The 100 Most Common German Words

These are the 100 most common German words, ranked by how often they appear in real German text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	der	dair	the (definite article)
2	und	oont	and
3	sein	zine	be
4	in	in	in
5	ein	ine	one
6	zu	tsoo	to
7	haben	HAH-ben	have
8	ich	ikh	I
9	werden	VAIR-den	become
10	sie	zee	they
11	von	fon	from
12	nicht	nikht	not (negation)
13	mit	mit	with
14	es	es	it
15	sich	zikh	self
16	auch	owkh	too
17	auf	owf	on
18	für	fewr	for
19	an	ahn	on
20	er	air	he
21	so	zoh	so
22	dass	dahs	that (conjunction)
23	können	KURN-en	can
24	dies	dees	this
25	als	ahls	than
26	ihr	eer	their
27	wie	vee	how
28	bei	by	near
29	oder	OH-der	or
30	wir	veer	we
31	aber	AH-ber	but
32	dann	dahn	then
33	man	mahn	people
34	da	dah	there
35	mein	mine	my
36	du	doo	you
37	nach	nahkh	after
38	wenn	ven	when
39	also	AHL-zoh	therefore
40	aus	ows	out
41	noch	nokh	still
42	um	oom	around
43	Jahr	yar	year
44	machen	MAHKH-en	do
45	nur	noor	only
46	über	EW-ber	about
47	sehen	ZAY-en	see
48	gehen	GAY-en	go
49	sagen	ZAH-gen	say
50	Zeit	tsite	time
51	kommen	KOM-men	come
52	wollen	VOL-len	want
53	jetzt	yetst	now
54	immer	IM-mer	always
55	sehr	zair	very
56	hier	heer	here
57	doch	dokh	yet / after all (particle)
58	gut	goot	good
59	wissen	VIS-sen	know (facts)
60	sollen	ZOL-len	should
61	müssen	MEWS-sen	must
62	geben	GAY-ben	give
63	kein	kine	no / not a
64	viel	feel	much / many
65	mehr	mair	more
66	schon	shohn	already
67	vor	for	before / in front of
68	durch	doorkh	through
69	ganz	gahnts	whole / quite
70	bis	bis	until
71	wieder	VEE-der	again
72	unter	OON-ter	under
73	stehen	SHTAY-en	stand
74	jeder	YAY-der	each / every
75	Beispiel	BY-shpeel	example
76	zwei	tsvy	two
77	wo	voh	where
78	weil	vile	because
79	gegen	GAY-gen	against
80	neu	noy	new
81	Leben	LAY-ben	life
82	etwas	ET-vahs	something
83	lassen	LAHS-sen	let / leave
84	tun	toon	do (perform)
85	groß	grohs	big
86	selbst	zelpst	self / even
87	denn	den	because / then (particle)
88	alle	AH-leh	all
89	finden	FIN-den	find
90	nehmen	NAY-men	take
91	Land	lahnt	country / land
92	Frau	frow	woman / Mrs
93	Mann	mahn	man (adult male)
94	Tag	tahk	day
95	heute	HOY-teh	today
96	nein	nine	no
97	denken	DENG-ken	think
98	heißen	HY-sen	be called
99	Welt	velt	world
100	bleiben	BLY-ben	stay / remain

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Ranked by lemma frequency in published German corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about German words

How many German words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak German?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this German word list come from?

From published German word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.