What one lesson looks like, from the opening idea to the closing proverb.
Every lesson opens with the single insight the rest of it hangs on.
Every German greeting reports three things at once: what time it is, how well you know the person, and whether you are arriving or leaving.
A lesson is built from concepts, and every concept opens with its rule, in plain English with the pronunciation written as you would say it.
Hallo [ha-lo] is your everyday greeting: friends, colleagues you are comfortable with, anyone in a relaxed setting. It works at any hour.
Every concept hands the question back to you before it closes. The answer waits behind the button.
You are being introduced to your new German teacher for the first time. What do you say?
Then the checkpoint, explained whichever way you answer. Pick one.
Which greeting is appropriate when introduced to a stranger in a professional setting?
The rule at work: real sentences, and the shape drawn out where a rule has one.
Sounds and patterns hooked to something you already know.
Say the word "bits" out loud. Hold onto that final [ts] and you have the German z. Every time you see a z in German, hear "bits" in your head first, then drop the "bi."
Where English speakers reliably trip, marked as you read.
Nothing grammatically wrong happens if you greet your best friend with Guten Tag. It lands the way "Good day to you, sir" would land on a close friend in English: correct, but stiff.
At the end of the lesson, everything its concepts taught is gathered into one table you can come back to.
| Phrase | Arriving or leaving | How formal | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hallo | Arriving | Informal | Everywhere |
| Guten Tag | Arriving | Formal | Everywhere, all day |
| Gute Nacht | Leaving | Either | Bedtime only |
| Auf Wiederhören | Leaving | Formal | On the phone |
Every word from the lesson. Read them through, then switch to practice and type them back from memory.
Good day / Hello
Guten Tag, Frau Bauer!
Formal, all-day greeting
Good day / Hello
Seven rounds, each testing the same material a different way. This one is round two.
One word is wrong. Tap the correct replacement.
Gute Nacht, Lukas!
Gute Nacht is for bedtime, not arrival. Guten Abend fits an evening arrival.
Each lesson ends on a German proverb, and across all eighty-six of them no proverb is used twice.
Wie man in den Wald hineinruft, so schallt es heraus.
As you call into the forest, so the echo answers.