hundreds come first, then the rest in the same order: 542 is fünfhundertzweiundvierzig.

Three places you need numbers this week. Age: Ich bin 34 Jahre alt. Phone numbers: Germans read them digit by digit or in pairs, and on the phone many say zwo instead of zwei so it cannot be confused with drei. Prices: German writes a comma before the cents and a point between thousands, the opposite of English. 3,50 € is read drei Euro fünfzig; 1.200 € is eintausendzweihundert Euro. (All prices in this course are made up for practice.)

• Wie alt bist du? – Ich bin achtundzwanzig.

  How old are you? – I am twenty-eight.

  تمہاری عمر کیا ہے؟ – میں اٹھائیس سال کا ہوں۔

• Meine Telefonnummer ist 0123 4567890.

  My phone number is 0123 4567890.

  میرا فون نمبر 0123 4567890 ہے۔

  An invented number. Read it: null eins zwo drei, vier fünf, sechs sieben, acht neun null. Meine, not mein, because die Telefonnummer is a die word (mein Name, meine Nummer).

• Das kostet drei Euro fünfzig.

  That costs three euros fifty.

  اس کی قیمت تین یورو پچاس سینٹ ہے۔

• Polizei: 110. Feuerwehr und Rettungsdienst: 112.

  Police: 110. Fire brigade and ambulance: 112.

  پولیس: 110۔ فائر بریگیڈ اور ایمبولینس: 112۔

  Emergency numbers are read digit by digit: eins eins null, eins eins zwo.

German greetings follow the clock and the relationship. Guten Tag works all day with anyone. Hallo is fine with friends, classmates and most colleagues. Gute Nacht is not a greeting: it means you are going to bed, so at 9 in the evening you arrive with Guten Abend. In Bavaria and Austria you will also hear Grüß Gott and Servus; in the north, Moin. You do not need to use them, only to recognise them.

Wie geht's? and Wie geht es Ihnen?, with the replies Und dir? and Und Ihnen?, are fixed phrases. Learn them as blocks for now; the grammar inside them (dir, Ihnen) comes later in the course. Among friends you will also hear "Gut, und du?".

The alphabet and spelling your name

Pakistani and Indian names are often new to German ears, so you will spell yours a lot: at the doctor's, on the phone, at any counter. Most letters sound close to English, but the ones below cause trouble. Practise your own first name and surname until you can spell them without a pause.

On an English keyboard, or in an online form that refuses umlauts, write the vowel plus e: ä = ae, ö = oe, ü = ue, and ß = ss. Capitals work the same way: Ö = Oe. Never just drop the dots: Köln without dots is not a German word, but Koeln is understood everywhere.

• Wie schreibt man das? – Z – A – I – N – A – B.

  How do you spell that? – Z-A-I-N-A-B.

  یہ کیسے لکھتے ہیں؟ – Z-A-I-N-A-B۔

  Z is said "tset", I is "ee".

• Köln = Koeln, Grüße = Gruesse, heißen = heissen

  Cologne, greetings, to be called: typed without umlauts or ß

  Köln، Grüße اور heißen: Umlaut اور ß کے بغیر لکھے ہوئے

Notice who says what. The teacher uses Sie and surnames (Herr Ahmed, Frau Sharma), and the learners answer in the same polite way, because this is a first meeting in a class. After the lesson Bilal and Priya will probably say du to each other: Hallo Priya, woher kommst du?

German offices, hotels, doctors and language schools all ask for the same few facts. The two name boxes matter most. Vorname is your first name or names; Nachname (also Familienname) is your surname. If your name has no clear surname, copy the split exactly as it appears in your passport, so that every German document matches it.