German Beginners
Course information
If you don’t speak any German at all, or you haven’t progressed beyond guten Tag and danke, then German Beginners is the right course for you. After this course you will, among other things, be able to:
- tell something about yourself, your work, family and hobbies
- read simple information, for example about a person or a city
- write a simple message to invite someone or to excuse yourself
Who is it for?
The German Beginners course is perfect for you if you want to start learning German from scratch, for example for a holiday, work experience or to study in Germany.
What will you learn?
During German Beginners, you will learn how to read and write in German, to speak and to understand spoken German. Grammar and vocabulary are an important part of the course. For example, you will learn to tell time and say the date, ask for directions and to greet someone in German.
Once you have completed the course, you will be able to introduce yourself and tell something about your work, your family and hobbies. You will be able to understand another person talking about these topics if they speak slowly and clearly.
Much of what you learn will be perfect for use during a holiday in Germany. You will be able to:
- read a simple menu and place your order
- buy something in a shop and understand what a product costs
- greet someone, say goodbye to someone, and thank someone
As it is important that you learn the correct pronunciation from the start, attention will be paid to this too. You will learn the proper pronunciation of vowels (the difference between a and ä, o and ö) and consonants, and where the stress lies in words and sentences.
And grammar?
The grammar you learn during this course includes:
- word order in simple main clauses
- verbs in the present tense: weak and strong verbs, “haben” and “sein” (have and are), auxiliary verbs and prefixes
- past tense of “haben” and “sein”: ich hatte (I had), ich war (I was)
- nominative and accusative case ( for some verbs and after "für")