Why learn German slang first? We can’t all put in the time it takes to get 100% fluent in a new language. Many of us must set more realistic expectations, like learning enough to get around on a trip, or just enough to be conversational with your German friends, or in this case just 3 amazing words that will make people think you are fluent (for about 5 minutes). If you are up for a bigger challenge try the 1000 most frequently used words in German list.

Our veteran German instructor Emmanuel shares the 3 most useful words in German.

This is a really fun trick.

These three phrases are used colloquially, usually by native Germans (not your new typical German 1 student). By the way we like to teach this stuff right away in our private and group classes even though you wont find these expressions in a text-book. These colloquial expressions mean things like, “OK,” “Cool,” “Nice” but they also have NSFW meanings.

So this is why it works. When someone is speaking to you in German you can just agree and make comments when the person finishes a sentence. …Cool! …Sure! ….Riiight… …Ok… …I agree… all in perfect German slang.

Then, after some time, be prepared to say:

“Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut”

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT GERMAN WORDS ARE:

GEIL: Cool, Great, Awesome, but also can be NSFW, in another context it means Horny

Geil is one of these words in German that you absolutely need to master if you want to talk like a native. Yes, it is rather informal but it is widely used among young people all over Germany and in most of the cases, geil simply means awesome/cool/great rather than referring to its other, somehow derogative meanings.

SUPER: Great, Cool, Super

This is perhaps the most common word in German – foriegn origin, of course. You will hear this a lot when people chat in German.

Ganau: Awesome, I agree, exactly

This is another great German word for conversations that you will hear a lot. Ganau is an affirmative response, which literally translates to exactly, meaning It is exactly as you said and could also be translated into Awesome, I agree, right, correct.