At a recent Strommen German Meetup I heard someone using the word “Genau” over and over. I have a pretty small German vocabulary at the moment (something I am working on). But when I asked what “Genau” meant it brought up an interesting conversation. Our German teacher Emanuel told me that some students reported getting across Germany with just three words. These same three words, Emanuel continued, when used correctly, can make you sound like an almost fluent German speaker. I later tried using these three words with some German speakers and indeed it worked!

“Your German is Great!” I was told. Clearly we recommend a little more than learning 3 words before your trip. But try these out and let us know how it goes in the comments!