Course Overview

Each lesson is one short, natural conversation in German with an English translation: everything you need to learn by understanding, without pressure.

The course is meant to be followed in order, but there's no rush. You can move forward when you're ready or revisit previous lessons as often as you like. Repetition is part of the process: it helps your brain internalize the language over time.

German changes the way it speaks with the people talking: family, friends, children and young people among themselves say du, while strangers, customers and colleagues who aren't friends use the polite Sie. Every lesson says who the speakers are, women and men, children, teenagers and grandparents, so you pick up the right forms along with the words.

New to German? Take a few minutes with the sounds of German first: its spelling is fairly regular, so once you know the letters you can read most lines aloud.

If you've finished today's lesson but want to keep the input going, the Resources page lists free German podcasts, YouTube channels and other tools.

Lessons are grouped into levels on the CEFR scale, the European standard that runs from A1 (beginner) to C2 (near native). They follow the Common European Framework of Reference and the Goethe-Institut's exams for each of the six levels. Each level has its own page: Newbie (A1), Pre-Elementary (A2), Elementary (B1), Intermediate (B2), Upper-Intermediate (C1), Advanced (C2).