GCSE German: Greetings and Personal Information Revision Guide

Key vocabulary

• Hallo — hello
• Guten Morgen — good morning
• Guten Tag — good afternoon/good day
• Guten Abend — good evening
• Auf Wiedersehen — goodbye (formal)
• Tschüss — bye (informal)
• Bitte — please/you're welcome
• Danke — thank you

Introducing yourself

To say your name, use Ich heiße... (my name is...) or Ich bin... (I am...). For example: Ich heiße Anna. (My name is Anna.) To ask someone's name, say Wie heißt du? To ask how old someone is, say Wie alt bist du? and answer with Ich bin ... Jahre alt — for example Ich bin fünfzehn Jahre alt. (I am fifteen years old.)

Saying where you are from

Use Ich komme aus... (I come from...) plus the country, for example Ich komme aus England. To say your nationality, use Ich bin... plus the nationality word, for example Ich bin Engländer. (I am English — male speaker) or Ich bin Engländerin. (female speaker).

Spelling and asking questions

If someone does not understand your name, they might ask Wie schreibt man das? (How do you spell that?) or Kannst du das buchstabieren? (Can you spell that?). Learn the German alphabet sounds so you can spell your name out loud.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that "Wie geht es dir?" needs the dative pronoun (dir), not "du".
• Mixing up "Ich bin... Jahre alt" with the English word order "I have... years".
• Using "Auf Wiedersehen" with friends instead of the more casual "Tschüss".