A1 German roadmap: what to learn first, and in what order

At A1 you learn to introduce yourself, ask and answer simple questions, and handle everyday situations such as shopping, ordering food or making an appointment. The grammar you need for that is limited, and the order you learn it in makes a real difference. This plan starts with sounds and the present tense, adds articles and the accusative, and ends with the Perfekt, so that each step builds on the one before.

What A1 means

In the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), A1 is the first level. A learner at A1 can understand and use familiar everyday expressions, introduce themselves and others, and ask and answer questions about where they live, people they know and things they have. They can talk with someone who speaks slowly and clearly and is ready to help.

That is less than many learners expect, and it makes planning easier. You do not need the genitive, the passive or adjective endings at this stage. You need a solid core.

At roughly 150 hours of study, A1 takes about five months at one hour a day. The post on how long it takes to learn German has the figures.

Step 1: sounds, greetings and numbers

Start by learning how German letters are pronounced, so that you read new words correctly from the beginning. Then learn greetings, how to say your name and where you are from, the numbers up to 100, the days of the week and how to spell your name with the German alphabet. Spelling a name aloud is part of the A1 speaking exam, and it is useful at every reception desk.

The post on German pronunciation covers the sounds that English does not have.

Step 2: present tense, sein and haben

Learn the personal pronouns and the present tense of regular verbs: ich wohne, du wohnst, er wohnt. Then learn the two most important irregular verbs, sein (to be) and haben (to have), until you can use them without thinking. Add the common verbs whose vowel changes, such as fahren, essen, sprechen and lesen.

At this point, also decide when to use du and when Sie. The post on du or Sie explains the usual rules.

Step 3: nouns, articles and plurals

Every noun has a gender, so learn der, die and das with each new word from now on. Learn ein and eine, the negative kein, and the difference between kein and nicht. Learn the plural of each noun together with its article: der Tisch, die Tische.

The pages on articles, noun gender and plural forms cover this, and the post on der, die or das shows the endings that make gender easier to guess.

Step 4: word order and questions

Learn that the verb comes second in a statement, also when the sentence starts with a time expression: Heute arbeite ich. Then learn questions with wer, was, wo, woher, wann, wie and yes/no questions with the verb first. With steps 2 to 4 in place you can already have a simple conversation about yourself.

See sentence structure, questions and the post on German word order.

Step 5: the accusative and possessives

The accusative is the first case beyond the dictionary form, and at A1 it mainly means one change: masculine der and ein become den and einen when the noun is the object. Ich habe einen Bruder. Ich kaufe den Tisch. Learn the possessives mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser with the same endings.

See accusative and possessive pronouns. The post on the four German cases gives the overview.

Step 6: modal verbs

können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen and möchten let you say what you can, must and would like to do, and they introduce the sentence bracket: the modal verb in position two, the infinitive at the end. Ich möchte einen Kaffee trinken. With möchte you can order in any café. See modal verbs.

Step 7: separable verbs and time

Many everyday verbs have a prefix that moves to the end of the sentence: aufstehen, anrufen, einkaufen, fernsehen. Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. Learn them together with telling the time and describing your daily routine. See separable verbs.

Step 8: the imperative and polite requests

The imperative is how you give instructions and make requests: Komm bitte! Kommen Sie bitte! Learn the forms for du, ihr and Sie, and the polite question forms with können. See imperative and the post on polite requests in German.

Step 9: the first dative prepositions

You do not need the whole dative system at A1, but you do need a few fixed patterns: mit dem Bus, bei meiner Familie, zum Arzt, nach Hause, aus England. Learn them as phrases first. The rules can come later. See prepositions with the dative.

Step 10: the Perfekt

The Perfekt is the past tense of spoken German: Ich habe gearbeitet. Wir sind nach Berlin gefahren. Learn how the past participle is formed, which verbs take sein, and the participles of the most common irregular verbs. With the Perfekt you can talk about your weekend, which is a standard A1 task. See Perfekt and the list of verbs with sein in the Perfekt.

Vocabulary topics for A1

Alongside the grammar, build vocabulary around the topics that come up in everyday life and in A1 exams:

The list of basic German vocabulary has the most frequent words with articles and plurals. For listening practice, short dialogues work best: Im Café, In der Bäckerei and Nach dem Weg fragen all use A1 language.

How to check that you are ready

You have reached A1 when you can do these things without preparing in advance: introduce yourself for a minute, fill in a form with your personal details, write a short message to a friend or a colleague, order in a café, and ask a stranger for directions and understand the answer if it is spoken slowly.

The grammar tests on this site follow the same topics as this roadmap, so they are a quick way to find gaps. The tests page lists them by topic. If you are planning to take an exam, the post on the Goethe-Zertifikat A1 explains each part of the test.

Written by: Fatih Ün, German teacher · Last updated: 9 November 2026