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Ten Top Tips

1. Bitte means Please. Be polite. Use it when you stop someone to ask for help.
Entschuldige means Excuse me. Entschuldigen Sie bitte means Excuse me please, but you can just say 'bitte' for short! If someone thanks you, you should reply 'bitte' - (please) don't mention it.

2. Danke means Thank you. People often use the full expression Danke schön.
The two dots symbol over the letter ö is called Umlaut and means you 'squash' the sound of the letter.
Vielen Dank [feelen dank] means Many thanks (v is pronounced [f]).

3. Sprechen Sie Englisch? means Do you speak English?
In German you start the question with the main verb:
Go you to town? - Gehen Sie in die Stadt?
Must you go? - Müssen Sie gehen?
When you are asking a question, the word for you is Sie.

4. Ja [ya] means yes and nein [nine] means no!

5. Talking about yourself
The word for 'I' is ich.
ich habe - I have
ich bin - I am
After ich, the verb usually ends with -e
ich gehe - I go, ich habe - I have

6. Saying you don't understand
Ich verstehe nicht - I don't understand. v sounds [f]
verstehe is pronounced [fairshtayer].
In German w is pronounced [v]
Think of the name of the car manufacturer Volkswagen: it sounds [Folksvaagen]

7. Watch out for Wer? [vair]
It sounds as if it ought to mean Where? but it means Who?
Wer kommt? - Who is comming?

8. Ask to have something repeated:
Wie bitte? - Pardon?

9. When you see combined letters ei or ie you pronounce the SECOND one as it sound in English:
ei is pronounced [eye]; ie is pronounced [ee]
Remember: ein Glas Bier - [eye'n glass beer]!

10. Saying goodbye
Auf Wiedersehen means Goodbye, but other expressions commonly used include:
Tschüss - Bye
Tschüss is widely used and less formal way of saying Goodbye.