We start with a note on sounds! The ch in German can be pronounced in 2 ways:

• soft ch when it is preceded by the vowels i or e. For eg. brechen, ich, nicht
• hard ch when it is preceded by any other vowel. For eg. machen, cochen, etc.

Note: The sounds of a language are always understood by its syllables, and not its alphabet

Verbs

brechen (to break)

We use a soft ch when pronouncing this one

sprechen (to speak)

Again, a soft ch because of the preceding e

riechen (to smell)

A soft ch sound again

Also, english borrowed this but used it for something slightly different. We use the word reek to describe a particularly bad smell in English, but riechen describes a totally normal smell in German

stinken (to stink)

Now this is the verb they use to describe a particularly bad smell

wissen (to know)

English borrowed this one as well! But again, it uses it for the word “wise”

Vocabulary

• dog -> hund
  • again, english borrowed it but used it slightly differently. In English, it got used for the word “hound”, which represents a dog that is specifically used for hunting or racing.

Practice sentences

• I saw them speaking German -> ich gesehen sie deutsche sprechen
• Do you know where my dog is?
  • (formal) wissen sie wo mein hund ist?
  • (informal) weisst du wo mein hund ist?
• Can you find my dog?
  • (formal) können sie mein hund finden?
  • (informal) kannst du mein hund finden?
• I can’t see where your house is -> ich kann nicht wo dein haus ist sehen
  • the nicht did not come at the end of the sentence because it is only negating the part of the sentence where they don’t know, so it does come in the end in a way, but only for that part of the sentence