German A1 Vocabulary: 100 Essential Words You'll Hear in Every Show

The most frequent 100 words in German account for roughly 50% of all text and speech. Master these and you'll understand the grammatical skeleton of most sentences, even when individual vocabulary words are unfamiliar. Here they are — grouped by type so they're easier to study.

Pronouns and basic sentence structure

ich (I), du (you, informal), er (he), sie (she/they/You formal), es (it), wir (we), ihr (you plural informal), Sie (You formal). das (the/that/it), der (the), die (the), ein (a/an), eine (a/an feminine). ist (is), sind (are), war (was), hat (has). und (and), aber (but), oder (or), weil (because), dass (that/so that), wenn (when/if), ob (whether).

The verbs that carry conversations

sein (to be) — ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist. haben (to have) — ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat. werden (to become/will) — used for future tense. können (can). müssen (must). wollen (to want). wissen (to know facts). kennen (to know people/things). sagen (to say). gehen (to go). kommen (to come). machen (to make/do). sehen (to see). geben (to give). nehmen (to take). denken (to think). glauben (to believe). wissen (to know).

Time and place — the connectors

jetzt (now), dann (then), noch (still/yet), schon (already), nie (never), immer (always), oft (often), hier (here), dort (there), wo (where), wann (when), wie (how), warum (why), was (what), wer (who), nicht (not), kein (no/none), auch (also/too), sehr (very), so (so), mehr (more), nur (only), noch (still), wieder (again).

Essential nouns from TV and film

der Mann (man), die Frau (woman), das Kind (child), die Familie (family), der Vater (father), die Mutter (mother). der Tag (day), die Nacht (night), die Zeit (time), das Jahr (year). das Haus (house), die Stadt (city), das Land (country). die Frage (question), die Antwort (answer), das Problem (problem), die Wahrheit (truth). der Weg (way/path), die Arbeit (work), das Geld (money), das Leben (life), der Tod (death).

Numbers and quantities

ein/eine (one), zwei (two), drei (three), vier (four), fünf (five), zehn (ten), hundert (hundred), tausend (thousand). viel (much/many), wenig (little/few), alle (all), jeder (every/each), kein (no/none), einige (some), andere (other).

How to use this list

Don't try to memorise this list by reading it. Instead: add each word to your Anki deck with the article included for nouns. Then watch a German show episode and tick off each word as you catch it in context. After one episode of any German show, you'll have heard most of these words multiple times. After ten episodes, they'll be automatic. The goal is to free up mental bandwidth so when you encounter an unfamiliar word, you can focus on it — because everything around it is already understood.