The 100 most common German words, explained
The 100 most common German words are led by ich (I), sie (she, they, you), das (the, that) and ist (is). In 156 million words of German film and television dialogue, the hundred words in the table below make up 51.5% of everything said, and the first ten alone make up 19.4%. Below is the full list with meanings, and then the six things about it a learner should notice.
The 100 most common German words
| # | Word | Meaning | Per million words | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ich | I | 37,717 | 3.8% |
| 2 | sie | she; they; you (formal: Sie) | 24,376 | 6.2% |
| 3 | das | the (neut.); that; this | 19,992 | 8.2% |
| 4 | ist | is | 19,374 | 10.1% |
| 5 | du | you (informal singular) | 18,871 | 12.0% |
| 6 | nicht | not | 17,653 | 13.8% |
| 7 | die | the (fem./plural); who/that (relative) | 15,911 | 15.4% |
| 8 | es | it | 14,747 | 16.9% |
| 9 | und | and | 14,663 | 18.3% |
| 10 | der | the (masc.); who/that (relative) | 11,052 | 19.4% |
| 11 | wir | we | 11,024 | 20.5% |
| 12 | was | what; something (colloquial) | 10,860 | 21.6% |
| 13 | zu | to; too (excessively); closed | 9,123 | 22.5% |
| 14 | er | he | 8,658 | 23.4% |
| 15 | ein | a/an (masc./neut.) | 8,422 | 24.2% |
| 16 | in | in; into | 7,885 | 25.0% |
| 17 | ja | yes | 6,750 | 25.7% |
| 18 | mir | me (dative); to me | 6,528 | 26.4% |
| 19 | mit | with | 6,496 | 27.0% |
| 20 | wie | how; like; as | 5,948 | 27.6% |
| 21 | den | the (masc. accusative; dative plural) | 5,895 | 28.2% |
| 22 | dass | that (conjunction) | 5,744 | 28.8% |
| 23 | mich | me (accusative); myself | 5,719 | 29.3% |
| 24 | auf | on; onto; open | 5,644 | 29.9% |
| 25 | aber | but; however | 5,472 | 30.5% |
| 26 | eine | a/an (fem.) | 5,375 | 31.0% |
| 27 | so | so; like this/that | 5,212 | 31.5% |
| 28 | hat | he/she/it has | 5,116 | 32.0% |
| 29 | hier | here | 4,830 | 32.5% |
| 30 | haben | to have; we/they/you (formal) have | 4,753 | 33.0% |
| 31 | für | for | 4,708 | 33.5% |
| 32 | sind | we/they/you (formal) are | 4,656 | 33.9% |
| 33 | war | I/he/she/it was | 4,561 | 34.4% |
| 34 | von | from; of; by | 4,524 | 34.8% |
| 35 | wenn | if; when(ever), whenever | 4,447 | 35.3% |
| 36 | dich | you (accusative, informal); yourself | 4,410 | 35.7% |
| 37 | ihr | you (informal plural); her (dative); her/their (possessive) | 4,196 | 36.1% |
| 38 | nein | no | 4,108 | 36.5% |
| 39 | habe | I have | 4,074 | 36.9% |
| 40 | an | at; on; to | 4,019 | 37.4% |
| 41 | bin | (I) am | 3,692 | 37.7% |
| 42 | noch | still; yet; even (more) | 3,666 | 38.1% |
| 43 | nur | only; just | 3,613 | 38.4% |
| 44 | da | there; since/because | 3,613 | 38.8% |
| 45 | dir | you (dative, informal); to you | 3,553 | 39.2% |
| 46 | sich | himself/herself/itself/themselves (reflexive) | 3,415 | 39.5% |
| 47 | einen | a/an (masc. accusative) | 3,409 | 39.8% |
| 48 | uns | us; ourselves | 3,353 | 40.2% |
| 49 | hast | you have (informal singular) | 3,275 | 40.5% |
| 50 | dem | the (dative masc./neut.) | 2,978 | 40.8% |
| 51 | kann | I/he/she/it can | 2,957 | 41.1% |
| 52 | gut | good; well | 2,899 | 41.4% |
| 53 | auch | also; too | 2,877 | 41.7% |
| 54 | schon | already; (particle) surely | 2,832 | 42.0% |
| 55 | als | as; than; when (in the past) | 2,821 | 42.2% |
| 56 | sein | to be; his/its (possessive) | 2,818 | 42.5% |
| 57 | mal | (particle) just; times (e.g. 2 mal 3) | 2,789 | 42.8% |
| 58 | jetzt | now | 2,788 | 43.1% |
| 59 | ihn | him (accusative) | 2,786 | 43.4% |
| 60 | dann | then | 2,750 | 43.6% |
| 61 | aus | out (of); from; off | 2,723 | 43.9% |
| 62 | meine | my (fem./plural); I think/mean | 2,691 | 44.2% |
| 63 | um | around; at (a time); in order to | 2,675 | 44.4% |
| 64 | im | in the (in + dem) | 2,585 | 44.7% |
| 65 | wird | he/she/it will; is being (passive) | 2,524 | 45.0% |
| 66 | mein | my (masc./neut.) | 2,464 | 45.2% |
| 67 | bist | you are (informal singular) | 2,443 | 45.5% |
| 68 | doch | (particle) yes I do / after all; but | 2,443 | 45.7% |
| 69 | alles | everything, all | 2,347 | 45.9% |
| 70 | weiß | I/he/she/it know(s); white | 2,292 | 46.2% |
| 71 | keine | no/none (fem./plural) | 2,237 | 46.4% |
| 72 | ok | OK | 2,209 | 46.6% |
| 73 | oder | or | 2,185 | 46.8% |
| 74 | nach | to (a place); after; according to | 2,089 | 47.0% |
| 75 | nichts | nothing | 1,977 | 47.2% |
| 76 | muss | I/he/she/it must | 1,938 | 47.4% |
| 77 | man | one; you (impersonal) | 1,927 | 47.6% |
| 78 | werden | to become; will (future auxiliary); we/they become | 1,887 | 47.8% |
| 79 | will | I/he/she/it want(s) | 1,879 | 48.0% |
| 80 | ihnen | them (dative); you (formal dative: Ihnen) | 1,872 | 48.2% |
| 81 | geht | he/she/it goes; (es geht) it works / is OK | 1,863 | 48.4% |
| 82 | wo | where | 1,846 | 48.5% |
| 83 | etwas | something; some; a little | 1,838 | 48.7% |
| 84 | oh | oh | 1,821 | 48.9% |
| 85 | mehr | more | 1,801 | 49.1% |
| 86 | bei | at; near; with (at someone's place) | 1,774 | 49.3% |
| 87 | also | so; therefore; well then | 1,771 | 49.4% |
| 88 | bitte | please; you're welcome | 1,675 | 49.6% |
| 89 | immer | always | 1,666 | 49.8% |
| 90 | hab | (I) have | 1,618 | 49.9% |
| 91 | warum | why | 1,608 | 50.1% |
| 92 | vor | in front of; before; ago | 1,587 | 50.3% |
| 93 | los | (what's) up/wrong; go! (Los!); loose | 1,553 | 50.4% |
| 94 | können | can; to be able to; we/they can | 1,543 | 50.6% |
| 95 | wieder | again | 1,540 | 50.7% |
| 96 | sagen | to say; we/they say, tell | 1,516 | 50.9% |
| 97 | machen | to make; to do; we/they make | 1,463 | 51.0% |
| 98 | danke | thank you; (I) thank | 1,460 | 51.2% |
| 99 | sehr | very; very much | 1,450 | 51.3% |
| 100 | alle | all; everyone, everybody | 1,440 | 51.5% |
"Per million words" is how many times the word is said in a million words of subtitles. "Running total" is the share of all dialogue covered by that word and every word above it.
These are word forms, counted as they are said: bin, bist and ist are three rows of one verb. That is how a learner first meets them, and it is why this list differs from a dictionary's.
1. Not one of the hundred is a noun
Every word in the table is a pronoun, an article, a preposition, a particle, a question word or a verb form. The first noun, Mann ("man, husband"), only arrives at number 102, with Zeit ("time") at 135 and Frau ("woman, wife") at 150. Nouns carry what a sentence is about, but there are thousands of them and each one is said comparatively rarely. The hundred words that hold sentences together are said all the time.
2. Fifteen rows are "I", "you", "he" and the rest
German says its pronouns where Italian and Portuguese leave them to the verb ending, so ich is number one and du, wir and er are all in the top fifteen. And each pronoun changes with its job in the sentence: ich is "I", mich is "me" as an object and mir is "to me". Fifteen rows of this table are personal pronouns in one form or another:
| Subject | As object | "To" form |
|---|---|---|
| ich (I) | mich (me) | mir (to me) |
| du (you) | dich (you) | dir (to you) |
| er (he) | ihn (him) | |
| wir (we) | uns (us) | |
| sie, es, ihr | sich (himself, herself, themselves) | ihnen (to them) |
Sie in the first column is three words at once: "she", "they", and, written with a capital, the polite "you". The subtitle count cannot tell them apart, which is one reason it sits at number two.
3. "The" takes five rows and "a" takes three
Das, die and der are all in the top ten, and den and dem follow inside the hundred; ein, eine and einen do the same for "a". They are one English word each, spread over three genders and four cases. Which form does which job is set out in der, die or das, and the sixth form, des, which does not make the hundred at all, is explained in German cases by frequency.
4. Four of them are false friends
Four words in the table look like English words and mean something else:
| German | Looks like | Means | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| was | was | what | 12 |
| also | also | so, well then | 87 |
| man | man | one, you (in general) | 77 |
| will | will | (I, he, she) want(s) | 79 |
The last one catches people longest. Ich will gehen is "I want to go", not "I will go"; the future is made with werden, and wird is in the table too, at number 65. More pairs like these, ranked by how often they trip people up, are in false friends ranked.
5. German has three words for "yes" and "no"
Ja and nein are both in the table, and so is doch, at number 68. Doch is the "yes" that contradicts a negative: asked Kommst du nicht? ("Aren't you coming?"), you answer Doch!, "Yes I am". English has to say it with a whole clause. Elsewhere doch is one of the small particles, along with mal, schon, ja and noch, that make spoken German sound like speech. None of them has a fixed English translation, and they are learned from sentences, not from a gloss.
6. A handful of verbs fill the list with their forms
Sein (to be) puts ist, sind, war, bin and bist in the hundred. Haben (to have) puts hat, haben, habe, hast and the clipped hab there. The modal verbs follow: kann, muss, will and können. Added up form by form rather than row by row, the verbs are ranked in the 100 most common German verbs.
How to learn them
- Learn them in sentences, not as a list. Doch, mal and schon cannot be learned from a translation.
- Learn the pronouns as a table. Ich, mich, mir is one pattern, and the table above is most of it.
- Learn each common verb as a small family. Bin, bist, ist, sind are four rows here and one thing to learn.
- Learn every noun with its article from the start. None is in this hundred, but the next few hundred are full of them, and die Zeit is one thing to learn where Zeit plus a guess is two.
How far the next thousand words take you is measured in how many words you need to speak German. Verbavia (our own course) teaches German vocabulary in frequency order, with a recording of each word: the course's German word list gives the first thousand in order with translations and a download, the two-minute German vocabulary test shows how many you already know, and the free German course starts from the top of the list. Two small sets have pages of their own: numbers 1 to 100 in German and the days of the week in German.
How it was counted
- Source. The German list from FrequencyWords, which counts every word in the OpenSubtitles 2018 collection of film and television subtitles.
- Left out: names and untranslated English. People's names and the English forms of address that German subtitles keep (mr., sir, dad) are taken out before ranking. They are frequent because so many of the films are American, and they are not German words. Ok and oh stay in, because German speakers say them.
- Added together: old spellings. Daß and muß, the spellings from before the 1996 reform, are counted with dass and muss.
- A word counted once may be two words. The subtitle counts ignore capital letters, so sie ("she, they") and Sie (formal "you") are one row. The meaning column gives both.
- Meanings. From Verbavia's German course list, with a few interjections such as oh glossed by hand.
- Subtitles are not street recordings. Many of the films were first made in English and translated, so this is German as it is subtitled. It is still the largest record of everyday dialogue there is.
The same count for English itself is in the 1,000 most common English words.
Sources
- Lison, P. & Tiedemann, J. (2016). OpenSubtitles2016: Extracting Large Parallel Corpora from Movie and TV Subtitles. Proceedings of LREC 2016. aclanthology.org
- Dave, H. FrequencyWords: frequency lists from OpenSubtitles 2018 (
de), content licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. github.com - Verbavia's German word list, for the meanings. The ranks, rates and running totals are computed by
scripts/frequency_thousand.pyin Verbavia's repository and printed from its output rather than typed.