German · A1 · Unit 3 of 5

Was ich jeden Tag mache What I do every day

Now you can name the world around you — let's bring it to life. In this unit you'll talk about your daily routine: what you do, when you do it, and how the German verb changes its ending and jumps to second place in the sentence.

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to

Describe your daily routine — from aufstehen in the morning to fernsehen at night
Conjugate regular present-tense verbs (ich wohne, du wohnst, er wohnt…)
Use separable verbs correctly (Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf.)
Tell the time and say when you do things (um acht Uhr, am Montag)

5 sessions · about 15 minutes each · 2 chat missions · 1 story

Sessions

Missions (unlock as you progress)

💬

Chat Mission 1 Mein Tagesablauf — tell a new friend what you do on a normal day. Unlocks after Session 2

💬

Chat Mission 2 Im Café — order breakfast and say when you eat and drink. Unlocks after Session 4

📖

Story Mission Ein Tag mit Max — read & extend a day-in-the-life story. Unlocks after Session 5

Unit progress: not started Complete all 5 sessions to unlock A1.4 — Fragen und Finden

Session 0 · Foundations · optional, always open

Das Alphabet & die Aussprache — The alphabet & pronunciation

Two minutes that make every later session easier: the German letters (including the four English doesn't have), why nouns are always capitalised, and how to actually type ä, ö, ü and ß. Nothing here is graded — tap 🔊 on anything to hear it.

🔤 The German alphabet

26 familiar letters — a few with new sounds

German uses the same 26 Latin letters as English, but several are pronounced differently. Tap a letter to hear it in a real German word (the classic „A wie Apfel" spelling style).

💡

A few sounds surprise English speakers: W sounds like English "v" (Wasser = "vasser"), V usually sounds like "f" (Vogel = "fogel"), Z is "ts" (Zebra = "tsebra"), and J is "y" (Junge = "yunge"). Audio is your friend here.

🔡 The four letters English doesn't have

ä · ö · ü · ß — the ones that trip people up

Three are umlauts (a vowel with two dots — the sound shifts), and one is the ß (called Eszett or scharfes S, a sharp "s"). Tap each to hear it.

Ä ä a-Umlaut Like the e in "bed". Käse (cheese), Bär (bear). Type without the key: ae → Kaese

Ö ö o-Umlaut Like "i" in "bird", lips rounded. schön (beautiful), Öl (oil). Type without the key: oe → schoen

Ü ü u-Umlaut Say "ee" with rounded lips. über (over), Tür (door). Type without the key: ue → ueber

ß Eszett / scharfes S A single sharp "s" sound — equals ss. Straße (street), dreißig (30). Type without the key: ss → Strasse. Never starts a word.

🔠 Every noun is capitalised

one rule, zero exceptions

In German, every noun starts with a capital letter — not just names and sentence-starts, but all of them, anywhere in the sentence. It's the single most visible feature of written German.

der Hund · die Familie · das Auto · die Straße

Ich habe einen Bruder und eine Schwester.

💡

This matters in the exercises too: answers like Arzt, Lehrerin or Familie are written with their capital. When you're asked to type a noun, start it with a capital letter.

⌨️ Typing ä, ö, ü and ß

the quick fix vs. the real fix

⭐

Best option — add a German keyboard. It takes a minute and gives ä ö ü ß their own real keys (and you'll switch layouts with one shortcut). The ae/oe/ue/ss spellings below work and this tool accepts them — but they're a stopgap, not the real thing. If you're at all serious about German, add the keyboard now; it pays off every single session.

Your device	How to get ä ö ü ß
Add German layout (recommended)	Adds a dedicated key for each of ä ö ü ß. Windows: Settings → Time & Language → Language → add German. Mac: System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → +German. Then switch layouts with ⊞ Win+Space (Win) or ⌃+Space (Mac).
Mac (no layout change)	Hold ⌥ u, release, then the vowel → ä ö ü. And ⌥+s → ß.
Windows (US-International)	Type " then the vowel → ä ö ü. And AltGr+s → ß.
Phone / tablet	Long-press the base letter on the on-screen keyboard, then slide to the accented one: long-press a → ä, o → ö, u → ü, s → ß.
Anywhere (fallback)	Type the two-letter spelling: ae oe ue for the umlauts, ss for ß. schoen = schön, Strasse = Straße. Accepted here — but the German keyboard is much better.

This page stays open under Before you begin on the unit map — come back any time.

Session 1 of 5

Mein Tag — My day

Phase 1 of 4 · 🔓 Unlock

~3 min

🔓 A day in one breath

Phase 1 · notice the puzzle

Here's someone describing their morning. Don't worry about every word — just watch the action words (the verbs) and where they sit in each sentence. Tap any word for a hint.

“Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. Dann trinke ich Kaffee und lese die Zeitung.”

Tap any word for its meaning · tap ▶ to hear it spoken

💡

Spot it? The action word changes its ending — stehe, trinke, lese — and it always sits as the second idea in the sentence: Ich stehe… / Dann trinke ich…. That ending and that second-place rule are the whole puzzle of this session.

🛠 Present tense & V2 word order

Phase 3 · the full picture

To make a present-tense verb, take the stem (the infinitive minus -en) and add the ending for the person. Here are all six endings, shown on wohnen ("to live").

Pronoun	Ending	wohnen	English
ich	-e	wohne	I live
du	-st	wohnst	you live
er / sie / es	-t	wohnt	he / she / it lives
wir	-en	wohnen	we live
ihr	-t	wohnt	you all live
sie / Sie	-en	wohnen	they / you (formal) live

💡

Pattern peek: most verbs follow one tidy set — stem + -e / -st / -t / -en / -t / -en. Notice wir and sie/Sie are identical to the base verb (-en), and er and ihr share -t. Learn this once and you can run hundreds of verbs.

Daily-routine verbs

The verbs you'll use to describe a normal day. Forms shown for ich / er; the 🔊 reads the infinitive.

Infinitive	English	ich / er
aufstehen	get up	stehe … auf / steht … auf
frühstücken	have breakfast	frühstücke / frühstückt
trinken	drink	trinke / trinkt
arbeiten	work	arbeite / arbeitet
kochen	cook	koche / kocht
spielen	play	spiele / spielt
hören	listen	höre / hört
schreiben	write	schreibe / schreibt
lesen	read	lese / liest
essen	eat	esse / isst

⚠️

English trap: German has just one present tense. Ich arbeite covers all three English versions: "I work," "I am working," and "I do work." Don't look for a German word for "am" or "do" — the single conjugated verb already says it.

The V2 rule — verb in second place

In a German statement, the conjugated verb is always the second idea. "First place" can be the subject or a time word — but whatever goes first, the verb still lands in slot 2 and the subject hops behind it.

1st idea	Verb (2nd)	…rest
Ich	stehe	um sieben Uhr auf.
Um sieben Uhr	stehe	ich auf.
Heute	arbeite	ich nicht.

💡

Notice: when a time word like Um sieben Uhr or Heute comes first, the subject (ich) moves to after the verb. The verb never moves — it's nailed to second place.

See it in action

Lena: "Was machst du heute?" 
Max: "Ich arbeite und dann koche ich." 
Lena: "Ich spiele Fußball und lese." 

Translation: "What are you doing today?" — "I work and then I cook." — "I play football and read."

⚡ Practice

Phase 4 · six quick rounds

Six short rounds, mixed formats. Don't worry about being perfect — a wrong answer just flags what to come back to.

📌 Forgot an ending? Your quick-reference cards are one tap away: — also pinned in the left rail.

1 / 6Conjugate the verb

Write the correct present-tense form of the verb in brackets.

1. Ich ___ Kaffee. (trinken)

2. Du ___ Fußball. (spielen)

3. Er ___ heute. (arbeiten)

4. Wir ___ Musik. (hören)

5. Sie ___ ein Buch. (schreiben)

2 / 6Tap the right form

Pick the verb form that matches the pronoun.

Er ___ in Berlin.

Du ___ das.

Wir ___ heute.

Ich ___ Fußball.

3 / 6Spot the wrong ending0 / 7 found

Below are 10 sentences. Some have the wrong verb ending; some are correct. Click every wrong verb you can spot — the counter tracks how many you've found. Clicking a correct one will just nudge you.

1. Ich Kaffee. → trinke

2. Du Fußball.

3. Er in Berlin. → wohnt

4. Wir heute.

5. Ich viel. → arbeite

6. Du das. → machst

7. Er Musik. → hört

8. Sie ein Buch.

9. Wir Fußball. → spielen

10. Ihr . → schreibt

0 / 7 mistakes found

4 / 6Match pronoun to form0 / 6

Pick the present-tense form of spielen ("to play") that goes with each pronoun.

ich …

du …

er / sie / es …

wir …

ihr …

sie / Sie …

5 / 6In context

Real sentences about a daily routine. Write the correct verb form (verb in brackets). Tap 🔊 to hear it.

1. Ich ___ um sieben Uhr auf. (aufstehen)

2. Du ___ Brot. (essen, irr.)

3. Heute ___ wir nichts. (machen)

4. Er ___ die Zeitung. (lesen, irr.)

6 / 6Describe your day—

Write three sentences about your day, each with a conjugated verb in second place. We won't grade this — just see it on the page.

Try: Ich frühstücke um acht Uhr. Dann arbeite ich…

Session 2 of 5

Trennbare Verben — Separable verbs

Phase 1 of 4 · 🔓 Unlock

~3 min

🔓 The verb that breaks in two

Phase 1 · notice the puzzle

Last session you met aufstehen — "to get up." But watch what happens to it inside a real sentence. Tap any word for a hint.

„Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. Dann kaufe ich ein.“

Tap any word for its meaning · tap ▶ to hear it spoken

💡

Spot it? The verb aufstehen has split in two: stehe takes its normal second-place spot, and the front piece auf flew all the way to the end. Same with einkaufen → kaufe … ein. One verb, two pieces — and the little prefix always lands last. That's the whole puzzle of this session.

🛠 Separable verbs

Phase 3 · the full picture

A separable verb is a normal verb with a small prefix glued to the front — auf + stehen = aufstehen. In a sentence it splits: the conjugated verb does its V2 job, and the prefix waits at the end.

The split rule — one picture

1st idea	Verb (2nd)	…rest…	prefix (end)
Ich	stehe	um sieben Uhr	auf.
Wir	kaufen	heute	ein.
Abends	sehe	ich	fern.

💡

Memory hook: think of the prefix as a balloon on a string. The verb holds the string in slot 2, but the balloon (auf, ein, fern) floats all the way up to the ceiling — the end of the sentence. The conjugated part still takes its normal Session-1 endings: ich stehe … auf, du stehst … auf, er steht … auf.

Core separable verbs

The everyday set. The 🔊 reads the joined infinitive; the right column shows how it splits.

Infinitive	English	ich / er (split)
aufstehen	get up	stehe … auf / steht … auf
aufwachen	wake up	wache … auf / wacht … auf
einkaufen	go shopping	kaufe … ein / kauft … ein
anrufen	call (phone)	rufe … an / ruft … an
mitkommen	come along	komme … mit / kommt … mit
fernsehen	watch TV	sehe … fern / sieht … fern
abfahren	depart	fahre … ab / fährt … ab
anfangen	begin	fange … an / fängt … an

Common separable prefixes: auf-, ein-, an-, aus-, mit-, fern-, zu-, ab-, vor-. The three at the bottom (fernsehen, abfahren, anfangen) also change their vowel in er/sie/es — you'll drill those fully in Session 4.

⚠️

English trap: English has these too — "wake up," "call back," "come along." The difference: German sends the little word all the way to the end of the sentence, not right after the verb. Ich rufe dich morgen an = "I'll call you back tomorrow."

See it in action

Lena: "Wann stehst du auf?" 
Max: "Ich stehe um sechs auf. Dann kaufe ich ein." 
Lena: "Kommst du heute Abend mit?" 

Translation: "When do you get up?" — "I get up at six. Then I go shopping." — "Are you coming along this evening?"

⚡ Practice

Phase 4 · six quick rounds

Six short rounds on separable verbs. A wrong answer just flags what to review.

📌 Forgot where the prefix goes? Your quick-reference cards are one tap away: — also pinned in the left rail.

1 / 6Split the verb

Put the separable verb in brackets into the sentence: the main part in slot 2, the prefix at the end. Two blanks each.

1. Ich ___ um acht Uhr ___. (aufstehen)

2. Wir ___ heute ___. (einkaufen)

3. Er ___ seine Mutter ___. (anrufen)

4. Abends ___ ich ___. (fernsehen)

5. ___ du ___? (mitkommen — you, informal)

2 / 6Tap the right form

Pick the conjugated main part that matches the pronoun. (The prefix is already at the end.)

Er ___ früh auf. (aufstehen)

Ich ___ heute ein. (einkaufen)

Du ___ ihn an? (anrufen)

Wir ___ mit. (mitkommen)

3 / 6Match verb to meaning0 / 5

Which English meaning matches each separable verb?

aufstehen

einkaufen

anrufen

fernsehen

mitkommen

4 / 6Spot the word-order mistake0 / 4 found

Below are 8 sentences. In some, the prefix stayed stuck to the verb (e.g. Ich aufstehe…) instead of flying to the end. Click every broken verb you can spot.

1. Ich um sieben Uhr. → Ich stehe … auf

2. Wir heute ein.

3. Er seine Mutter. → Er ruft … an

4. Abends ich fern.

5. Du ? → Kommst du … mit?

6. Ich um sechs auf.

7. Sie im Supermarkt. (she) → Sie kauft … ein

8. du heute Abend mit?

0 / 4 mistakes found

5 / 6In context

A little "my day" passage. Fill in the prefix that flew to the end. Tap 🔊 to hear the sentence.

1. Ich stehe um sieben Uhr ___. (aufstehen)

2. Dann kaufe ich im Supermarkt ___. (einkaufen)

3. Ich rufe meine Mutter ___. (anrufen)

4. Am Abend sehe ich ___. (fernsehen)

6 / 6Describe your morning—

Write three sentences about your morning, using at least two separable verbs. We won't grade this — just see it on the page.

Try: aufstehen, einkaufen, fernsehen — remember the prefix goes last.

Session 3 of 5

Wie spät ist es? — What time is it?

Phase 1 of 4 · 🔓 Unlock

~3 min

🔓 Read the clock

Phase 1 · the same day, now with times

You can already say what you do. Now — at what time? Here's a day on a timeline. Tap any line to hear it spoken. Don't worry about the words yet — just notice that German tells time a little differently.

🌅um sieben Uhr

Um sieben Uhr stehe ich auf.

☕um acht Uhr

Um acht Uhr frühstücke ich.

🍝halb eins

Halb eins esse ich Mittagessen.

🏠Viertel nach sechs

Viertel nach sechs bin ich zu Hause.

💡

A puzzle to keep in mind: look at halb eins — it means 12:30, not "half past one." German counts toward the next hour. Can you guess what halb neun means? You'll find out in the next phase.

🔍 um … Uhr, halb, Viertel

Phase 2 · notice before you're told

Here are four clock faces, all on the way to 9 o'clock. Read the German next to each, then watch what happens at the half hour.

Clock	German	English
8:00	um acht Uhr	at eight o'clock
8:15	Viertel nach acht	quarter past eight
8:30	halb neun	half past eight (lit. "half nine")
8:45	Viertel vor neun	quarter to nine

🔎

Spot the trap? For 8:30, German says halb neun — literally "half nine." It counts toward the next hour: "halfway to nine." So halb + an hour means 30 minutes before that hour, not after. This is the #1 time trap for English speakers.

So — using that rule — what time is halb zehn? (Hint: halfway to ten.)

halb zehn = ?

🛠 Telling time & days

Phase 3 · the full picture

Asking & saying the time

German	English
Wie spät ist es?	What time is it?
Es ist acht Uhr.	It is eight o'clock.
um acht Uhr	at eight o'clock (appointments)

Casual everyday time

Clock	German	How to read it
8:15	Viertel nach acht	quarter past (nach) eight
8:30	halb neun	half — to the next hour!
8:45	Viertel vor neun	quarter to (vor) nine

Official 24-hour time (timetables): 13:30 = dreizehn Uhr dreißig.

⚠️

Don't translate "half past" literally. "Half past eight" (8:30) is halb neun in German — nine, not eight. Always think "halfway to the next hour."

The days of the week (all der — masculine)

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Fun fact: Mittwoch ("mid-week") is the odd one out — the only day not named after a god or a celestial body. Most others line up with English: Montag = Moon-day, Sonntag = Sun-day.

🔑

Memory hook: "am" for days, "um" for clock times — am Montag (on Monday), um acht Uhr (at eight). And the V2 rule still holds: Am Montag arbeite ich. — the time comes first, the verb stays in slot 2.

See it in action

Lena: "Wie spät ist es?" 
Max: "Es ist halb neun. Um neun Uhr fange ich an." 
Lena: "Und am Samstag?" 
Max: "Am Samstag spiele ich Fußball." 

Translation: "What time is it?" — "It's half past eight. I start at nine." — "And on Saturday?" — "On Saturday I play football."

⚡ Practice

Phase 4 · five quick rounds

Five short rounds on clock time and days. A wrong answer just flags what to review.

📌 Forgot a time phrase or a day? Your quick-reference card is one tap away: — also pinned in the left rail.

1 / 5Match the clock0 / 6

Pick the German phrase that matches the clock time.

8:00

8:15

8:30

8:45

12:30

6:15

2 / 5Fill in the time

Write the casual German time. Remember: halb counts to the next hour.

1. Es ist ___. (8:30)

2. Es ist ___. (10:30)

3. Es ist ___. (7:15 — quarter past)

4. Es ist ___. (5:45 — quarter to)

5. Es ist ___. (12:30)

3 / 5am or um?

Fill the gap with am (for days) or um (for clock times).

1. ___ Montag arbeite ich.

2. ___ neun Uhr fange ich an.

3. ___ Samstag spiele ich Fußball.

4. Ich stehe ___ sieben Uhr auf.

5. ___ Sonntag koche ich.

4 / 5Spot the time mistake0 / 4 found

Below are 8 sentences. In some, the time or day word is wrong — a literal "half past" (halb on the wrong hour), or am/um mixed up. Click every broken word you can spot.

1. Es ist . (meant: 8:30) → halb neun

2. Am Montag ich.

3. acht Uhr frühstücke ich. (clock time) → Um acht Uhr …

4. Es ist . (6:15)

5. Es ist . (meant: 12:30) → halb eins

6. neun Uhr fange ich an.

7. Samstag spiele ich Fußball. (a day) → Am Samstag …

8. Es ist . (8:45)

0 / 4 mistakes found

5 / 5Plan your week—

Write three sentences about your week — what you do on which day, and at what time. Use am for days and um for times. We won't grade this — just see it on the page.

Try: am Montag, um acht Uhr, halb neun — verb stays in slot 2.

Session 4 of 5

Essen und Trinken — Food and drink

Phase 1 of 4 · 🔓 Unlock

~3 min

🔓 The breakfast table

Phase 1 · name what you can

It's morning. Here's a typical German breakfast table. How many of these can you name — in any language? Tap any word to hear it spoken aloud.

💡

Now meet two sneaky verbs hiding at this table. When I eat, it's ich esse. But when he eats… it becomes er isst — the vowel changes! Same with nehmen → er nimmt. This session you'll tame these vowel-changers and learn to order food and drink.

🔍 The vowel-changers

Phase 2 · notice before you're told

Here are four common verbs across ich → du → er. The endings are the same ones you already know (-e, -st, -t). But watch the middle vowel.

Verb	ich	du	er / sie / es
essen (eat)	esse	isst	isst
nehmen (take)	nehme	nimmst	nimmt
lesen (read)	lese	liest	liest
fahren (go/drive)	fahre	fährst	fährt

🔎

Spot it? A small group of common verbs change their stem vowel — but only in the du and er/sie/es forms: e → i/ie (essen→isst, nehmen→nimmt, lesen→liest) and a → ä (fahren→fährt). The endings stay 100% regular — only the vowel shifts.

So — using that rule — what's the er form of schlafen (to sleep)? (Hint: it's an a → ä verb.)

schlafen → er ?

🛠 Stem-changers & food

Phase 3 · the full picture

The two change patterns (du / er only)

Pattern	Examples (er form)
e → i	isst · nimmt · gibt · spricht
e → ie	liest · sieht · sieht fern
a → ä	fährt · schläft · fängt an

💡

"Boot-verbs" hook: only the du and er/sie/es forms — the middle of the conjugation table — change their vowel. ich, wir, ihr, sie/Sie stay plain. Draw a boot around the two changed forms.

Food & drink (with articles + plurals)

Colours show the gender: der · die · das. Learn each noun with its article.

German	English
das Brot / die Brötchen	bread / rolls
der Kaffee	coffee
der Tee	tea
die Milch	milk
der Saft	juice
das Wasser	water
das Ei / die Eier	egg / eggs
der Apfel / die Äpfel	apple / apples
die Suppe	soup
das Frühstück / Mittagessen / Abendessen	breakfast / lunch / dinner

⚠️

English trap: Ich nehme einen Kaffee. = "I'll have a coffee" — literally "I take a coffee." Germans take (nehmen) food and drink when ordering, where English says "have."

See it in action

Kellner: "Was möchten Sie?" 
Lena: "Ich nehme einen Kaffee und ein Brötchen, bitte." 
Max: "Und was isst du?" 
Lena: "Ich esse ein Ei. Er nimmt eine Suppe." 

Translation: "What would you like?" — "I'll have a coffee and a roll, please." — "And what are you eating?" — "I'm eating an egg. He's having a soup."

⚡ Practice

Phase 4 · five quick rounds

Five short rounds on stem-changing verbs and food. A wrong answer just flags what to review.

📌 Stuck? Your reference cards are one tap away: — also pinned in the left rail.

1 / 5Conjugate at the table

Fill the du / er form — remember the vowel changes in these two persons only.

1. essen: du ___ (e → i)

2. essen: er ___

3. nehmen: du ___ (e → i)

4. nehmen: er ___

5. lesen: er ___ (e → ie)

6. fahren: er ___ (a → ä)

2 / 5Spot the vowel0 / 4

Pick the correct du / er form.

er + essen

du + nehmen

sie + lesen

er + fahren

3 / 5Spot the mistake0 / 5 found

Below are 8 sentences. In some, a stem-changing verb has the wrong vowel (or no change where there should be one). Click every broken verb.

1. Er ein Ei. (eat) → isst

2. Ich Brot.

3. Sie einen Kaffee. (take) → nimmt

4. Wir eine Suppe.

5. Er die Zeitung. (read) → liest

6. Du einen Apfel.

7. Sie nach Berlin. (a → ä) → fährt

8. Was du? (du form) → nimmst

0 / 5 mistakes found

4 / 5Order a meal

Complete each order with nehme or the right food word. Tap 🔊 to hear the line.

1. Ich ___ einen Kaffee, bitte. (take)

2. Ich nehme ein ___ . (roll)

3. „Was möchten Sie?" — „Ich nehme eine ___ ." (soup)

4. Er ___ einen Saft. (take — er form)

5 / 5What do you eat?—

Write three sentences about your meals — what you eat and drink for breakfast, lunch and dinner. German only. We won't grade it.

Try: ich esse · ich trinke · ich nehme — verb stays in slot 2.

Session 5 of 5

Meine Freizeit — My free time

Phase 1 of 4 · 🔓 Unlock

~4 min

🔓 Who likes what?

Phase 1 · meet the free-time crowd

Three people, three hobbies. Read what each one loves doing (tap any word for its meaning), then learn the tiny words that flip a sentence from "I do" to "I love doing" — and to "I don't do that at all."

⚽ Anna: Ich spiele gern Fußball. 
🎸 Tobias: Ich spiele Gitarre. 
🏊 Lena: Ich schwimme gern, aber ich tanze nicht. 

Tap any word for its meaning · tap ▶ to hear it spoken

Look at Lena's sentence. Which hobby does she like, and which does she not do?

Lena…

💡

Two little words did all the work: gern (= "like doing") and nicht (= "not"). German has no separate verb for "to like doing" — it just drops gern after the verb. Let's find out exactly where these words sit.

🛠 Hobby verbs & negation

Phase 3 · the pieces in full

Step 1 · Hobby & free-time verbs

Most are regular. Two are stem-changers (from Session 4) — the vowel shifts only in du / er.

German	English	Note
spielen	play	regular
schwimmen	swim	regular
tanzen	dance	regular
singen	sing	regular
kochen	cook	regular
reisen	travel	regular
laufen	run / jog	a→ä: er läuft
lesen	read	e→ie: er liest

Step 2 · gern / nicht / nicht gern

German	Meaning
Ich schwimme gern.	I like swimming.
Ich tanze nicht.	I do not dance.
Ich koche nicht gern.	I don't like cooking.
Ich spiele lieber Tennis.	I prefer tennis. (recognise only)

gern goes right after the verb; nicht goes at the end (or just before what it negates).

⚠️

English trap — kein vs. nicht (recap from A1.2): use kein before a noun (Ich habe keine Zeit = I have no time); use nicht for everything else (Ich spiele nicht = I don't play). Noun → kein, anything else → nicht.

💡

Fun fact: gern is one of the most "German" little words — there's no neat one-word English match. Ich esse gern Pizza = "I like eating pizza," but literally "I eat gladly pizza." Sprinkle gern everywhere and you sound instantly more natural.

Put it together — a mini-dialogue

Lena: Was machst du in deiner Freizeit? 
Max: Ich spiele gern Fußball und ich lese gern. Aber ich tanze nicht! 
Lena: Ich koche nicht gern — ich schwimme lieber! 

⚡ Practice

Phase 4 · the final five rounds

Five rounds on hobbies and negation. Finish these and the whole A1.3 unit is yours.

📌 Need a refresher? Your cards are one tap away: — also pinned in the left rail.

1 / 5Add gern0 / 5

Each person likes doing this. Drop the little word that says so right after the verb. (Type gern.)

1. Ich spiele ___ Fußball. (like playing)

2. Er schwimmt ___ . (likes swimming)

3. Wir singen ___ . (like singing)

4. Sie liest ___ . (likes reading)

5. Ich tanze ___ . (like dancing)

2 / 5Make it negative0 / 5

Add not in the right spot — at the end of the sentence (or just before what it negates). (Type nicht.)

1. Ich tanze ___ . (I don't dance)

2. Er kocht ___ . (he doesn't cook)

3. Wir reisen ___ . (we don't travel)

4. Sie schwimmt ___ . (she doesn't swim)

5. Ich bin ___ müde. (I'm not tired)

3 / 5kein or nicht?0 / 4

Tap the negative that fits. The rule: kein- before a noun, nicht for everything else.

Ich habe ___ . (no time)

Ich spiele Tennis ___ . (don't play)

Ich habe ___ . (no brother)

Ich tanze ___ . (don't dance)

4 / 5Spot the mistake0 / 5 found

Below are 8 sentences. In some, gern or nicht is in the wrong position; some are correct. Click every misplaced word.

1. Ich spiele Fußball. → spiele gern

2. Er tanzt .

3. Wir schwimmen. → schwimmen gern

4. Sie liest .

5. Du läufst. → läufst nicht

6. Ich singe .

7. Er kocht. → kocht nicht

8. Ich reise. → reise gern

0 / 5 mistakes found

5 / 5Describe your free time—

The finish line: write 3 sentences about your hobbies — use gern for something you like and nicht for something you don't. We won't grade it — this one's for you.

Aim for at least one gern and one nicht.

Session 2 of 5 · Locked preview

Woher kommst du? — Where are you from?

Same shape as Session 1

Every session in this unit follows the same four-phase rhythm: 🔓 Unlock → 🔍 Discover → 🛠 Build → ⚡ Sprint. Once you complete Session 1, this session unlocks with full content.

What you'll learn here

Was ich jeden Tag mache What I do every day

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to

Das Alphabet & die Aussprache — The alphabet & pronunciation

🔤 The German alphabet

🔡 The four letters English doesn't have

🔠 Every noun is capitalised

⌨️ Typing ä, ö, ü and ß

Mein Tag — My day

🔓 A day in one breath

🔍 The verb changes its ending

🛠 Present tense & V2 word order

Daily-routine verbs

The V2 rule — verb in second place

See it in action

⚡ Practice

Session 1 complete

Trennbare Verben — Separable verbs

🔓 The verb that breaks in two

🔍 Where does the prefix go?

🛠 Separable verbs

The split rule — one picture

Core separable verbs

See it in action

⚡ Practice

Session 2 complete

Wie spät ist es? — What time is it?

🔓 Read the clock

🔍 um … Uhr, halb, Viertel

🛠 Telling time & days

Asking & saying the time

Casual everyday time

The days of the week (all der — masculine)

See it in action

⚡ Practice

Session 3 complete

Essen und Trinken — Food and drink

🔓 The breakfast table

🔍 The vowel-changers

🛠 Stem-changers & food

The two change patterns (du / er only)

Food & drink (with articles + plurals)

See it in action

⚡ Practice

Session 4 complete

Meine Freizeit — My free time

🔓 Who likes what?

🔍 gern & nicht

Plain

With gern / nicht

🛠 Hobby verbs & negation

Step 1 · Hobby & free-time verbs

Step 2 · gern / nicht / nicht gern

Put it together — a mini-dialogue

⚡ Practice

A1.3 complete — Mein Alltag!

Woher kommst du? — Where are you from?

Same shape as Session 1

Reference