Learning German is exciting and challenging. When you try out a few phrases for the first time with a native speaker of German, you will hear bits and pieces you understand in the reply you receive. So, it’s useful to be able to say ‘Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch’, meaning that you only speak a little German.

In this blog post, we will uncover some useful phrases and give you some tips for navigating the language, like asking native speakers to repeat or speak more slowly. Listen to the episode while reading the text to get the most out of the pronunciation tips! 

Essential phrase – Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch

If you feel like you can get by with your German skills, saying ‘Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch’ is a great way to explain that you can speak and understand a little. The sentence ‘Ich spreche Deutsch’, however, makes you sound more confident. You can use either of these phrases to let someone know that you speak German.

• Example 1: Ich spreche Deutsch. Können Sie mir helfen? I speak German. Can you help me?
• Example 2: Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Können Sie mir helfen? I speak a little German. Can you help me?

Checking who speaks German

To be polite and find out if someone speaks German, we’d use the polite form: Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Do you speak German?. Adding the word “excuse me” makes your question even more polite:

• Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie Deutsch? Excuse me, do you speak German?

Being informal 

If you wanted to ask someone younger (or your own age) if they speak German, you could say: Sprichst du Deutsch? Do you speak German? This uses the informal form of “you”, du and the form of the verb that conjugates with that, ending in -st. 

• Example 1: Hallo, sprichst du Deutsch? Hi, do you speak German?
• Example 2 : Entschuldigung, sprichst du Englisch? Excuse me, do you speak English?Ja, ich spreche Deutsch/Englisch Yes, I speak German/English.

Finding out about other languages

Knowing which language(s) someone speaks may be helpful to make your conversation go more smoothly. In order to do that, we need to be sure of how to ask or talk about other languages. We’ve already covered the word for German. Let’s look at some other languages that may come up: 

• Ich spreche (kein) Deutsch/Französisch/Spanisch/Italienisch/Chinesisch/Japanisch –  I (don’t) speak German/French/Spanish/Italian/Chinese/Japanese. I speak no German…

The addition of the word kein after the verb lets people know that you don’t speak that language—I speak no German / French…

Taking it slowly

If you want to ask someone to slow down or repeat what they have said a little more slowly so you may understand more fully, the next phrase is incredibly useful:

• Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. Können Sie langsamer sprechen? I speak a little German. Can you speak more slowly?

This is the comparative form of the adjective langsam, formed by adding -er to the end of the word. If you feel you want to say that you don’t speak any German, as we saw earlier, we can say Ich spreche kein Deutsch. I don’t speak German.

Being polite and explaining

If you feel that your German might not hold up to what you want to say, when asked, Sprechen Sie German? you can reply, leider nicht unfortunately not, a native speaker will appreciate your effort and manners. 

If you wanted to emphasise that you don’t speak any German at all, you might use, gar nicht meaning not at all. Example:

• Sprichst du Chinesisch? Do you speak Chinese? Gar nicht. Not at all.

If you were asked about another language and you don’t speak it, you might want to say auch nicht also not. Example:

• Sprichst du Spanisch? Do you speak Spanish? Leider nicht. Unfortunately not.
• Sprichst du Französisch? Do you speak French? Auch nicht. Also not. 

Managing expectations

It is useful to say that you can speak German, but you might want to let people know how much you can handle and understand: Ich spreche nur ein bisschen I only speak a little. That little word nur, meaning “only”, combined with bisschen can convey a lot! Example:

• Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch. I only speak a little German.

If you want, you can use just part of the phrase as the answer to the question:

• Sprechen Sie Deutsch?  Do you speak German?
• Nur wenige Worte. Only a few words.

Try again

If you’ve let someone know that you speak a little German, but feel you might understand better if you heard the phrase again, the next phrase is super useful: Noch einmal bitte Once more, please. This phrase asks someone to repeat what they said, literally “another one time, please”. 

Example:

• Noch einmal bitte, ich habe es nicht verstanden. Once more, please, I didn’t understand.

The last part of this phrase adds a little extra to your request.

Putting it into practice

Imagine you are in Germany and need directions. Here’s a possible conversation:

• You: Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie Deutsch? Excuse me, do you speak German? 
• Native German speaker: Ja, ich spreche Deutsch. Yes, I speak German.
• You: Ich spreche nur ein bisschen Deutsch. Können Sie langsamer sprechen, bitte? I only speak a little German. Can you speak more slowly, please?
• Native German speaker: Natürlich. Wo möchten Sie hin? Of course. Where do you want to go?
• You: Zum Bahnhof, bitte. To the train station, please.
• Native German speaker: Gehen Sie geradeaus und dann links. Go straight ahead and then left.
• You: Noch einmal bitte, langsamer. Once more, please, more slowly.

From Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch to Noch einmal bitte, you are definitely able to navigate the German language with ease. Isn’t it great to see how much German you can use and understand, even when you speak a little German?

Keep practising, and you’ll find yourself becoming more confident in your ability to navigate conversations in German. To discover more reasons why learning German is not as hard as it looks, check out the article we prepared on this topic!