Free A0 German course: complete beginner

A0 is the very start, with no German yet or a few words from a trip. You'll learn how German sounds and is spelled, greet people, say who you are, count to a hundred, and build your first sentences with sein and haben.

18 grammar lessons, 6 graded stories, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free.

What you'll be able to do

• Listening: I can recognise Hallo, Danke, Bitte, Tschüss and other everyday greetings.
• Speaking: I can say my name, where I'm from and how I am (Ich heiße…, Ich komme aus…, Mir geht's gut).
• Speaking: I can ask very simple questions such as Wie heißt du? and Was kostet das?
• Reading: I can read numbers, prices and simple signs (Eingang, Ausgang, Geschlossen, WC).
• Reading: I can sound out a written German word, because German spelling mostly shows how it's said (ei, ie, sch, ch).
• Writing: I can write my name, nationality and address on a form.

What you'll learn

Learning A0 German with AI

At A0 the AI partner keeps to very short, simple German, with English help when you need it, so you can say your first sentences to someone straight away. The AI also explains any wrong answer in a lesson, in plain English. It's included free, with a daily allowance; like any AI it can make mistakes, so the lessons remain the reference. More about learning German with AI.

All 18 A0 grammar lessons

Free to read here. In the app, each one is taught in short steps with audio, practised, and brought back for review.

1. The alphabet and the vowels
2. Consonants that surprise you
3. Word stress and capital letters
4. Hello, goodbye, please and thank you
5. Introducing yourself
6. du, ihr or Sie: which you?
7. I, you, he, she, it: personal pronouns
8. sein: to be
9. haben: to have
10. Regular verbs in the present
11. der, die, das: gender and articles
12. Plurals: more than one
13. Numbers from 0 to 100
14. The verb comes second
15. Yes/no questions; ja, nein and doch
16. W-questions: who, what, where, when, why
17. nicht or kein?
18. Days, months and the time

Reading at A0

• Hallo, ich heiße Anna: Anna from Berlin introduces herself: her job, her flat and her lazy cat.
• Meine Familie: Jonas, ten, from Munich, describes his family, his grandparents' garden and the old dog.
• Im Café: Two friends order breakfast in a café in Cologne: coffee, tea and a roll with cheese. In Germany people often pay separately.
• Meine Stadt: Hamburg: Finn presents Hamburg: the port, the rain, fish rolls and the Sunday fish market.
• Mein Tag: Martin Huber is a baker in a village in Bavaria. His day starts at three in the morning.
• Eine Postkarte von Rügen: Lisa writes to her grandma from Rügen, an island in the Baltic Sea: white cliffs, wind and cold water.

Questions