German A1 Core Vocabulary: 300 Words With Gender and Plural

A German noun without its gender is half a word. Every card here carries both halves.

300 cards

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Front	Back
Hallo — what does it mean?	hello. The all-purpose greeting, any time of day.
Ja — what does it mean?	yes. Doch is a special yes that contradicts a negative question.
Ich — what does it mean?	I. Only capitalised at the start of a sentence, unlike English.
der Freund — what does it mean?	friend (male); boyfriend. Masculine; plural die Freunde.
sein — what does it mean?	to be. Highly irregular present forms are ich bin, du bist, er ist, wir sind.
können — what does it mean?	can, to be able to. Modal verb with ich kann, du kannst, and the second verb goes to the end.
arbeiten — what does it mean?	to work. Adds an e before the ending: du arbeitest.
öffnen — what does it mean?	to open. Adds an e before the ending: du öffnest.
kaufen — what does it mean?	to buy. Fully regular.
trinken — what does it mean?	to drink. Regular in the present; past trank.
wohnen — what does it mean?	to live, to reside. Fully regular.
spielen — what does it mean?	to play. Fully regular; used for games, sport and instruments.
bleiben — what does it mean?	to stay. Regular in the present; takes sein in the perfect.
die Stadt — what does it mean?	city, town. Feminine; plural die Städte.
der Preis — what does it mean?	price; prize. Masculine; plural die Preise.
das Obst — what does it mean?	fruit. Neuter; a collective noun with no plural.
der Arzt — what does it mean?	doctor. Masculine; plural die Ärzte.
der Tag — what does it mean?	day. Masculine; plural die Tage.
jetzt — what does it mean?	now. Sofort means immediately.
eins — what does it mean?	one. Becomes ein before a noun: ein Buch.
gut — what does it mean?	good. Irregular comparative besser, superlative am besten.
Es regnet — what does it mean?	it is raining. Impersonal es plus the verb regnen.
zufrieden — what does it mean?	satisfied. Takes mit for what you are satisfied with.
kein — what does it mean?	no, not a. Negates a noun; declines like ein.
und — what does it mean?	and. Does not change the word order.
wer — what does it mean?	who. Wen is the accusative, wem the dative.
in — what does it mean?	in, into. Dative for location, accusative for direction.
links — what does it mean?	left, on the left. Nach links means to the left.
Rufen Sie die Polizei — what does it mean?	call the police. The emergency number in Germany is 112.
die Zeitung — what does it mean?	newspaper. Feminine; plural die Zeitungen.

About this deck

The reason a German word list stops working is that German words carry information English words do not. Haus on its own tells you nothing you can build a sentence with — you need das, and you need Häuser, and without them you will guess the article every single time you speak. The same goes for verbs: knowing that sprechen means to speak does not warn you that du sprichst changes its vowel, or that helfen takes the dative. This deck covers 300 A1 words and phrases, and every card carries what the word actually needs: the article and plural for nouns, the vowel change or irregular form for verbs, the case for prepositions, and an original German sentence with its translation. Cards are tagged by theme — people, home, travel, food, health, time, questions — and by part of speech, so you can drill only nouns, or only the modal verbs. Import it and the deck joins your spaced-repetition schedule, so what stays in rotation is the set whose gender or form you still have to guess.

Frequently asked

Does importing this deck use my AI allowance?: No. Importing uses the saved deck as published; it does not run AI generation or use your AI allowance. The complete deck can therefore be imported on the free plan.
What happens if I import the deck twice?: Nothing is duplicated. Cards you already have are skipped and only newly added cards come across. Including re-imports after deleting, each official deck can be imported three times per account.
Can I use it on the web app and the phone app?: Yes. The deck is added to your account, so the same cards and the same progress are available in the web app, the iOS app and the Android app.
Can I edit the cards after importing?: Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.
What is in the deck?: 104 nouns, 49 verbs, 36 adjectives, 31 adverbs, 37 ready-made phrases, 15 prepositions and 9 pronouns, plus numerals, conjunctions and determiners, 300 in total. One entry per card, so nothing appears twice.
Do the noun cards show gender and plural?: Yes, on every one. The front shows the noun with its article, and the back names the gender and the plural form. Learning a German noun without its article is the single most common way beginners build a vocabulary they cannot use, so the deck never separates them.
Does it cover grammar?: Not as rules, but the cards carry the grammar each word needs: which vowel a verb changes, which case a preposition takes, whether a conjunction sends the verb to the end. That is the part you have to recall while speaking. A grammar book will explain why; these cards make the forms automatic.
Is this enough for the A1 exam?: It covers the vocabulary layer thoroughly. Import it and open it daily, and the only entries that come up are the ones whose form you cannot yet produce. Spend the time that frees up on listening practice and on the speaking tasks, which no word list can substitute for.

Selection follows CEFR A1 communicative functions as a planning framework; it is not an official CEFR list. Every entry, example and translation is written by Memly. Standard German is used, with regional variants noted where they matter. Scope reviewed 2026-08-17.