1000 Most Common German Words

When starting to learn German, it is always a good idea to memorize the most common words first. You will quickly begin to understand many more situations when compared to learning your German vocabulary from random sources. This page includes a list of most common German words along with their English translation. This list ranks the words according to the body of movie sub-titles. Note that some words represent different forms of the same word and thus can be grouped into a single entry with a higher combined rank. Some of these words include:

der, des, dem, den -- the German definite article; masculine "the" form
die, der, den -- the German definite article; feminine "the" form
das, des, dem -- the German definite article; neuter "the" form
ein, eine, einen, einer, einem, eines -- the German indefinite article; "a, an"
du, dich, dir, deiner -- "du" (informal "you") and its inflections

Most Used German Words 1-50

Rank  German word   English translation Part of speech
1. das the (definitive article; nominative/accusative singular neuter of "der"); this, that (demonstrative pronoun); who, that, which (relative pronoun) definitive article; demonstrative pronoun; relative pronoun
2. ist (he/she/it) is (3rd-person singular present of "sein") verb
3. du you (informal; addressing one person) personal pronoun
4. ich I (not capitalized unless it is in the beginning of a sentence); ego (capitalized - Ich) personal pronoun; noun
5. nicht not adverb
6. die the (definitive article; nominative/accusative, singular feminine or plural form of der); that, which, who (relative pronoun); this one, that one, these ones, those ones (demonstrative pronoun) definitive article; demonstrative pronoun; relative pronoun
7. es it (neuter gender) personal pronoun
8. und and conjunction
9. Sie you (polite or formal; addressing one person or a group of people) personal pronoun
10. der the (definite article; nominitive singular masculine, genitive/dative singular feminine, genitive plural); who, that, which (relative pronoun, singular) definitive article; relative pronoun
11. was what (interrogative); which (relative) interrogative pronoun, relative pronoun
12. wir we (nominative plural) personal pronoun
13. zu to, in, at, on, into, for (preposition); too; to, towards; closed, shut (adverb) preposition; adverb
14. ein a, an (indefinite article; masculine and neuter nominative; neuter accusative); one (number) indefinite article, cardinal number
15. er he, it (masculine) personal pronoun
16. in in, within, at, pertaining to (in + dative); into (in + accusative) preposition
17. sie she, it (feminine); they, you (plural) personal pronoun
18. mir me, to me (dative singular of "ich") personal pronoun
19. mit with preposition
20. ja yes; really, definitely; of course (adverb); a yes (capitalized as a noun - Ja) adverb, noun
21. wie how (adverb); like, as (conjunction); how (capitalized as a noun - Wie) adverb, conjunction, noun
22. den the (definitive article; accusative masculine singular; dative plural of "der"); this, that one (demonstrative pronoun, accusative masculine singular of "der"); who, that, which (relative pronoun) definitive article; demonstrative pronoun; relative pronoun
23. auf on, onto, at preposition
24. mich me (accusative singular of "ich"); myself (reflexive pronoun) personal pronoun, reflextive pronoun
25. dass / daß that ("daß" is an obsolete spelling of "dass" used prior to the German spelling reform of 1996) conjunction
26. so so, that; as; if adverb, conjunction
27. hier here adverb
28. eine a, an (feminine nominative and accusative) indefinite article
29. wenn if, when; if, the ifs (capitalized as a noun - Wenn) conjunction, noun
30. hat to have (third-person singular present of "haben"; e.g. "er/sie/es hat") verb
31. all all, all the, every, everything, everybody, everyone indefinite pronoun, adjective
32. sind (we/they/you all) are (1st- and 3-rd person plural present of "sein") verb
33. von from, of (+ Dative) preposition
34. dich you (accusative of du); yourself (accusative) personal pronoun, reflexive pronoun
35. war (I/he/she/it) was (1st- and 3-rd person singular preterite of "sein") verb
36. haben to have; possess; own; to have (auxiliary verb forms the perfect and past perfect tense) verb, auxiliary verb
37. für for (+ Accusative) preposition
38. an to, on, at, by, about, against preposition
39. habe to have (1st-person singular present/subjunctive; 3rd-person singular subjunctive I; imperative singular of "haben"; e.g. "ich habe") verb
40. da there, here, then, so (adverb); since, as, given that (conjunction) adverb, conjunction
41. nein no; a no (capitalized as a noun - nein) adverb, noun
42. bin (I) am (1st-person singular present of "sein") verb
43. noch still, yet (adverb); nor (conjuction) adverb, conjunction
44. dir you, to you (dative of "du"); yourself, to yourself (dative) personal pronoun, reflexive pronoun
45. uns us (accusative and dative of "wir"); ourselves (accusative and dative) personal pronoun, reflexive pronoun
46. sich oneself, itself, himself, herself, themselves (3-rd person singular and plural; accusative and dative) reflexive pronoun
47. nur only, merely, just adverb
48. einen a, an (masculine accusative) indefinite afticle
49. kann (I) can, am able to (he/she/it) can (1st- and 3-rd person singular present of "können") verb
50. dem the (definite article; dative singular masculine/neuter of "der"); to whom, to which (relative pronoun; dative singular masculine/neuter of "der") definitive article; relative pronoun

Index of most common German words

 
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