A tidy hello
Walk into a German shop and 'Guten Tag' is the expected, polite opener. Your first German words are these greetings — the courteous handshake that every conversation starts with.
Höflich sein — being polite
- Guten Tag — Good day / Hello
- Danke — Thank you
- Bitte — Please (also 'you're welcome')
- Auf Wiedersehen — Goodbye
Special letters
German uses umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and the ß ('sharp s'). 'ß' sounds like 'ss', as in Straße (street).