Hello and goodbye
The first words of any conversation.
Free · with audio
Basic German phrases
Hallo, danke, ich verstehe das nicht — 54 phrases to take to Germany tomorrow: with translation, audio and a note on when to use du and when Sie.
- 54 phrases
- 7 topics
- Audio
- Days, months, colours
- Quiz
Phrases by topic
Tap a phrase to hear it, or the speaker next to a topic to hear them all. “Formal” and “informal” mark the pairs where it matters.
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Being polite
Thank you, please, excuse me — you can’t do without them.
Getting to know people
How are you, what’s your name, where are you from.
When you don’t understand
Asking someone to repeat, to slow down or to switch to English.
Around town and travelling
Asking the way, buying a ticket, finding the toilet.
In a café or a shop
Ordering, asking the price, paying.
If you need help
Phrases worth knowing before you need them.
Du or Sie: informal or formal
Germans use Sie with strangers, colleagues and in formal situations, and du with friends, family and children; young people often switch to du straight away. Sie is always written with a capital S.
How are you? · How’s it going?
What’s your name? — formal and informal
Days, months and colours
Where both adults and children start. Tap to listen.
Days of the week
Months
Colours
How to learn the phrases faster
- Listen and repeat aloud: German is read almost as it’s written — that’s on your side.
- Start with Hallo, Danke, Bitte and Tschüss — you’ll hear them every day.
- Bitte does a lot of work: “please”, “here you are” and “pardon?” (Bitte?).
- Learn whole phrases: “Ich möchte…” starts any order.
Test yourself
Ten phrases a round: understand them by ear, or remember how to say them.
FAQ
Didn’t find your answer? Send us a request — we’ll tell you everything.
How do you say hello in German?
Hallo works almost everywhere. More formal: Guten Morgen (in the morning), Guten Tag (during the day) and Guten Abend (in the evening).
How do you say thank you in German?
Danke — “thank you”, Vielen Dank or Danke schön — “thank you very much”. The answer is Bitte or Gern geschehen — “you’re welcome”.
How do you say please in German?
Bitte. It goes into requests (Einen Kaffee, bitte), answers “thank you”, and is what you say when handing something over: Bitte schön!
How do you say goodbye in German?
Auf Wiedersehen — “goodbye” (formal), Tschüss — “bye”, Bis bald — “see you soon”, Bis morgen — “see you tomorrow”.
What’s next
Grammar for this topic
Rules in plain words — with tables, examples and a quiz in every topic.
Word order
The verb in second place, the bracket, questions and subordinate clauses with the verb at the end.
Level A1–B1Accusative and dative
Whom? what? and to whom? — articles, pronouns, verbs and prepositions of the two cases.
Level A1–A2Modal verbs
können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen, mögen — forms, meanings and the infinitive at the end.
Level A1–A2Time prepositions: am, um, im
um 8 Uhr, am Montag, im Mai, seit, vor, für — saying when and how long.
Level A1–A2
Next step
Keep learning with a mini-course
Short online courses by Slay School teachers: a 15-minute lesson a day with audio, exercises and dialogues, and the words you forget come back on their own.
- Day 1 is free
- 15 minutes a day, at your own pace
- Every word has audio
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