200+ List of the Most Common German Words

Learn Common German Words and Vocabulary

When you learn a new language, you need to know the core vocabulary. Without these words, you can’t form sentences, and can’t express your ideas. But, once you add these German words to your vocabulary, you’re guaranteed to reach fluency. And if you add the right words, you’ll achieve your goals even faster. Here’s why you should focus on the most common vocabulary, and then a list of 200+ of those words in German.

Fluency Isn’t About How Many Words You Know

A lot of students try to cram in as many words as they can. They brag that they learned hundreds of new German words, and they even know the most obscure words in German. Good for them. But, this doesn’t mean they’re fluent. If they try to whip up their newfound knowledge in a real conversation, they’ll fall flat.

That’s because fluency isn’t about how many German words you know. It’s about knowing the right German words. Learning only the most common and most used German words doesn’t just make you a good conversation partner. You’ll also reach fluency much faster.

 

Use the 80/20 Principle to Learn Common German Words

If you don’t believe me that you should only concentrate on the most common words, hopefully, you’ll believe science. 80% of everyday German conversations comes from 20% of the total vocabulary. It’s called the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. And you can use this to reach fluency faster.

If you only learn that 20% of the German language, you can take part in 80% of the conversations. So, with only a little effort, you can have a lot of success already. But, which exact words are part of that 20%?

Well, the following list includes the most 200 common German words. That’s a great start. But, if you’re hungry for more, you can easily access the full list with the OptiLingo app. This reliable language learning method gives you pronunciation practice and a list of the most useful German vocabulary at the same time.

200+ Common German Words

You’ll definitely need these 222 German words to speak German fluently. We divided them according to their grammatical categories, so it’s even easier for you to focus on one group at a time. Of course, there are way more words in the German language. But, once you know these, speaking German will only be a matter of grammar.

List of Common German Nouns

German Nouns	Translation
das Beispiel, -e	example
das Ende, -n	end
das Geld	money
das Haus, -¨er	house
das Jahr, -e	year
das Kind, -er	child
das Land, -¨er	country, land
das Leben	life
das Mädchen	girl
das Mal, -e	time (number of times)
das Problem, -e	problem
das Prozent, -e	percent
das Recht, -e	right, law
der Abend	evening, eve, night
der Fall, -¨e	fall, case
der Freund	friend
der Herr, -en	man, gentleman, Mr.
der Junge, -n	boy
der Mann, -¨er	man
der Mensch, -en	human being, man
der Tag, -e	day
der/das Teil, -e	part
die Angst	fear, anxiety
die Arbeit, -en	work, job
die Frage, -n	question
die Frau, -en	woman, wife, Mrs.
die Hand, -¨e	hand
die Leute	people
die Million (Mio.), -en	million
die Stadt, -¨e	city
die Welt, -en	world
die Zeit	time

List of the Most Common German Verbs

German Verbs	Translation
anrufen	to call, phone
arbeiten	to work
bleiben	to stay, remain
brauchen	to need
bringen	to bring
denken	to think
dürfen	may, to be allowed
finden	to find
geben	to give; to put; to deal; there is/are
gehen	to go, walk; to leave; to work; to be in progress, last; to be going; to approach
glauben	to believe
haben	to have
heißen	to be called
kommen	to come
können	can, to be able to
lassen	to let, allow, have done
leben	to live
liegen	to lie, be lying
machen	to make, do, prepare; to produce; to go; to put
müssen	must, to have to
nehmen	to take
sagen	to say, tell
sehen	to see, look; to take care of; to view, watch, observe; to notice
sein	to be, to have, to exist, there is / it is
sollen	should, ought to
stehen	to stand
tun	to do
wissen	to know
wollen	to want
werden	to get, to become; will, to be going to; to be done (forms the passive voice)

List of the Most Common German Adjectives

German Adejectives	Translation
alt	old
anz	whole, all the
deutsch	German
eigen	own
erste, -r, -s	first
genau	exact
gleich	equal, same
groß	big, large, great
gut	good
hoch	high, tall
jung	young
klein	small, little
kurz	short
lang	long
letzte, -r, -s	last
möglich	possible
neu	new
richtig	right, correct
spät	late
stark	strong
verschieden	different, diverse
weitere, -r, -s	additional
wichtig	important
wirklich	real, true, natural
besser	better, preferably
einfach	easy, simple, plain; single, one-way; simply, just
schön	beautiful, lovely; good, great; nice; fine (adjective); well, beautifully; nicely; really (adverb)
viel	much, a lot
weiß	white (adjective)
genug	enough
los	loose, not attached, rid of

List of Common German Adverbs

German Adverbs	Translation
also	so, therefore
auch	also, too, as well
da	there
dabei	there, here, then, so (adverb); since, as, given that (conjunction)
dafür	for this
dann	then, after that
davon	from that
doch	but, still
dort	there
eben	just now
eigentlich	actually
erst	first, only, not until
gar	at all
heute	today, nowadays
hier	here
immer	always
jetzt	now; yet
mehr	more
natürlich	naturally, of course
nicht	not
nie	never
noch	still, yet
nun, nu	now
nur	only, merely, just;
oben	above, up there
schon	already
sehr	very
so	so, thus, this way, such
vielleicht	perhaps, maybe
warum	why
weit	widely, far
wieder	again
zurück	back, backwards
ganz	all, all the, every, everything, everybody, everyone
gerade	just
aber	again (adverb); but, though (conjunction)
damit	with it, thereby; so that, in order that
wo	where, somewhere; when
wie	how (adverb); like, as (conjunction)
ja	yes; really, definitely; of course (adverb); a yes (capitalized as a noun – Ja)
nein	no; a no

Common German Conjunctions to Make Sentences

German Conjunctions	Translation
als	than, when, as, while, as if
bevor	before
beziehungsweise	or, respectively
dass	that
denn	because
entweder…oder	either…or
falls	in case, if
indem	while, by
nachdem	after
ob	whether
obwohl	although
oder	or
so dass	so that
sobald	as soon as
solange	as long as
sondern	but (rather)
sowie	as well as
sowohl … und	both
und	and
weder  noch	neither … nor
weil	because
wenn	if, when, whenever
zumal	particularly, especially

List of the Most Common German Pronouns

German Pronouns	Translation
diese	this, these
ein	a, an
andere	other, different, next
kein	no, not a, not an;
man	one, they, you
nichts	nothing
all	all, all the, every, everything, everybody, everyone
etwas	some, something, any (pronoun); somewhat, slightly, a little, a bit (adverb); something (capitalized as a noun – Etwas)
ach	oh!
bitte	please, you’re welcome, excuse me, please do, go ahead; request, plea (capitalized as a noun – die Bitte); to ask (inflection of the verb “bitten”)
danke	thank you!, thanks!; inflection of the verb “danken”
was	what (interrogative); which (relative)
wer	who; the person who; somebody, someone

German Personal and Reflexive Pronouns

German Pronouns	Translation
du	you (informal, singular)
er	he, it
es	it
euch	you, yourselves (plural )
ihm	him, to him
ihn	him, it
ihnen	them, to them
mir	me, to me
Sie	you (polite, singular or plural)
sie	she, it; they, you
wir	we
ihr	you, you all (plural, informal); her, to her ; her, its, their
dich	you; yourself
dir	you, to you; yourself, to yourself
uns	us; ourselves
mich	me, myself
ich	I (not capitalized); ego (capitalized – Ich)
deine	your
ihre	hers, its, theirs
Ihre	yours (singular and plural)
mein	my
am	on, at, on the, at the
an	to, on, at, by, about, against

List of Common German Prepositions

German Prepositions	Translation
am	on, at, on the, at the
an	to, on, at, by, about, against
auf	on, onto, at
aus	out of, from
bei	by, near, with, at
durch	through, by means of
für	for
gegen	against
gegenüber	across from
hinter	behind, in back of
im	in the
in	in
in	in, within, at, pertaining to
ins	to the, into the
mit	with
nach	after, to, toward
neben	beside, next to
ohne	without
seit	since, for a period of time
über	above, over, about
um	around, at
unter	under
von	from, of
vor	in front of, before, ago
während	during
wegen	because of
zu	to, at
zwischen	between
ab	from, as of (preposition); off, away (adverb)
bis	to
sich	oneself, itself, himself, herself, themselves

How to Learn This List of Common German Words

Now you’ve got 222 German words. That’s great, but what’s next? Well, you need to learn them. Having them here, or even on a piece of paper won’t make this knowledge yours. So, how can you learn these German words fast and effectively? Here are a few tricks you can use to commit them to your long term memory effortlessly:

• Don’t cram! Let’s start off with what not to do. Never, under any circumstances, try to cram German vocabulary. Forcing yourself to remember a lot in a short time only leads to two things: you’ll hate your lessons and you won’t actually commit them to your long term memory. Try one of the following techniques instead:
• Try chunking: Chunking is a great memory aid. Try to divide this German vocabulary list into smaller and more manageable groups. These can be by categories or topics too. Then, you learn the groups one by one. Smaller and more achievable tasks get you to success steadily.
• Use spaced repetition: Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could hack your brain to store all this information? Well, you actually can. With spaced repetition, you can remember anything you want. It’s a simple trick that not many know about. You just periodically review this list of German words. Every time you come back to read these, you’ll reinforce your German knowledge. Soon, you can recall all 222 of these German words effortlessly.
• Write it all down: Handwriting is linked to tactile learning. If you write these words down by hand you’ll remember them better.
• Say them out loud: The only way to reach fluency is by speaking a lot. Practice your German pronunciation. The more you say these German words, the more it sticks to your memory. And you’ll also get more comfortable with the language.

Learn Even More Common German Words

222 common German words is a lot. But, there’s a lot more to a full German vocabulary than that. If you want to learn all the most useful German words and phrases, you need to use OptiLingo.

OptiLingo is the app that gets you to fluency. It gives you all the best German vocabulary, for sure. But, it also makes you speak the language. It builds your confidence and shows you exactly how the locals speak. Achieve German learning success when you download OptiLingo!