German Skill:Basics 1

Basics 1
Information
Language	German
Skills	156
Skill No.
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Basics 1 is the first skill in the German language tree. It contains three lessons teaching some basic vocabulary to help build the most basic elements of simple sentences.

Tips and Notes

Capitalizing Nouns

In German, all nouns (people, places, things) are capitalized. This is actually a handy way of identifying nouns in sentences.

Pronunciation

• The sound "w" makes in German is the same as the English "v" sound (so "vaser" for Wasser rather than "waser")
• The sound "j" makes is closer to the English "y" sound (ja would sound like "ya", for instance).
• The sound of "tsch" is similar to the first sound in "cheddar" or "chew"

Hallo und Tschüss

These are fairly informal phrases, which means you would really only use them with people you know well (like friends and family)

Lessons

Note: German has grammatical gender which is explained more in Basics 2. The vocabulary in this lesson includes the proper gendered article for later reference but is not tested in this skill.

Lesson 1

• der Kaffee = coffee
• die Milch = milk
• hallo = hello
• und = and
• bitte = please

Lesson 2

• das Brot = bread
• der Tee = tea
• das Wasser = water
• der Wein = wine
• danke = thanks

Lesson 3

• das Bier = beer
• nein = no
• ja = yes
• oder = or
• tschüss = bye

References

Duolingo Lesson: www.duolingo.com/skill/de/Basics-1