Thema 3: Der ganze Mensch

When you are getting to know a German speaker, there will probably come a time when you want to describe people – yourself, your family and friends, other people you see. In this third topic of our introductory course, we will work through some simple phrases which will allow you to describe a person inside and out.

One of the tricky parts of starting any language is figuring out which words are the most important to learn. This difficulty increases when you encounter topics with a wide variety of vocabulary – like those in this Thema – without going into much depth. As you work through this (and future) topics, keep in mind that you are building both your active (the things you can say) and your passive vocabulary (the things you can understand, but not necessarily produce). As you see long lists of characteristics, feelings, physical descriptions, and clothing, be sure to focus on learning (i.e. committing to memory) the words most relevant to you. Much of the rest of each list should hopefully become passive vocabulary. You can increase this likelihood by reviewing these words as one group of words separate from other groups, instead of mixing lists.

At the end of this topic, you will be able to talk about your feelings (Gefühle) and characteristics (Eigenschaften) and you will be able to describe your physical appearance (Körperbeschreibung) and name your clothing (Kleidung).