German A1 Core Vocabulary: 300 Words With Gender and Plural

A German noun without its gender is half a word. Every card here carries both halves.

300 cardsLast updated 2026-08-17

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The reason a German word list stops working is that German words carry information English words do not. Haus on its own tells you nothing you can build a sentence with — you need das, and you need Häuser, and without them you will guess the article every single time you speak. The same goes for verbs: knowing that sprechen means to speak does not warn you that du sprichst changes its vowel, or that helfen takes the dative. This deck covers 300 A1 words and phrases, and every card carries what the word actually needs: the article and plural for nouns, the vowel change or irregular form for verbs, the case for prepositions, and an original German sentence with its translation. Cards are tagged by theme — people, home, travel, food, health, time, questions — and by part of speech, so you can drill only nouns, or only the modal verbs. Import it and the deck joins your spaced-repetition schedule, so what stays in rotation is the set whose gender or form you still have to guess.

What happens when you add it

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What's inside

Showing 100 representative cards from the full 300-card deck.

Front	Back
Hallo — what does it mean?	hello. The all-purpose greeting, any time of day.
Guten Tag — what does it mean?	good day. The standard polite greeting from mid-morning onwards.
Gute Nacht — what does it mean?	good night. A farewell before bed, never a greeting.
Auf Wiedersehen — what does it mean?	goodbye. Formal; used in shops and offices.
Danke — what does it mean?	thank you. Danke schön and vielen Dank are warmer.
Es tut mir leid — what does it mean?	I am sorry. For a real apology, not for squeezing past someone.
Mir geht es gut — what does it mean?	I am fine. The standard reply, usually with danke added.
Wie heißen Sie? — what does it mean?	What is your name? (formal).
Ja — what does it mean?	yes. Doch is a special yes that contradicts a negative question.
Ich verstehe nicht — what does it mean?	I do not understand. Say it early rather than nodding along.
Langsamer, bitte — what does it mean?	slower, please. The single most useful phrase for a beginner.
Was bedeutet das? — what does it mean?	What does that mean?. Point at the word while asking.
Ich — what does it mean?	I. Only capitalised at the start of a sentence, unlike English.
Sie (formal) — what does it mean?	you (formal). Always capitalised.
wir — what does it mean?	we. Verb ends in -en, the same as the infinitive.
der Mann — what does it mean?	man. Masculine; plural die Männer.
der Freund — what does it mean?	friend (male); boyfriend. Masculine; plural die Freunde.
die Mutter — what does it mean?	mother. Feminine; plural die Mütter.
der Bruder — what does it mean?	brother. Masculine; plural die Brüder.
der Kollege — what does it mean?	colleague (male). Masculine; adds -n in most cases: dem Kollegen.
sein — what does it mean?	to be. Highly irregular present forms are ich bin, du bist, er ist, wir sind.
werden — what does it mean?	to become. Irregular present forms are ich werde, du wirst, er wird.
kommen — what does it mean?	to come. Regular in the present; past kam.
sagen — what does it mean?	to say. Fully regular.
lesen — what does it mean?	to read. Vowel change e to ie in du liest, er liest.
nehmen — what does it mean?	to take. Irregular present forms are du nimmst, er nimmt.
fahren — what does it mean?	to drive, to travel. Vowel change a to ä in du fährst, er fährt.
laufen — what does it mean?	to run, to walk. Vowel change au to äu: du läufst, er läuft.
können — what does it mean?	can, to be able to. Modal verb with ich kann, du kannst, and the second verb goes to the end.
möchten — what does it mean?	would like. Polite form of mögen, with ich möchte, du möchtest.
dürfen — what does it mean?	may, to be allowed to. Modal verb with ich darf, du darfst.
arbeiten — what does it mean?	to work. Adds an e before the ending: du arbeitest.
schreiben — what does it mean?	to write. Regular in the present; past schrieb.
antworten — what does it mean?	to answer. Adds an e before the ending; takes the dative.
suchen — what does it mean?	to look for. Fully regular; no preposition needed.
öffnen — what does it mean?	to open. Adds an e before the ending: du öffnest.
kaufen — what does it mean?	to buy. Fully regular.
trinken — what does it mean?	to drink. Regular in the present; past trank.
wohnen — what does it mean?	to live, to reside. Fully regular.
spielen — what does it mean?	to play. Fully regular; used for games, sport and instruments.
bleiben — what does it mean?	to stay. Regular in the present; takes sein in the perfect.
das Zimmer — what does it mean?	room. Neuter; plural die Zimmer, unchanged.
das Bad — what does it mean?	bathroom. Neuter; plural die Bäder.
das Fenster — what does it mean?	window. Neuter; plural die Fenster, unchanged.
das Bett — what does it mean?	bed. Neuter; plural die Betten.
das Licht — what does it mean?	light. Neuter; plural die Lichter.
die Stadt — what does it mean?	city, town. Feminine; plural die Städte.
die Straße — what does it mean?	street. Feminine; plural die Straßen.
der Bahnhof — what does it mean?	railway station. Masculine; plural die Bahnhöfe.
die Haltestelle — what does it mean?	stop (bus or tram). Feminine; plural die Haltestellen.
das Auto — what does it mean?	car. Neuter; plural die Autos.
die Fahrkarte — what does it mean?	ticket. Feminine; plural die Fahrkarten.
der Pass — what does it mean?	passport. Masculine; plural die Pässe.
das Geschäft — what does it mean?	shop; business. Neuter; plural die Geschäfte.
der Preis — what does it mean?	price; prize. Masculine; plural die Preise.
die Karte — what does it mean?	card; map; menu. Feminine; plural die Karten.
der Kaffee — what does it mean?	coffee. Masculine; plural die Kaffees.
das Obst — what does it mean?	fruit. Neuter; a collective noun with no plural.
das Frühstück — what does it mean?	breakfast. Neuter; frühstücken is the verb.
der Arzt — what does it mean?	doctor. Masculine; plural die Ärzte.
die Schmerzen — what does it mean?	pain. Plural in everyday use; singular der Schmerz.
der Tag — what does it mean?	day. Masculine; plural die Tage.
die Minute — what does it mean?	minute. Feminine; plural die Minuten.
heute — what does it mean?	today. It combines freely, so heute Abend is this evening.
jetzt — what does it mean?	now. Sofort means immediately.
nie — what does it mean?	never. Niemals is the emphatic form.
Montag — what does it mean?	Monday. Masculine; am Montag means on Monday.
eins — what does it mean?	one. Becomes ein before a noun: ein Buch.
zehn — what does it mean?	ten. It is the base for the teens, as in sechzehn, siebzehn.
gut — what does it mean?	good. Irregular comparative besser, superlative am besten.
klein — what does it mean?	small. Regular comparative kleiner.
teuer — what does it mean?	expensive. Drops an e before an ending: ein teures Auto.
warm — what does it mean?	warm. Comparative wärmer.
Es regnet — what does it mean?	it is raining. Impersonal es plus the verb regnen.
der Schnee — what does it mean?	snow. Masculine; no plural.
falsch — what does it mean?	wrong. Also means fake.
möglich — what does it mean?	possible. Unmöglich is impossible.
zufrieden — what does it mean?	satisfied. Takes mit for what you are satisfied with.
nett — what does it mean?	nice, kind. Used of people far more than of things.
langweilig — what does it mean?	boring. Related to lang and Weile, long while.
nur — what does it mean?	only. Sits directly before what it limits.
kein — what does it mean?	no, not a. Negates a noun; declines like ein.
und — what does it mean?	and. Does not change the word order.
dass — what does it mean?	that. Sends the verb to the end of the clause.
wer — what does it mean?	who. Wen is the accusative, wem the dative.
warum — what does it mean?	why. Weshalb and wieso mean the same.
in — what does it mean?	in, into. Dative for location, accusative for direction.
neben — what does it mean?	next to. Dative for location, accusative for direction.
für — what does it mean?	for. Always takes the accusative.
bei — what does it mean?	at, near. Dative; also used for at someone's place.
links — what does it mean?	left, on the left. Nach links means to the left.
nah — what does it mean?	near. In der Nähe is the common phrase for nearby.
Was kostet das? — what does it mean?	How much is that?. Wie viel kostet das? works too.
Guten Appetit — what does it mean?	enjoy your meal. Said before eating, by everyone at the table.
Rufen Sie die Polizei — what does it mean?	call the police. The emergency number in Germany is 112.
das Büro — what does it mean?	office. Neuter; plural die Büros.
das Buch — what does it mean?	book. Neuter; plural die Bücher.
das Internet — what does it mean?	internet. Neuter; im Internet means on the internet.
die Musik — what does it mean?	music. Feminine; no plural in everyday use.
die Zeitung — what does it mean?	newspaper. Feminine; plural die Zeitungen.

Frequently asked

Does importing this deck use my AI allowance?

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Can I edit the cards after importing?

Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.

What is in the deck?

104 nouns, 49 verbs, 36 adjectives, 31 adverbs, 37 ready-made phrases, 15 prepositions and 9 pronouns, plus numerals, conjunctions and determiners, 300 in total. One entry per card, so nothing appears twice.

Do the noun cards show gender and plural?

Yes, on every one. The front shows the noun with its article, and the back names the gender and the plural form. Learning a German noun without its article is the single most common way beginners build a vocabulary they cannot use, so the deck never separates them.

Does it cover grammar?

Not as rules, but the cards carry the grammar each word needs: which vowel a verb changes, which case a preposition takes, whether a conjunction sends the verb to the end. That is the part you have to recall while speaking. A grammar book will explain why; these cards make the forms automatic.

Is this enough for the A1 exam?

It covers the vocabulary layer thoroughly. Import it and open it daily, and the only entries that come up are the ones whose form you cannot yet produce. Spend the time that frees up on listening practice and on the speaking tasks, which no word list can substitute for.

Editorial method and sources

Memly's editors use the primary sources below to check scope and terminology, then independently write and review the cards.

Europass (European Commission): CEFR self-assessment grid