German Frequency List

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German Frequency List

Every word list is unique, as there is a variety in the sources used. Word lists are often created to help people learn new words. Word lists can consist of thematic vocabulary, like vocabulary regarding the grocery store, at the airport, or about things you’ll find in the bathroom. A drawback is that you might learn words that you will not use often, thus slowing your pace of learning. Other word lists are based on frequency. Frequency lists are a great start, because you use some words way more than others. The top 1000 words in any language account for roughly 80% of all language you will use in your daily life. The drawback is that learning by frequency gets diminishing returns. If a language has 150,000 words in current use, the top 10,000 are enough to cover 98% of all spoken and 97% of a written language. At this point, you’ll be better off learning from thematic lists. Look them up, or create your own thematic vocabulary list that is relevant to your situation. Work in finance? Look up relevant terms and make your own list.


An important fact that you should know before you begin to learn German vocabulary by a German frequency list is that spoken and written language differ. This is because written German uses different words than the spoken German language. Written language is usually more complex, and has a wider variety of words. You can go even further, and subdivide written language by historic, fiction, non-fiction and academic vocabulary. But, that is often more of use to linguists than it is to language learners. This means that if you are trying to learn German vocabulary by a word list, you would need a list that bases itself on both spoken and written language. We suggest finding a German frequency list that includes both written and spoken German, like the ones that we offer. We base our dictionaries on subtitles, because subtitles correlate both to spoken and written language.


Learning the right German words first can help you do daily activities abroad. It makes you more confident in communicating, and can also help you better understand and respond to people from different cultures. If you learn some basic grammar rules, learn between 10 and 30 new words per day, and focus on reading, listening, speaking and writing, you will improve your proficiency. 


A collection of frequency dictionaries is available on our website, designed for language learners. These dictionaries can be a great help in your language learning journey. These dictionaries include the most frequently used German words. Each entry contains a sample sentence in German to English parallel text. Also, we provide IPA phonetic spellings for German words, so you will always be able to correctly pronounce foreign vocabulary. 


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If you prefer ebooks, you can also download the ebooks in PDF format directly from our website. Check out what our customers have to say here in the German Frequency dictionary reviews.




Is Learning Through A German Frequency List Effective?

For beginners, learning low frequency words like "equivocal" is not necessary. Research shows that we often repeat the same words and phrases over and over again. Even though there are better terms and phrases, we still use the exact same words every day. An example of this is the word “big”. Although there are many synonyms for "big", it is still used in 90% of all situations. It is important that you pay attention to words that deliver the most results quickly.




How Many Words Should You Know For Varying Levels of Fluency?


Beginner: 250-500 words should suffice if you are just beginning to learn a language. You'll be able to hold basic conversations and navigate in tourist situations after just one week of studying. 500 words is enough to get you through everyday life in most languages.


Conversational: It's possible to get by with as little as 1,000 to 3,000 words in almost any language. You can ask people about how you are doing, tell them about your day, and get around in everyday situations like shopping and using public transportation.


Advanced: With 4,000-10,000 words, you become more proficient in a language. You will find yourself using more specialized vocabulary to discuss your professional field, current events, opinions, and other complex topics. Our bundle of the 5000 most common German words will help you take your language skills to the next level.


Fluent: You can reach almost native vocabulary level in many languages if your vocabulary includes around 10,000 words. With the necessary words to talk about any topic in detail, you're close to being a native speaker. Furthermore, you're able to recognize the meanings of unfamiliar words. Take advantage of a bigger discount and save even further when you buy the 10,000 most frequent German words at once.


Native: World languages have different word counts, so it is hard to tell how many words native speakers actually know. The estimation of words that a native English speaker can know ranges from 10,000 to 65,000+.




A German Frequency List For Learners

Here is a short list of the most frequent German words you can use to acquire essential vocabulary. We compiled them for you to help make your own personal word list.



  • seit means since
  • dass means that 
  • und means and
  • bei means at / in
  • ein means a / an
  • sein means to be
  • haben means to have
  • mit means with / by
  • zu means to
  • ähnlich means similar / like
  • alles means all
  • außer means except
  • machen means to do / to make
  • in der Lage sein means to be able to
  • sagen means to say / tell
  • gehen means to go
  • andere means another
  • ob means if / whether
  • ich means me / I
  • um zu sehen means to see
  • weil means because
  • geben means to give
  • seine means his
  • ihr means her
  • ihre means their
  • he means he
  • sie means she
  • ihnen means them
  • sehr means very / much
  • ohne means without
  • wissen means to know
  • herausfinden means find out
  • wer means who
  • was means what
  • die means which
  • wo means where
  • wenn means when
  • wie means how
  • meine means my / mine
  • einige means some / several 
  • jemand means someone
  • auch means also
  • bis means until / to
  • jahr means year
  • wollen means to want 
  • lieben means love
  • zwischen means between / among
  • groß means large / great / big
  • weder means neither
  • ankommen means to arrive
  • aufwenden means to spend
  • ja means yes
  • nein means no
  • tag means day
  • so sehr means so much
  • bleiben means to remain
  • sprechen means to speak / talk
  • nehmen means to take
  • zurücklassen means leave behind
  • Finden means find


Above, we have given you a small German frequency list so you can begin learning instantly, but this is not nearly enough to help you become fluent in the language. Get more valuable words with the MostUsedWords German Frequency Dictionaries. Each dictionary follows the exact same format, that is German vocabulary listed by frequency, frequency per part of speech and by alphabet. The only thing that differs is the vocabulary itself. 

 



Learning new words can be as easy as expanding your vocabulary. By understanding the meaning of words in the context of a sentence or conversation, you can quickly add new words to your ever-growing vocabulary. By seeing how new words are used in relation to other words and phrases, you can start to understand their meaning and how to use them yourself. And when you are repeatedly exposed to the words, you will be able to retain them more quickly.




Conclusion: Learning From a Frequency List Helps In Quickly Learning German

It's worth focusing your attention on the most frequent words in German. These words are helpful in daily conversations and are included in most texts. For language learning, you will need a reliable German frequency list. This will help you understand German vocabularies better and correctly use the words.


We recommend our German Frequency dictionaries, which are available on our site. Sample sentences are provided for each German word on the list. It will help understand the meaning of each word by showing you the terms in context. Our books can be used at any level of fluency, whether you are a beginner or intermediate student, or have advanced or master vocabulary.







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