Lesson 1A1

Greetings & Formality

German splits 'you' into du (informal) and Sie (formal) — a distinction English used to have and lost. Master this before any other vocabulary, since it shapes almost every sentence you'll say to another person.

Grammar Comparison

du vs. Sie: German's Missing 'Thou'

German

du (informal) / Sie (formal)

English

you (informal) / you (formal)

Old English had this same split — 'thou' was informal, 'you' was formal/plural — but English flattened both into a single 'you' centuries ago. German kept the distinction alive. Use Sie (always capitalized, even mid-sentence) with strangers, officials, shopkeepers, and anyone you'd address by last name. Use du with friends, family, children, and fellow students. When unsure with an adult, default to Sie; switching to du usually happens by mutual invitation ("Wollen wir uns duzen?").

Time-of-day greetings are literal

German

Guten Morgen / Guten Tag / Guten Abend

English

Good morning / Good day / Good evening

Unlike English, where "good afternoon" is common but rarely said aloud, Germans use these time-bound greetings very consistently and switch them at fairly fixed points in the day (Morgen until ~10-11am, Tag through the afternoon, Abend from early evening). "Hallo" is the safe, time-neutral, informal option that works any time, much like English "hi".

Vocabulary

German	Pronunciation	English
Hallo	HAH-loh	Hello
Guten Morgen	GOO-ten MOR-gen	Good morning
Guten Tag	GOO-ten TAHK	Good day
Guten Abend	GOO-ten AH-bent	Good evening
Gute Nacht	GOO-teh nahkht	Good night
Auf Wiedersehen	owf VEE-der-zayn	Goodbye (formal)
Tschüss	chuess	Bye (informal)
Bis später	bis SHPAY-ter	See you later
Danke	DAHN-keh	Thanks
Bitte	BIT-teh	Please / You're welcome
Wie geht's dir?	vee gates deer	How are you? (informal)
Wie geht es Ihnen?	vee gate es EE-nen	How are you? (formal)
Mir geht's gut	meer gates goot	I'm doing well
Herr / Frau	hair / frow	Mr. / Ms.-Mrs.

Alphabet & Pronunciation →