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German words explain themselves
German has a reputation for long words, but those long words are usually just short words glued together; once you learn the building blocks, you can decode new vocabulary on sight.
Handschuh (glove) = Hand (hand) + Schuh (shoe). It's a shoe for your hand.
Krankenhaus (hospital) = krank (sick) + Haus (house). A house for sick people.
Kühlschrank (refrigerator) = kühl (cool) + Schrank (cupboard). A cool cupboard.
This pattern runs through the entire language. Learn a few hundred common root words and you'll recognize thousands of compounds. The flashcards below include foundational words like Haus, Wasser, Zeit, and Arbeit that appear in dozens of everyday compounds.
What's in each deck
Deck 1: Everyday Essentials: Greetings (hallo, danke, bitte), numbers (eins, zwei, zehn), basic questions (wer, was, wann), and time words (heute, morgen, gestern). The vocabulary you need for your first conversation.
Deck 2: Food, Drink & Shopping: Restaurant vocabulary (Rechnung, Kellner, bestellen), grocery items (Brot, Milch, Fleisch), and money terms (kosten, bezahlen). Covers the transactional language you use every day.
Deck 3: People, Places & Getting Around: Family terms (Mutter, Vater, Kind), directions (links, rechts, geradeaus), transport (Zug, Bus), and buildings (Bahnhof, Apotheke). The nouns and verbs you need to navigate a German-speaking city.
Deck 4: Describing Your World: Adjectives (groß, klein, schön), weather (Wetter, Regen, Sonne), colors (rot, blau, grün), and emotions (glücklich, müde). The descriptive vocabulary that lets you move beyond simple statements.
Gender patterns you can actually use
German has three grammatical genders, but noun endings give you strong hints:
- -ung is always feminine: die Rechnung (bill), die Wohnung (apartment), die Zeitung (newspaper)
- -heit and -keit are always feminine: die Freiheit (freedom), die Möglichkeit (possibility)
- -chen and -lein are always neuter: das Mädchen (girl), das Brötchen (bread roll)
These patterns cover hundreds of nouns. When you learn a new -ung word, you automatically know it takes die; no memorization required. Knowing these patterns helps you guess gender for new words.
Next steps
Once you've browsed the decks, check out the German learning resources hub for grammar guides, pronunciation tips, and study strategies.
To build vocabulary faster, read How to learn vocabulary fast. It covers active recall techniques that work better than passive review.
Using spaced repetition? Avoid spaced repetition burnout explains how to keep your review queue manageable as your deck grows.