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Thema 1: Das Alphabet
Topic 1: The alphabet
• There are 30 letters in the German Alphabet.
• The first 26 letters are similar to English and the remaining 4 are special characters
in the German language.
A aa P pey
B bey Q kuh
C tsey R err
D dey S ess
E ey T tey
F eff U oo
G gey V vow
H haa W wey
I ii X iks
J yot Y yipsilon
K khaa Z tset
ae (Sound of ‘a’ in
L ell Ä
‘Rat’)
Eww (Sound of ‘u’ in
M emm Ü
‘Tube’)
N enn Ö ayo
O o ß (Eszett) Ss
Click here to listen to the alphabet in German.
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Important to note:
1. ‘J’ sounds like ‘Y’. For example, the word ‘Junge’ in German will be
pronounced as ‘Yunge’
2. ‘V’ sounds like ‘F’. For example, the word ‘Volkswagen’ will be pronounced as
‘Folkswagen’.
3. ‘Z’ is called ‘Tset’ where ’T’ is not silent. For example, in the word ‘Zug’ will
be pronounces as ‘Tsug’ where ’T’ is not silent.
4. ß is called ‘Eszett’ but the sound is simple of ‘ss’. For example, the word ‘Fuß’
will be pronounced as ‘Fuss’.
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Thema 2: Die Zahlen (0-12)
Topic 2: Counting (0-12)
Count (Zahl) Count (Zahl)
1 eins 7 sieben
2 zwei 8 acht
3 drei 9 neun
4 vier 10 zehn
5 fünf 11 elf
6 sechs 12 zwölf
0 = Null
Click here to listen to the counting from 0-12 in German.
Thema 3: Die Zahlen (13 onwards)
Topic 3: Counting (13 onwards)
For counting from 13 to 19, think like this:
13 = 3 + 10
13 = drei+zehn = dreizehn
Similarly,
14 = 4 +10
14 = vier+zehn = vierzehn
15 = 5+10
15 = fünf+zehn = fünfzehn
18 = 8+10
18 = acht+zehn = achtzehn
19 = 9+10
19 = neun+zehn = neunzehn
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Exceptions:
In case of 16, the ’s’ after ‘sech’ is eliminated.
16 = 6+10
16 = sechs+zehn
but instead of sechszehn, the number is sechzehn.
In case of 17, the ‘en’ after ‘sieb’ is eliminated.
17 = 7+10
17 = sieb+zehn
but instead of siebenzehn, the number is siebzehn.
For counting from 19 to 99, it is important to first learn the following:
20 zwanzig 60 sechzig
30 dreißig 70 siebzig
40 vierßig 80 achtzig
50 fünfzig 90 neunzig
Click here to listen to the above numbers in German.
Note:
1. Just like 16 and 17, 60 and 70 also use ‘sech’ and ‘sieb’ respectively.
2. All the other numbers take ‘zig’ at the end, except for 30 (takes ‘ßig’)
Now, think like this:
22 = 2 and 20
22 = zwei und zwanzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = zweiundzwanzig
Similarly, observe the following:
26 = 6 and 20
26 = sechs und zwanzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = sechsundzwanzig
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Learn German with Chakshu 5 of 10 Lingopundit
35 = 5 and 30
35 = fünf und dreißig
Now, remove any space in between the words = fünfunddreißig
37 = 7 and 30
37 = sieben und dreißig
Now, remove any space in between the words = siebenunddreißig
54 = 4 and 50
54 = vier und fünfzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = vierundfünfzig
62 = 2 and 60
62 = zwei und sechzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = zweiundsechzig
66 = 6 and 60
66 = sechs und sechzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = sechsundsechzig
73 = 3 and 70
73 = drei und siebzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = dreiundsiebzig
88 = 8 and 80
88 = acht und achtzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = achtundachtzig
94 = 4 and 90
94 = vier und neunzig
Now, remove any space in between the words = vierundneunzig
Exception: Everytime the digit ‘1’ is at the ones place, the ’s’ after ‘ein’ is removed.
21 = 1 and 20
21 = eins und zwanzig
but instead of einsundzwanzig, the number is einundzwanzig.
51 = 1 and 50
21 = eins und fünfzig
but instead of einsundfünfzig, the number is einundünfzig.
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For counting from 100 to 999:
100 = Einhundert or Hundert
Similarly,
200 = Zweihundert
300 = Dreihundert
400 = Vierhundert
500 = Fünfhundert
600 = Sechshundert and so on…
Now, think like this:
124 = 100+24
124 = Einhundert + Vierundzwanzig = Einhundertvierundzwandig
Similarly, observe the following:
497 = 400+97
497 = Vierhundert + siebenundneunzig = Vierhundertsiebenundneunzig
673 = 600+73
673 = Sechshundert + dreiundsiebzig = Sechshundertdreiundsiebzig
999 = 900+99
999 = Neunhundert + Neunundneunzig = Neunhundertneunundneunzig
For counting from 1000 onwards:
Similar to the hundreds, thousands will just be formed by adding ‘Tausend’ before the
remaining number.
1234 = Eintausend + Zweihundertvierunddreißig
1234 = Eintausendzweihundertvierunddreißig
6785 = Sechstausend + Siebenhundertfünfundachtzig
6785 = Sechstausendsiebenhundertfünfundachtzig
12098 = Zwölftausend + Achtundneunzig
12098 = Zwölftausendachtundneunzig
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Bigger Numbers:
English German
Million Million
Billion Milliarde
Trillion Billion
Click here to listen to the bigger numbers in German.
Click here to download a worksheet and its solution to practice
counting in German.
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Learn German with Chakshu 8 of 10 Lingopundit
Thema 4: Personalpronomen
Topic 4: Personal pronouns
Let us first understand the first, second and third person.
Person Meaning Singular Plural
The person who is
First Person I We
speaking
The person who is
Second Person You You all
being addressed
The person about
whom it is being
Third Person He/she/it They
spoken but not being
directly addressed
Similar to English, there is the concept of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person in German.
Number Person English German
1st I ich
Singular 2nd You (informal) du
3rd He/She/It er/sie/es
1st We wir
Plural 2nd You all ihr
3rd They sie
Singular and Plural 2nd You (formal) Sie
Click here to listen to pronouns in German.
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Note:
1. In German, there are two ways of addressing second person: Informal and
Formal:
You (informal, singular): du
You (informal, plural): ihr
You (formal, singular and plural both): Sie
2. There are three pronouns that are called ‘sie’ in German. It is important to note
that the ’S’ in ‘Sie’ will always be capital for ‘You (formal)’.
She = sie
They = sie
You (formal) = Sie
Usage of pronouns:
Pronouns are used to avoid repetition of nouns. Observe the following sentences of
German pronouns to understand the usage of German pronouns better.
In these sentences, only the pronouns have been translated to German, no other
elements.
a. Hi, Rohit! It is nice, you learn German everyday.
Hi, Rohit! It is nice, du learn German everyday.
b. Hello, Mr Bansal! It is nice, you learn German everyday. (Formal)
Hello, Mr Bansal! It is nice, Sie learn German everyday. (Formal)
Here, ‘Sie’ conveys the meaning ‘You’ in formal tone. Hence, the ’S’ of ‘Sie’ is
capitalised.
c. Ram is an Indian and he learns German.
Ram is an Indian and er learns German.
d. Vishesh and I are Indians and we learn German.
Vishesh and I are Indians and wir learn German
e. Rahul and Rishi! It is good, you (both) learn German everyday.
Rahul and Rishi! It is good, ihr learn German everyday.
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f. Riya and Rishi are Indians and they learn German.
Riya and Rishi are Indians and sie learn German.
Here, ‘sie’ conveys the meaning ‘they’. Hence, the ’s’ of ‘sie’ is NOT capitalised.
g. Riya and Rishi are Indians. They learn German.
Riya and Rishi are Indians. Sie learn German.
Here, ‘Sie’ still conveys the meaning ‘they’. The ’S’ of ‘sie’ is capitalised in
this sentence only because it is in the beginning of the sentence.
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