Did you know that the German and English languages are actually linguistic siblings?

They are considered to be members of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. So, if you look at how the two languages work, you can see how similar they are—both languages share the same alphabet, several German words are used in the English language and vice versa, they often follow the same grammatical rules, and many more.

Since they both stem from the same language family, if you are somewhat proficient in the English language, you might be surprised at how quickly you pick up the German language!

The importance of mastering basic German phrases

1. Allow you to communicate in common situations

It’s not easy to master a language in a short time. Therefore, while you study the language, it’s important for you to know at least the basic phrases that you can use in everyday life. This is to ensure that you can communicate in common situations even if you have not fully mastered the language.

2. Help you to build new vocabulary

We all need to start somewhere, right? Before you can mimic the different slangs spoken by native speakers, you must first start with the basics. As you practise these common phrases, you build your vocabulary. The more you practise and learn, the more proficient you will be.

3. Useful when you travel to a foreign country

If you were to visit Germany or other German-speaking countries, you would need to know how to converse, ask questions, and answer in German. If you don’t even have the basic knowledge of the language, then you might face difficulties communicating with the locals. Mastering the basic phrases doesn’t mean you need to be fluent in the language. As long as the locals can understand what you’re saying, you’re good to go!

4. Familiarise yourself with the sentence structure and grammar of the language

As mentioned before, German and English words often use the same grammatical rules. One similarity will be the way the verb changes based on its tense. For example, ‘to drink’ is changed to ‘drank’ or ‘drunk’ based on their tense, and similarly, the same word in German, ‘trinken’, is also changed to ‘trinkt’, ‘trank’ and ‘getrunken’.

If you are familiar with the English language, you will have a good understanding of how German verb patterns work. And if you practise common German phrases, you get to familiarise yourself with the sentence structure, verb conjugations, and grammar rules easily.

10 Easy German phrases that beginners should know

We all need to start somewhere, so let’s start from these 10 basic phrases! Let’s go! Or as they say in German, ‘Los geht’s!’

1. Greetings     Hello! Hallo! Good morning! Guten Morgen! Good afternoon! Guten Tag! Good evening!  Guten Abend!	2. Goodbyes     Goodbye! Tschüss! Bye! Ciao! See you again! Auf Wiedersehen! See you soon! Bis bald!
3. How are you?     How’s it going? Wie geht’s?	4. Fine, thanks. And you?     Fine, thank you. And you? Gut, danke. Und dir?
5. My name is…     My name is… Mein Name ist…	6. I’m pleased to meet you.     I’m pleased to meet you. Es freut mich, dich kennenzulernen.
7. I’m sorry.     I’m sorry. Es tut mir leid	8. Please and thank you     Please and thank you. Bitte und Danke.
9. How much does this cost?     How much does this cost? Wie viel kostet das?	10. Where is…?     How do I get to…? Wie komme ich zu…? Where is…? Wo ist….?
Bonus phrase: German is fun!   Deutsch macht Spaß!

Easy, isn’t it? If you are new to the language, these are some of the phrases that you should learn! With plenty of practise and self-study, you’ll be proficient in the language in no time!