How do you get to A1 German from zero?

A1 is the first of six levels on the CEFR, the European scale that runs from A1 for beginners to C2. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, and ask for things, prices and times, as long as the other person speaks slowly and helps you.¹ It is a small, practical amount of German, and you can get there on your own.

Getting there from zero comes down to four things:

Pick one course as your backbone, such as Nicos Weg, the free video course from Deutsche Welle (DW, Germany’s international broadcaster), or a textbook made for self-study.
Learn the core grammar and about 650 everyday words. The grammar is mostly about building a simple sentence, and you learn every noun with its der, die or das.
Listen and speak from the first week, even badly.
If you need a certificate, book the exam early and work through a free official practice exam first.

The Goethe-Institut puts A1 at 60 to 150 hours of lessons, which is two to five months at an hour a day. For the whole path after A1, see the German learning roadmap.

What does A1 German actually mean, and what can you do at A1?

At A1 you can read signs and short notices, fill in a form with your name and address, write a short message, and get through simple exchanges like these:¹

Ich heiße Anna und komme aus Spanien. (My name is Anna, and I’m from Spain.)
Wo ist der Bahnhof? (Where is the train station?)
Ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte. (I’d like a coffee, please.)

Finishing an A1 course is not the same as doing these things easily. Learners who had just finished one describe still building each sentence slowly, and following the gist of a video but not every line. That is normal. A1 assumes a slow, helpful speaker, and learners report that a friendly chat can go fine while films and podcasts are still far too fast.²

For words, the Goethe-Institut’s A1 word list has about 650 entries. It says you should understand all of them and be able to use about half.³ The list sets out what the exam covers, so it is a useful check, but it is not a course.

How long does it take to reach A1 German on your own?

The Goethe-Institut says A1 takes 80 to 200 lessons of 45 minutes, which is 60 to 150 hours, depending on what you already know.⁴

At an hour a day, that’s two to five months. Learners who passed the exam studying on their own describe timelines like these:

One learner passed the Goethe A1 exam with 97 out of 100 after about 80 hours over two months, while caring for a baby. They watched a free DW story series for beginners first, then worked through an exam practice book, Fit fürs Goethe-Zertifikat A1, until they understood every listening exercise and could reproduce its sample answers.⁵
Another passed with 96 out of 100 after six weeks of about two hours a day on Nicos Weg, vocabulary and writing, plus several hours a day of podcasts in the last two weeks.⁶
A third passed after ten weeks of one hour a day, split into two half-hours, while working two jobs.⁷

Several of these learners booked the exam first and worked towards the date.⁸

It doesn’t always go that fast. One learner studied about an hour a day for four months and still couldn’t manage the listening in a practice test. Another was still in an A1.2 class (the second half of A1) seven months after starting with Duolingo and later adding a course and classes.⁹

If you have less than an hour a day, see our study plan for busy people.

Where do I start, and what should I learn first in German?

Learn every noun with its article from the first day. Two learners who skipped the articles at first had to go back and relearn them for words they already knew.¹⁰

The A1 grammar is mostly about getting a simple sentence right. These are the main points, each with an example:¹¹

The verb comes second. In a statement, the verb is the second item, though not always the second word. If you start with something other than the subject, the subject moves after the verb: Ich gehe heute nach Hause (I’m going home today) becomes Heute gehe ich nach Hause (Today I’m going home).
The present tense. Verb endings change with the person: ich spiele (I play), du spielst (you play), er spielt (he plays). The two most common verbs, sein (to be) and haben (to have), are irregular, so you learn them by heart.
Separable verbs. Some verbs split in a normal sentence and send their first part to the end: Ich rufe dich an (I’ll call you), from anrufen.
Noun gender. Every noun is der, die or das (masculine, feminine or neuter): der Tisch (the table), die Lampe (the lamp), das Buch (the book). You mostly can’t guess it from the meaning, and it changes the words around the noun later.
The nominative and accusative cases. A case is the form a word takes for its role in the sentence. The nominative is for the subject. The accusative is for the thing the action is done to. In Ich habe einen Hund (I have a dog), ein becomes einen because Hund is masculine and is the object. Feminine and neuter nouns keep the same form here: Ich habe eine Katze (I have a cat).
Saying no. Use kein with a noun that would otherwise have ein or no article: Ich habe keinen Hund (I don’t have a dog). Use nicht for everything else: Ich arbeite nicht (I’m not working).

The A1 exam also includes modal verbs like können (can), a few common past forms and some of the dative case (the form for the person something is given to or done for), mostly for you to recognise rather than use. You learn to use them properly at A2. The Goethe-Institut says that at A1 being understood counts for more than getting every form right.¹¹

Learners disagree on how much grammar to study at the start. Some wish they had done more early on, while others left it for later and focused on easy listening and reading.¹² Even those who leaned on listening and reading also learned words and some grammar on purpose, with flashcards, word lists or a textbook. So do both, and adjust the balance to what keeps you going.¹³

How do I practise German pronunciation and listening as a beginner?

Learn the few sounds English doesn’t have first, then copy recordings as closely as you can.

The sounds that need the most care:¹⁴

ä usually sounds like the e in best.
ö: say the ay in say, without the glide at the end, then round your lips as if for o.
ü: say ee, then round your lips as if for oo. A mirror helps you check the rounding.
ch has two sounds. After a, o, u and au it is made at the back of the mouth, as in Bach. Elsewhere it is a softer hiss further forward, as in ich: say ee, then breathe out through the same mouth shape without using your voice.

The University of Texas has free recordings of the umlauts with word pairs like schon and schön to compare.

Without a partner, copy recordings: pause a video after each sentence, repeat it, and record yourself to compare. Copying alone has limits, though, because other people hear what you miss.¹⁵ One learner worked hard on the German r, then found people struggled with their ö and ei/ie. A tutor had them read aloud in every lesson, and their speech got clearer.¹⁶

For listening, expect even slow German to be hard at first. Children’s TV is a common step after learner videos: an A1 learner six months in, studying on and off, understood about half of a Peppa Pig episode. Learners who rewatch the same episode say they notice more each time, especially slowed down and with subtitles.¹⁷

Which books, apps and Anki decks do beginners use for A1?

If you’re starting alone and want to spend nothing, Nicos Weg plus a free A1 Anki deck is a combination learners use, and you can add a tutor or class later for speaking. These are the courses and apps learners name for A1:¹⁸

Nicos Weg, DW’s free video course from A1 to B1: short episodes with natural German, though the exercises are uneven. See our Nicos Weg review.
Textbooks. Hueber’s Deutsch Sprachkurs Plus is built for self-study, with audio. Grammatik aktiv is a grammar exercise book for A1 to B1.
Duolingo: handy for spare moments, better as an extra than as your backbone. One learner found the typing and repetition tiresome. See our Duolingo review.
Babbel: also good on the go. One learner noticed its first lessons taught words without their articles, so add them yourself. See our Babbel review.
Pimsleur, an audio course: it gets you speaking out loud without a screen, but one learner quit over the accents on its older recordings. See our Pimsleur review.
Lingoda: small online group classes at times you choose. How much English is used at A1 depends on the teacher. See our Lingoda review.

Anki is a flashcard app that shows each card again just before you are likely to forget it. It is free on computers, Android and the web, but the iPhone app costs money.¹⁹ Two shared decks are built for A1: Goethe Institute A1 Wordlist, made by a learner from the official word list, and DW Nicos Weg A1, which follows the course. One learner used both and warned that they overlap and that some translations needed fixing.²⁰ Keep the number of new cards low. Another learner cut theirs from 20 to 10 a day when reviews started taking over their study time.

For easy reading, learners name Dino lernt Deutsch and Café in Berlin. See our graded readers page for more, and our recommended resources for the full list.

What is the A1 German exam, and who needs the certificate?

The three exams

Three bodies run A1 exams: the Goethe-Institut, telc (a German exam provider) and ÖSD (the Austrian one). All three test listening, reading, writing and speaking.²¹

	Goethe-Zertifikat A1	telc Deutsch A1	ÖSD Zertifikat A1
Written part	65 minutes	65 minutes	55 minutes
Speaking	15 minutes, with up to three other candidates	about 15 minutes, with up to three other candidates	about 10 minutes, after 10 minutes to prepare
To pass	60 of 100 points	36 of 60 points	38 of 75 written and 12 of 25 speaking, with a minimum in each written section
If you fail	Retake the whole exam	Retake the whole exam	Retake only the written or the speaking part

The writing task is the same kind in all three: fill in a form and write a short message of about 30 words. In the speaking part you introduce yourself and ask and answer everyday questions. ÖSD adds a picture to describe and a short role-play. Expect a long day: at one Vienna centre, check-in is at 9:20 and the last speaking slots run until 2pm.

You can take all three outside Germany. ÖSD lists centres from Colombia to Kenya, and learners report taking the Goethe exam in Switzerland and Singapore.²² Prices depend on the centre. On 8 November 2026 the Goethe-Institut in Germany charged €155, a telc centre in Berlin €170, and an ÖSD centre in Vienna €145. Book well ahead if you have a deadline. That Berlin centre closes registration three weeks before each exam and sends results four to eight weeks after it.²³ At a centre like that, you’d sit the exam about two months before you need the certificate, and book it at least three weeks before that.

Preparing

Do a free official practice exam early. The Goethe-Institut has a full A1 model test with audio and answers, and telc and ÖSD have their own. Learners who report passing on their own keep naming these, and they say knowing what each task asks for matters as much as the German.²⁴

Listening is the part learners most often say caught them out, even when they did well in practice. One learner who failed with 58 out of 100 had scored high on listening at home and put the result down to panic. Another changed how they practised: no more pausing, and the audio played through a phone speaker instead of headphones, to match the exam room.²⁵

If you fail, you can retake as often as you like, but the centre can make you wait. ÖSD recommends at least four weeks.²⁶

Who needs an A1 certificate

German law sets A1 as the level for two common visas:

A husband, wife or registered civil partner joining their partner in Germany usually needs A1 before the visa is granted, whether the partner is German or not.²⁷ You don’t need it if:
- the partner in Germany holds an EU Blue Card (the permit for highly qualified workers) or certain other skilled-worker permits;
- you are joining an EU citizen who has moved to Germany;
- illness or disability stops you learning.
Some embassies also accept proof of a year of serious effort, such as course and exam records, from people who can’t pass. The embassy decides each case. These family rules don’t cover unmarried partners, so ask the embassy which visa fits you.²⁸
An au pair needs at least A1.²⁹ Au pairs from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland don’t need a visa, so nobody checks a certificate, but they are still expected to have basic German.

The Federal Foreign Office accepts certificates from Goethe, telc and ÖSD, among others, but not a language school’s own course certificate. For a visa, check your embassy’s page before you pick an exam: the German missions in Türkiye, for example, only accept Goethe and ÖSD certificates taken there for a spouse visa.³⁰

A Goethe certificate never expires, but a visa application is different. The Foreign Office says the exam should normally be no more than a year old when you apply.³¹ One family-reunion applicant whose application dragged on was asked for a new A1 certificate because the first had become too old. They retook the exam and got the visa.³² If your exam is getting close to a year old, check before you apply.

What comes after A1?

A2 is the next level. You start using the Perfekt (the past tense used in speech) and the dative case properly, and join sentences with weil and dass (because, that). The A2 word list has about 1,300 words, counted from zero.³³ Our A2 guide covers that step.

Learners often find gaps in their A1 grammar only later, such as when to use kein and when nicht, so check the list above before you move on.³⁴

Sources

Council of Europe, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, pp. 23 to 26. ↩ ↩²
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