The Ultimate German A1 Cheat Sheet (2026)

Everything you need for German A1 in one place — pronouns, articles and cases, present-tense verb conjugation, word order, negation, numbers, and the phrases you'll actually use in your first conversations.

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Why A1 German feels harder than it should

A1 isn't hard because the grammar is complex — it's hard because German front-loads three things English speakers aren't used to: grammatical gender, noun cases, and a verb that likes to jump to the end of the sentence. Once those three clicks, everything else at this level is memorization. This cheat sheet is organized around exactly those three, plus the vocabulary you need on day one.

1. Personal pronouns and "to be" / "to have"

Note: Sie (capitalized) is the formal "you" — singular or plural, always uses the sie/Sie verb form.

2. Articles and cases (the part everyone struggles with)

German nouns have one of three genders — der (masculine), die (feminine), das (neuter) — and there's no reliable shortcut, so articles are memorized with the noun (e.g., der Tisch, not Tisch).

At A1, you only need two cases: nominative (subject) and accusative (direct object).

Only the masculine article changes: der → den. That's the single most useful fact in this table.

Indefinite articles (a/an) follow the same pattern:

3. Present tense verb conjugation

Regular verbs (weak verbs) follow one pattern. Take machen (to do/make), remove -en, add these endings:

Irregular verbs to memorize early: sein (be), haben (have), werden (become), wissen (know), and stem-changing verbs like fahren (ich fahre, du fährst, er fährt) and sprechen (ich spreche, du sprichst, er spricht).

4. Modal verbs (können, müssen, wollen, möchten)

Modal verbs are irregular and send the main verb to the end of the sentence in infinitive form.

Example: Ich kann Deutsch sprechen. (I can speak German.) — modal in position 2, main verb at the end.

5. Word order basics

German is famous for verb-second (V2) word order: the conjugated verb is always the second element, no matter what comes first.

• Ich lerne heute Deutsch. (I'm learning German today.)
• Heute lerne ich Deutsch. (Today I'm learning German.) — verb still in position 2

In questions without a question word, the verb comes first: Lernst du Deutsch? (Are you learning German?)

6. Negation: nicht vs. kein

• kein negates nouns: Ich habe kein Auto. (I don't have a car.)
• nicht negates everything else — verbs, adjectives, and specific statements: Ich komme nicht. (I'm not coming.)

7. Numbers 0–20

null, eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn, elf, zwölf, dreizehn, vierzehn, fünfzehn, sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig

Above 20: compound like English but reversed — einundzwanzig (21) = "one-and-twenty."

8. Essential phrases for day one

Your 7-day A1 study plan

1. Day 1: Pronouns + sein/haben — drill until automatic
2. Day 2: Articles (nominative) — learn 20 nouns with their correct article
3. Day 3: Regular verb conjugation — practice 10 common verbs
4. Day 4: Accusative case — focus on the der → den shift
5. Day 5: Modal verbs + word order
6. Day 6: Negation + numbers
7. Day 7: Review everything, then take the free A1 mock test

Common A1 mistakes

• Using nicht where kein is needed (or vice versa)
• Forgetting the der → den shift in accusative
• Putting the verb in the wrong position after starting a sentence with a time expression
• Mixing up du (informal) and Sie (formal) in verb conjugation
• Memorizing nouns without their article — this catches up with every learner eventually

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This cheat sheet covers the core building blocks of A1 German. For structured practice with instant feedback, try our free A1 exercises, test your level with our A1 mock test, or explore the full grammar library for deeper explanations.