German · A1 · Milestone
First Milestone in German
Celebrate your first milestone by reviewing familiar German phrases for meals, friendships, school items and packing. Use informal du when speaking to one child.
What you'll learn
- Talk about everyday family moments.
- Ask simple questions and make polite offers.
- Review numbers, possessives and describing words.
- Use familiar verbs with the correct word order.
German phrases for first milestone
Guten Morgen! Wir essen um sieben.
Good morning! We eat at seven.
Use um before a clock time: um sieben means at seven.
Du bist ein guter Freund.
You are a good friend.
Use ein guter Freund for a male friend and eine gute Freundin for a female friend.
Möchtest du etwas Saft?
Would you like some juice?
Möchtest du …? is a friendly, polite way to offer something.
Wir brauchen drei Teller.
We need three plates.
Teller has the same form in the singular and plural: ein Teller, drei Teller.
Ist das dein Heft?
Is this your notebook?
Heft is a school or exercise notebook. For a notebook used for general notes, use Notizbuch.
Dein Poster ist schön.
Your poster is beautiful.
Dein means your when speaking to one person informally. Schön stays unchanged after ist.
Kannst du deine Tasche packen?
Can you pack your bag?
Kannst comes first in this question, and packen goes at the end.
Ihre Schlafsäcke sind blau.
Their sleeping bags are blue.
Here, ihre means their. It starts with a capital letter because it begins the sentence.
Hear these phrases and practise them
Tildi plays every phrase out loud, tests you in five-minute lessons and builds them into bedtime stories from your own picture books.
Try it free for 7 daysKey words
der Freund / die Freundin
friend
Freund refers to a male friend; Freundin refers to a female friend.
der Saft
juice
Etwas Saft means some juice.
der Teller
plate
Plural: die Teller.
das Heft
notebook; exercise book
Plural: die Hefte.
das Poster
poster
Plural: die Poster. German nouns always start with a capital letter.
die Tasche
bag
Plural: die Taschen.
der Schlafsack
sleeping bag
Plural: die Schlafsäcke. Notice the change from a to ä.
Statements and yes/no questions
In a simple statement, the conjugated verb is in second position. In a yes/no question, it comes first.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | Subject + verb + rest | Wir brauchen drei Teller. |
| Question | Verb + subject + rest? | Ist das dein Heft? |
Offers and requests
Use Möchtest du …? to offer something. With kannst and another verb, put the other verb in its base form at the end.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Polite offer | Möchtest du + item? | Möchtest du etwas Saft? |
| Request | Kannst du + object + base verb? | Kannst du deine Tasche packen? |
Saying whose things they are
Possessive endings depend on the noun's gender, number and role in the sentence. Learn these useful combinations first.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Your: neuter singular | dein + Heft or Poster | Dein Poster ist schön. |
| Your: feminine singular | deine + Tasche | Kannst du deine Tasche packen? |
| Their: plural subject | ihre + plural noun | Ihre Schlafsäcke sind blau. |
Describing people and things
Describing words after sein (to be) have no added ending. Before a noun, they usually need an ending.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| After ist | ist + adjective | Dein Poster ist schön. |
| After sind | sind + adjective | Ihre Schlafsäcke sind blau. |
| Before a noun | ein guter Freund | Du bist ein guter Freund. |
More examples
Wir essen um acht.
We eat at eight.
Change the number to say a different time.
Möchtest du etwas Wasser?
Would you like some water?
Replace Saft with Wasser to offer water.
Ist deine Tasche blau?
Is your bag blue?
A yes/no question starts with the verb. Blau has no added ending here.