Guten Tag!

Let’s warm up with a brief bit of small talk (Tagesminiplausch ).

Lektionsüberblick (Lesson overview)

In this first lesson, we are working on introducing ourselves. In the end, you will be able to 1) greet someone in German, 2) say your name, and 3) say your pronouns. Let’s get started!

1) How to greet someone in German

You don’t know it, but you already know a lot of German. Since English is a Germanic language, you can recognize many words. Plus, by looking at the texts below, you can use your expectation to anticipate what is being said, even if you don’t understand all the individual words. Can you tell which word is the greeting in each text? Use the activity beneath the texts to see if you are correct.

	Grüß Gott, ich heiße Yasmin. Ich bin 21 Jahre alt und komme aus München.
	Hallo! ich heiße Johannes. Ich bin 16 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Stuttgart.
	Servus, ich heiße Max und ich bin 34 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus New York, aber ich wohne jetzt in Wien.
	Guten Tag, ich heiße Julia und komme aus Hamburg. Ich bin 28 Jahre alt.

Now watch this introductory video for an overview of the most common greetings. Repeat the greetings aloud. To increase retention, it is important to say them aloud and not just think them.

As you read the following comic, notice what they say and when (at what time) each pair uses their greetings. Can you see the change throughout the day?

Do you remember when you can use which greeting? Check below by sorting the greetings under the right time of day (drag and drop). Some greetings can be sorted into more than one category.

The linked video from Easy German takes you to the streets in Germany. A groups of Swedish students learning German ask people how they greet specific kinds of people. The video has both German and English subtitles. Which greetings do you recognize?

Did anything surprise you about people’s responses? Record your thoughts in your journal.

2) How to say your name

Once you’ve greeted your conversation partner appropriately, you will either directly introduce yourself or you respond to the other person asking for your name. Let’s go!

Can you tell which sentence introduces each person?  Use the activity beneath the texts to see if you are correct.

	Grüß Gott, ich heiße Yasmin. Ich bin 21 Jahre alt und komme aus München.
	Hallo! ich heiße Johannes. Ich bin 16 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Stuttgart.
	Servus, ich heiße Max und ich bin 34 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus New York, aber ich wohne jetzt in Wien.
	Guten Tag, ich heiße Julia und komme aus Hamburg. Ich bin 28 Jahre alt.

We are back on the streets of Germany. You can watch the first 25 seconds of this linked video to hear how these German speakers introduce themselves.

Did you catch it? Only one person, a non-native speaker, used the literal translation of “my name is…” instead of “ich heiße…”

3) How to say your pronouns

Part of addressing someone respectfully is using their correct pronouns. If you want to be referred to correctly, you can offer your pronouns when you introduce yourself. Here are some:

*There is no commonly accepted gender-neutral pronoun in German like the singular “they” in English. The grammatically neutral pronoun “es” is not used for people (unless a person chooses to use it for themselves). Instead, there is a large variety of potential gender neutral pronouns. This book will use “xier/xiem”, which has been in use for more than 10 years.

Some non-binary Germans opt out of pronouns altogether (one would then always just say their name) or they use the English they/them. Since the English “th” sound does not exist in German, this can sometimes sound more like “dey/dem“.

If you want to read more about this topic, you can read comic artist and author Illi Anna Heger’s blog post Pronouns (in English). This webpage (in German) shows the impressive variety of pronoun variations. This video report from 2019 produced by Der Standard discusses this complex topic in Germany.

*As you conclude this lesson, don’t forget to check Canvas!*

Before you go, check out 20 other ways to greet a friend in German, as presented by fitness trainer, Daniel Daya.

20 Begrüßungen

Media Attributions

• Greetings text and images adapted from Grenzenlos Deutsch, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License.
• “Ich heiße” text and images adapted from Grenzenlos Deutsch, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License
• .20 Begrüßungen Video by Daniel Daya, licensed under CC BY International License.