Free B1 German course: intermediate

B1 is the first independent-user level. You can travel, tell a story, give your opinion and follow clear speech on familiar topics. The new grammar is the passive, relative clauses, the Konjunktiv II for wishes and hypotheses, and the Präteritum for telling stories.

24 grammar lessons, 5 graded stories, 3 classic books, flashcards and an AI conversation partner, all free. Plan on roughly 195 hours of study for this level (375 in total from zero, by an approximate CEFR estimate that isn't specific to German).

What you'll be able to do

• Listening: I can follow the main points of clear speech on familiar topics at work, school or leisure.
• Listening: I can understand the main points of many radio programmes and podcasts on topics I care about.
• Reading: I can read everyday texts and understand descriptions of events, feelings and wishes.
• Reading: I can read a novel for teenagers or a simplified classic, such as a Grimm fairy tale.
• Speaking: I can deal with most situations that come up when travelling or living in a German-speaking country, from the Bürgeramt to a cancelled train.
• Speaking: I can give reasons and express wishes (weil…, obwohl…, Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich…).
• Writing: I can write a connected text on a familiar topic, such as an email describing an experience.
• Writing: I can write a short opinion with reasons.

What you'll learn

Learning B1 German with AI

At B1 the AI partner can discuss your opinions and plans in longer exchanges, help you practise interviewing for a room in a shared flat, and write short stories at your level on topics you choose. 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 24 B1 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 Präteritum: telling a story in writing
2. The Plusquamperfekt: hatte gemacht, war gegangen
3. The passive: wird gebaut, wurde gebaut
4. The passive with modal verbs and in the Perfekt
5. Relative clauses: der, die, das, den
6. Relative clauses with dem, denen, mit dem; wo and was
7. Konjunktiv II: wishes and unreal conditions
8. Konjunktiv II in the past: hätte gemacht, wäre gegangen
9. entweder … oder, weder … noch, sowohl … als auch
10. obwohl and trotzdem: although, and still
11. deshalb, deswegen, darum, sonst
12. Time clauses: bevor, nachdem, während, seitdem, bis
13. wegen, trotz, während, statt + genitive
14. Adjectives as nouns: der Deutsche, ein Bekannter, etwas Neues
15. lassen: let, leave, and having something done
16. Infinitives without zu: sehen, hören, gehen, bleiben, lernen
17. Word order in the middle: time, reason, manner, place
18. je … desto / umso: the more …, the better
19. Prefixes that separate or not: übersetzen, umfahren, wiederholen
20. Modal particles: doch, ja, mal, eben, halt, eigentlich, wohl
21. Giving opinions: Ich finde, dass…; meiner Meinung nach
22. Work and job applications: sich bewerben, Lebenslauf, Vorstellungsgespräch
23. Guesses with werden: Er wird wohl krank sein; Futur II
24. Verbs as nouns: das Lesen, beim Kochen, zum Lernen

Reading at B1

• Die letzte Uhr: Lena and Frau Krüger take the train to Leipzig. In a small clockmaker's workshop they find out why Karl never came back, and Greta finally gives her answer.
• Die Trompete im dritten Stock: In a Munich apartment building, someone starts playing the trumpet every evening, very badly. The neighbours are furious, until they find out who it is.
• Eine E-Mail an meinen Bruder: Hannah writes to her younger brother Luca, who is starting an apprenticeship at a shipyard in Hamburg: advice on the weather, the people and loneliness. Hamburg words: Moin (hello, at any time of day) and Schietwetter (lousy weather).
• Das Repair-Café: Once a month, in a community centre in Cologne, broken things are repaired for free: a toaster, a teddy bear and a lamp tell the story.
• Homeoffice: Segen oder Fluch?: An opinion piece: since the pandemic many people in Germany work from home. The author weighs the arguments and comes down in favour.
• Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Auswahl) by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1857): Thirty of the Grimms' best-known fairy tales in the brothers' final text: Hänsel und Gretel, Rotkäppchen, Aschenputtel, Rumpelstilzchen, Frau Holle. Simple storytelling, a few old forms (daß, ward, sprach).
• Max und Moritz by Wilhelm Busch (1865): Two boys play seven wicked tricks on their village, in rhyming couplets: the picture story every German child knows. Short and funny, with some old words (Düte, Zippelmütze) and old spelling (muß).
• Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre by Johanna Spyri (1880): Heidi, an orphan, goes to live with her gruff grandfather high on a Swiss mountain, then is taken to the city of Frankfurt. The first Heidi book; plenty of dialogue, Swiss words (Alm-Öhi, Geißenpeter), modern spelling in this edition.

Questions