🇩🇪Free learning path

The German Learning Path

A clear, free roadmap from your first German word to confident fluency. Each stage tells you exactly what to study, gives you a free lesson and download, and points you to the book that covers it in depth, from A1 to C2, in order.

Start at A1 Reader's Room

The ladder:A1A2B1B2C1–C2

Step by step

Five stages, in order.

Don't know where you are? Start at A1 and move up only when each stage feels easy. Skipping ahead is the most common reason learners stall.

01A1

Absolute beginner

Build a real foundation: pronounce German clearly, form simple sentences, and survive a first conversation.

≈ 6–10 weeks

By the end you can

Introduce yourself and ask basic questions
Use der / die / das with the most common nouns
Conjugate sein, haben, and regular verbs in the present
Read short texts and order food, ask directions

What to study

Pronunciation: ü, ö, ch, and the capitalised-noun rule
Gender of nouns and the article system
Present tense of sein, haben, and regular verbs
The verb-second rule and basic questions

Free for this stage

Der, Die, Das: The Most Practical Rules fo…Language Learning Roadmap: A1 to B2

Full course for this stage

German Grammar Klar: Volume 1

Details Buy on Amazon

02A2

Advanced beginner

Talk about the past, handle everyday situations, and stop translating word-for-word.

≈ 8–12 weeks

By the end you can

Tell a simple story in the Perfekt past tense
Choose correctly between haben and sein as the helper verb
Use the most common separable verbs naturally
Hold short everyday conversations without freezing

What to study

Perfekt: forming it and choosing haben or sein
Separable verbs and their prefixes
Accusative case basics
Modal verbs (können, müssen, wollen)

Free for this stage

Perfekt with Haben or Sein: The Movement R…Akkusativ vs Dativ: Cases and the Two-Way …Language Learning Roadmap: A1 to B2

Full course for this stage

German Grammar Klar: Volume 1

Details Buy on Amazon

03B1

Intermediate

Move past survival German into real sentence-building, case control, and natural flow.

≈ 3–5 months

By the end you can

Choose correctly between accusative and dative case
Use the two-way prepositions for motion vs location
Build subordinate clauses with weil, dass, and wenn
Follow most everyday spoken and written German

What to study

Accusative vs dative in depth
Two-way prepositions: motion vs location
Subordinate clause word order
TeKaMoLo and the sentence's middle field

Free for this stage

German Word Order: Verb-Second, Verb-Final…Language Learning Roadmap: A1 to B2

Full course for this stage

German Grammar Klar: Volume 2

Details Buy on Amazon

04B2

Upper intermediate

Leave textbook German behind: control register, nuance, and longer-form expression.

≈ 4–6 months

By the end you can

Use the genitive case and extended noun phrases
Argue a point and structure an extended explanation
Adjust your tone between formal Sie and informal du
Read articles and watch films without subtitles

What to study

Konjunktiv II for polite requests and hypotheticals
Complex sentence patterns and connectors
Register: formal vs informal German
Passive voice and nominal style

Free for this stage

Language Learning Roadmap: A1 to B2

Full course for this stage

German Grammar Klar: Volume 2

Details Buy on Amazon

05C1–C2

Advanced

Refine and master: nuance, idiom, and the grammar that separates fluent from near-native.

Ongoing

By the end you can

Express fine shades of meaning and emotion
Use Konjunktiv I for reported speech with control
Understand idiom, regional variation, and cultural reference
Write and speak with deliberate, native-like style

What to study

Konjunktiv I and reported speech
Extended attributes and nominal style
Stylistic precision and rhetorical structure
Polishing accuracy under real-time pressure

Free for this stage

Language Learning Roadmap: A1 to B2

Full course for this stage

German Grammar Klar: Volume 3

Details Find on Amazon

Pocket reference

German you can use today.

No download, no sign-up. These are the building blocks you'll reach for from your very first conversation. Bookmark this page and come back to it.

Greetings & politeness

The phrases that open (and smooth) every interaction. Master these before anything else.

HalloHelloinformal, all-purpose

Guten MorgenGood morning

Guten TagGood day / afternoon

Guten AbendGood evening

BittePlease / You're welcomedouble meaning

(Vielen) DankThank you (very much)

EntschuldigungExcuse me / Sorry

Auf Wiedersehen / TschüssGoodbyetschüss is informal

Numbers 0–20 (and the tens)

German is regular from 0 to 100, but compound numbers flip order: 21 is literally “one-and-twenty”.

0–5null · eins · zwei · drei · vier · fünf

6–10sechs · sieben · acht · neun · zehn

11–15elf · zwölf · dreizehn · vierzehn · fünfzehn

16–20sechzehn · siebzehn · achtzehn · neunzehn · zwanzig

Tens30 dreißig · 40 vierzig · 50 fünfzig · 60 sechzig

21einundzwanzigliterally “one-and-twenty”: units come before tens

Days & months

Note: unlike French or Spanish, German capitalises every noun, including days and months.

DaysMontag · Dienstag · Mittwoch · Donnerstag · Freitag · Samstag · Sonntag

Months (1–6)Januar · Februar · März · April · Mai · Juni

Months (7–12)Juli · August · September · Oktober · November · Dezember

20 verbs you'll use daily

Learn these infinitives first. Most of your early sentences are built from them.

sein · habento be · to have

machen · gehento do/make · to go

sagen · sehento say · to see

können · wollen · müssencan · to want · must

wissen · kommen · nehmento know (facts) · to come · to take

sprechen · essen · mögento speak · to eat · to like

verstehen · fahren · wohnento understand · to drive/go · to live

Question words

The eight words that turn a statement into a question.

Wer?Who?

Was?What?

Wann?When?

Wo?Where?

Warum?Why?

Wie?How?

Wie viel(e)?How much / many?

Welche(r/s)?Which / What?

Survival phrases

Seven sentences that get you through a trip even before you've finished A1.

Ich hätte gern…I would like…

Wo ist…?Where is…?

Was kostet das?How much is it?

Ich verstehe nicht.I don't understand.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?Do you speak English?

Können Sie mir helfen?Can you help me?

Die Rechnung, bitte.The bill, please.

Exclusive bonus material

The Reader's Room: German

Bonus material that goes deeper than the free lessons: quick references, the mistakes that trip up English speakers, a pronunciation cheat sheet, and a 90-day plan that ties the whole path together. Open to everyone for now.

Open access, for now

The two verbs everything depends on

Sein and haben power the Perfekt past tense and most fixed expressions. Memorise these two cold before anything else.

ich bin · ich habeI am · I have

du bist · du hastyou are · you have

er/sie/es ist · er/sie/es hathe/she/it is · he/she/it has

wir sind · wir habenwe are · we have

ihr seid · ihr habtyou are · you haveinformal plural

sie/Sie sind · sie/Sie habenthey/you are · they/you haveSie = formal

12 mistakes English speakers make in German

Most early errors come from translating English word order or ignoring German's own logic. Catch these now and you'll sound a level higher immediately.

Forgetting noun capitalisation: every German noun is capitalised, das Haus, die Zeit, der Tisch.
Guessing gender from meaning: das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter, not feminine.
Forgetting the verb moves to the end after weil, dass, or wenn.
Using du with strangers or elders: default to Sie until invited to use du.
Mixing up accusative prepositions (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um) with dative ones (aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu).
Using haben for every Perfekt: verbs of motion and change need sein, as in ich bin gegangen.
Pronouncing ch like English 'ch': German ch is throaty (ach) or hissing (ich), never like 'chair'.
Confusing wer (who) and wo (where): easy to mix up as a beginner.
Forgetting separable-verb prefixes at the end: ich rufe dich an, not ich anrufe dich.
Treating das as a catch-all for 'the': der and die exist too, and gender must be learned per noun.
Copying English word order: German allows flexibility, but the verb must stay in position two.
Confusing seit (since/for, time) with seid (you all are): same sound, different word.

Pronunciation quick-start

German spelling is highly regular. The hard parts for English speakers are the umlauts and the two ch sounds.

German is pronounced from a small set of consistent rules. Once you can produce ü and ö and hear the difference between the two ch sounds, most words fall into place.

ürounded “ee”say “ee” with your lips rounded like “oo”: müde, für

örounded “eh”say “eh” with rounded lips: schön, hören

ch (after a, o, u)throaty “kh”Bach, Nacht, like Scottish “loch”

ch (after i, e)soft hissing “kh”ich, nicht: lighter, from the front of the mouth

ei vs ie“eye” vs long “ee”nein sounds like “nine”; Sie sounds like “zee”

zalways “ts”Zeit sounds like “tsyte”, never a soft English z

Your first 90 days

A realistic plan that ties the free lessons, downloads, and books together. 20–30 minutes a day beats a weekend cram.

Days 1 to 10: Pronunciation, noun capitalisation, and articles. Drill sein and haben until automatic.
Days 11 to 30: Present tense and the verb-second rule. Build 5 sentences a day out loud. Start German Grammar Klar: Volume 1 (A1 to A2).
Days 31 to 55: Perfekt with haben and sein. Narrate your day in the past every evening.
Days 56 to 75: Accusative and dative cases with the two-way prepositions. Move into German Grammar Klar: Volume 2 (B1 to B2).
Days 76 to 90: Subordinate clause word order. Read the free lesson, then write a short story checking verb position.

Free audio companion

Hear German out loud, free

Twelve stories from German Easy Reader Volume 2 are already narrated at the German Club, with more audio on the way. Join free to get new audio the day it lands.

Open the German Club

Go deeper

The path is free. The books are the full course.

Every stage above maps to a Vega book with sequenced chapters, guided practice, and answer keys. Read a free sample before you decide.

German books Free German lessons