Lessons for English speakers
Learn to read German
A short, active path into reading German: decode nine real words from a ten-rule sound table, learn where the verb goes and why der becomes den, then read a fable whose pronunciation and English begin hidden.
13 core sections · ≈ 33 min + 4 optional lookups · ≈ 53 min with everything
10
German words you may already half-know
Optional lookup · ≈ 2 min
What you'll learn
- Open this if a word will not stick; nothing here is needed to read the story.
- German and English are close cousins, so many everyday words are the same word with a different coat.
- Several past forms are the English past form with a vowel shifted.
- A few words look familiar and are not: willvil means “want”.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a word will not stick, and use whichever connection helps. English and German split apart about fifteen hundred years ago, so the commonest words are often still recognisably the same word.
Words that are the same word, wearing a hat
| German | What changed |
|---|---|
| WasserVAS-uh“water” | t became ss — the same shift you see in “foot” and Fußfooss“foot”. |
| Haushowss“house” | Nothing but the spelling. |
| Mausmowss“mouse” | And both make their plural by changing the vowel: MäuseMOY-zuh, mice. |
| VaterFAH-tuh“father” | The v says f, so it already sounds like it. |
| BruderBROO-duh“brother” | Only the vowel moved. |
| SonneZON-uh“sun” | A weak -e on the end, and the s says z. |
| Nachtnahkht“night” | English kept the gh in the spelling and stopped saying it. German still says it. |
| gutgoot“good” | The final d hardens to t. |
| altalt“old” | Compare English “alderman”, which kept the older shape. |
Past forms you can almost guess
| warvar“was” · kamkahm“came” · sahzah“saw” · fielfeel“fell” · nahmnahm“took” |
The first four are the English word with a vowel moved; nahmnahm is the odd one and has to be learned. All five turn up in the books.
Did the connections help?
- What does willvil mean?
Show answer +Hide answer −
“Want”. It has nothing to do with the future, and it catches everybody once. - die Nacht
English kept a gh in this word and stopped pronouncing it.
Show answer +Hide answer −
die Nachtdee nahkht“the night” - kam
Show answer +Hide answer −
kamkahm“came”. One vowel away from the English word.