How it works
These random German words are everyday verbs, adjectives, adverbs and small words such as doch and schon. Say what each one means, then tap its cover to check. German nouns have a page of their own.
Read the full guide
Guess, then tap
Press Pick 5 new German words. Each card shows the German word alone. Say the meaning, then tap Show meaning: the card gives the English meaning and the part of speech. The Word type list under the button keeps the draw to verbs, adjectives, small words or false friends.
What a verb card adds
A verb card ends with the past participle and the helper verb of the perfect tense: gehen gives gegangen, with sein. Most verbs here take haben. Verbs of movement from place to place or of a change of state, such as kommen and einschlafen, take sein, and some, such as fahren, are given both.
Tips
- False friends look English and are not: das Gift is poison, bald is soon and fast is almost.
- Doch, mal and eben are small words with no single English match; the card gives the nearest meanings.
Questions and answers
What are German false friends?
Words that look like an English word and mean something else. Here der Chef is the boss, bekommen is to get, also means so and das Handy is a cell phone. Choose False friends in the Word type list to draw only those.
Why does a verb card say haben or sein?
German builds the perfect tense from a helper verb and the past participle. The card names the helper that the verb's Wiktionary entry prints: sein for movement from one place to another or a change of state, haben for nearly everything else.
Are there German nouns on this page?
Only in the False friends group, where each one carries der, die or das. Everyday nouns with their gender are on the German noun page, and the two lists share no word.
Where do the words and meanings come from?
The choice is ours, from no exam or course list. Every word was then checked by script against its entry on English Wiktionary: the part of speech, the meaning, and each verb's past participle and helper verb.