Easy German Phrase Book: Over 1500 Common Phrases For Everyday Use And Travel

Introduction

If you have finally decided to visit a German-speaking country, countries rich in history and culture, you may want to consider the words and phrases that might be of use in certain situations. English is the second language people learn at school in these countries, so you should be able to get through well with English, especially in the cities. In the countryside, however, or with older people, you’ll be thankful for possessing at least basic-level German language skills.

Thanks to this book, we will see how to deal with many situations that can be simple, complicated, funny, or even not funny at all – all those real situations that a tourist will experience when, for example, they are seeking activities to do, order a perfectly cooked Schweinsbraten in a restaurant, or simply don’t want to be bothered.

Think of the souvenirs to bring back to a relative. Do you want to negotiate on the price or ask for a discount? It is certainly here that you will need to find the way to express yourself correctly.

Most of the time, a translation with the vocabulary at your fingertips is the best solution, and therefore, why not take precautions and study a few phrases that could amaze your fellow travelers or your interlocutors?

Of course, there are some obstacles to overcome. Let's see, for example, what can create difficulties at a phonetic level in the German language.

Pronunciation of German vowels

There are 5 basic vowels in the German language: A, E, I, O, U.

The vowel A

‘A’ is usually pronounced similar to the ‘a’ in the English word ‘car’, not like in ‘apple’. Unlike in English, the vowel ‘A’ in German doesn’t usually change its pronunciation, so if you find an ‘A’ somewhere in a German sentence (even at the beginning of a word), you should be good to go if you use the ‘a’-sound of the ‘car’-word. For this book, simply think of every ‘A’ you encounter in a German word as this pronunciation. This is even true if you have a double ‘A’ in a word, like in the words ‘Aal’ (eel) or ‘Saatgut’ (seedlings). In these cases, simply prolong the sound a bit than you would with a single ‘A’. Simple, right?

Ananas (pineapple), AN-an-as

// same as you would pronounce in English but remember to use the ‘car’-Version of the vowel, even when the ‘A’ is at the start of the word.

Vater (father), FAH-ter

// V translates to F in pronunciation, stress the first part, the ‘t’ is pronounced sharply, as in the English word ‘track’

Hand (the hand), HA-nd

// same as in English but remember to use the ‘car’-Version of the vowel!

Daten (data), DAH-ten

// use our German ‘a’-Version found in ‘car’ again, for the ‘e’ use the version you can find in the English word ‘get’

alt (old), A-lt

// watch to use the German ‘a’-Version

The vowel E

‘E’, similar to ‘A’, is very easy to remember in English, since it doesn’t change its pronunciation by itself. It’s pronounced similar to the ‘e’ to be found in the English words ‘get’ or ‘set’.

However, if this vowel is combined with other vowels directly next to each other, the sound will in most cases change. We’ll come to that a bit later. If you find an ‘e’-vowel without other vowels next to it (or ‘eh’), you can be fairly sure to pronounce it correctly if you remember the word ‘get’.

Elefant (elephant), ele-FANT

besser (better), BE-sser

// pronounced similar to English pronunciation, just watch to use the ‘e’ in ‘get’

Internet (internet), IN-ter-net

// similar to English pronunciation, but watch to use the ‘e’ in ‘get’

The vowel I

The vowel ‘I’ is pronounced similar to the ‘I’ in the English word ‘fin’. This can be confusing at first for English language speakers because they are very used to pronounce the ‘I’ similar to the ‘I’ found in words like ‘island’. Moreover, ‘I’ can be long or short in German. A long pronunciation can be the result of a combination with another vowel or consonant (we’ll come to that later), but not necessarily so. Examples of the long version include:

Ihre (their) EE-re

Igel (hedgehog) EE-gel

Krise (crisis) KREE-se.

A short German ‘I’ can be found in words like :

Kind (child), KIND

finden (to find), FIN-den

Insel (island), IN-sel

The vowel O

Similarly, there are a long and a short version of ‘O’ in German. The long ‘O’ sounds similar to the English one in go or old but without gliding into a ‘u’-sound at the end:

Ofen (oven), OH-fen

Rose (rose), ROH-se

Oma (grandmother), OH-ma

The short version of the ‘O’-sound is like in English ‘hot’ or ‘not’:

Donner (thunder), DO-ner

hoffen (to hope), HO-fen

The vowel U

The German pronunciation of the vowel ‘U’ is different from the English one. The closest in the English language is probably the double-o in ‘foot’ or the ‘u’ in ‘push’. In the following examples, try pronouncing each ‘U’ with no other vowels around it like you would pronounce the double o in ‘foot’. Alright? Let’s try:

Mund (mouth), MU-nd

// remember to make it a ‘half-oo’ with all the examples

unser (our), UN-ser

Bus (bus), BUS

Again, there is a distinction between a long and a short ‘U’ in German. While the previous examples were all short, a long U sounds like the double-o in ‘root’ or ‘moon’, just as in these examples:

Tuch (cloth), TOOKH

Stuhl (chair), SHTOOL

Ä, Ö; Ü (called ‘Umlaute‘ in German)

In German you have several extra-vowels you don’t find in the English language called ‘Umlaute’:

Ä

The ‘Ä’ is pretty similar to the ‘a’ pronounced the English way in ‘apple’.

wählen (to vote), VAEH-len

// here the ‘Ä’-sound is prolonged a bit by the ‘H’-letter, see next chapter for notes on vowels followed by an ‘H’.

ändern (to change), AEN-dern

Ö

The ‘Ö’ is a bit difficult to pronounce, because there are few similar sounds in English (the ‘i’ in ‘flirt’, or the ‘o’ in ‘worm’ come to mind), but you can do it. Start by pronouncing ‘day’ and keep voicing the last part of it. While you do, try to round your lips like you would when pronouncing an ‘O’-sound, but keep your tongue and palate in the ‘ay’-position. Perhaps a mirror might help you to get it right.

Öl (oil), OE-L

nötig (necessary), NOE-tig

// Note: an '-ig' in the ending of a word is always pronounced like the German 'ch' as in ich ( I ), ikh

Ü

Probably the most difficult is the ‘Ü’-sound. You can start with the German ‘I’ (or English ‘ee’ like in ‘meet’) and then purse your lips until the sound changes. There’s a German word with an ‘Ü’ in it you might have heard before, it’s called ‘über’ (above) which has been translated to English as ‘ueber’. It’s often used in computer games for describing a very strong tool (like an ‘ueber’-weapon as the strongest and most unfair one).

günstig (cheap), GUENS-tig

düster (dark), DUE-ster

Note: Sometimes if those vowels are not available (in certain fonts they aren’t) they can also be written with their vowel-brothers followed by an ‘E’. So, an ‘Ä’ becomes ‘AE’, an ‘Ö’ becomes ‘OE’ and an ‘Ü’ becomes ‘UE’. If you take ‘Österreich’ (Austria) for example, it’s sometimes written as ‘Oesterreich’ instead.

Pronunciation of vowels with an ‘H’ after them

In many cases, you’ll find a vowel followed by an ‘H’ and then a consonant in the German language, like in ‘Mehl’ (flour). In most cases, the ‘H’ after the vowel will simply prolong the vowel for a bit. So, in case of ‘Mehl’ the length of the ‘e’ sound is longer. Easy, right? So, let’s try that with a few examples:

Zahlen (numbers), TSAH-len

// the ‘Z’ sound is pronounced like a very strong ‘TS’ sound, like you would take a strong ‘T’ and then add the beginning of the word ‘zoom’ after that. The ‘ts’ in the word ‘cats’ comes close, or the ‘ts’ in ‘lots of’.

Uhr (clock), OOR

ohne (without), OH-ne

zählen (to count), TSAEH-len

// pronounce the ‘z’ as you would pronounce a strong ‘ts’. And yes, Ä/Ö/Ü can be prolonged by an ‘H’ as well.

Note: You won’t find a German word with an ‘I’ followed by an ‘H’ where the ‘I’ is prolonged by that. There’s a special diphthong for this case, which is written a little bit differently, see ‘IE’.

The following pronouns are exceptions to this: Ihn (EEN), Ihnen (EE-nen), Ihr (EER), Ihre (EE-re), Ihren (EE-ren), Ihrem (EE-rem), Ihm (EEM)

The ‘Y’ (epsilon, or ‘Ypsilon’ in German)

In German the ‘Y’ is used either similarly to ‘Ü’, like in the German word ‘Thymian’ (thyme), or it sometimes is used as a ‘I’, like in ‘Playstation’, especially when Germans pronounce words that were taken from foreign languages.

Xylophon (xylophone), KSUE-lo-FON

// here the ‘Y’ is pronounced as a ‘Ü’, and the ‘PH’ is pronounced as ‘F’ (see consonants for an explanation)

Yoga (yoga), YO-ga

// here the ‘Y’ is pronounced similarly to a German ‘I’ or a ‘J’, they sound very similar in German at times. Note: sometimes they spell it ‘Joga’ in German, too

Baby (baby), BAY-bee

// here again the ‘Y’ is pronounced as an ‘I’. The ‘a’ is pronounced similarly to the ‘a’ in the English word ‘amen’ to make it more similar to the English pronunciation where German lent the word from.

Pronunciation of German diphthongs

There are quite a few diphthongs in the German language. Let’s start with the easy ones: ‘ei’, ‘ai’and ie’.

‘EI’ and ‘AI’

The diphthongs ‘ei’ and ‘ai’ are pronounced as you would expect when you combine a German ‘A’ with a