Speak German Fluently in 5 Lessons | Lesson 1

1. Basic Phrases
Ich is not actually pronounced ikh, unless you are speaking a northern dialect of German. If you are speaking a southern dialect, then it is more like ish. There is no equivalent sound in English.  In standard German, it is somewhere between ish and ikh. Technically, it is a voiceless palatal fricative and its voiced counterpart is the y sound in yes.
2. Pronunciation
Notice that words spelled with ö and ü can be pronounced with a long or short vowel, so determining the pronunciation based on the spelling is not possible. The other umlauted letter, ä, is generally pronounced as [e], though it can be pronounced as [ɛ] in some dialects. A general rule for pronunciation, however, states that the short vowels / ɪ ʏ ʊ ɛ ɔ / must be followed by a consonant, whereas the long vowels / i y u e ø o / can occur at the end of the syllable or word.
German Consonants
There are a few German consonants that do not exist in English, and some consonant combinations that are not common in English. Notice that the pronunciation of the German r changes according to the location in the countries that speak German, i.e. [R] in northern Germany and [r] in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Stress
Stress generally falls on the first syllable of the word, except in words borrowed from other languages, where the stress falls on the last syllable (especially with French words.)
3. Alphabet
4. Nouns & Cases
All nouns have a gender in German, either masculine, feminine or neuter.  There really isn't a lot of logic to which nouns are which gender, so you must memorize the gender of each noun.  
1. Male persons or animals, the seasons, months, and days are all masculine, as are nouns ending in -ant, -ast, -ich, -ig, -ismus, -ling, -or and -us.  
2. Female persons or animals, and numerals are all feminine, as are nouns ending in -a, -anz, -ei, -enz, -heit, -ie, -ik, -in, -keit, -schaft, -sion, -sis, -tät, -tion, -ung and -ur.  
3. Young persons or animals, metals, chemical elements, letters of the alphabet, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, continents, countries and provinces are all neuter, as are nouns that end in -chen, -icht, -il, -it, -lein, -ma, -ment, -tel, -tum, and -um.  Nouns referring to things that end in -al, -an, -ar, -ät, -ent, -ett, -ier, -iv, -o and -on, as well as most words with the prefix ge- and most nouns ending in -nis and -sal are also neuter.  
All nouns in German are capitalized in writing.
All nouns (as well as pronouns and adjectives) have a case depending on what function they serve in the sentence.  These may seem strange, but remember that English uses cases also; however, we would say direct object instead of accusative, or indirect object instead of dative.  Although these cases may make learning new words difficult, they actually help with word order because the position of words in a sentence is not as fixed in German as it is in English.  And the reason for that is because words can occur in these four cases:
5. Articles & Demonstratives
Jener is an older word  found in written German that was used to mean that or those, but today in spoken German the definite articles are used.  Dort or da may accompany the definite articles for emphasis.  Das is also a universal demonstrative and therefore shows no agreement.  Notice the last letter of each of the words above.  They correspond to the last letters of the words for the definite articles.  Words that are formed this same way are called der-words because they follow the pattern of the der-die-das declension.  Other der-words are:  jeder-every, and welcher-which.  Mancher (many) and solcher (such) are also der-words, but they are used almost always in the plural.
6. Subject (Nominative) Pronouns
Man can be translated as one, we, they or the people in general.  When referring to nouns as it, you use er for masculine nouns, sie for feminine nouns and es for neuter nouns.  However, the definite articles der, die and das can be substituted for er, sie and es to show more emphasis.
7. To Be, to Have, & to Become

Haben is frequently used in expressions that would normally take to be in English.
Ich habe Hunger. = I am hungry.
Ich hatte Durst. = I was thirsty.
Ich habe Langeweile. = I am bored.
Ich hatte Heimweh. = I was homesick.
Ich habe Angst. = I am afraid.
In everyday speech, the final -e on the ich conjugations can be dropped: ich hab' or hab' ich
8. Useful Words
9. Question Words
10. Numbers / Die Nummern
Sometimes zwo (tsvoh) is used instead of zwei to avoid confusion with drei when talking on the telephone.  The use of commas and periods is switched in German, though a space is commonly used to separate thousandths, i.e. 1,000 would be 1 000. When saying telephone numbers, you can either say each number individually or group them in twos. For years, you use the hundreds: 1972 is neunzehn hundert zweiundsiebzig; or the thousands: 2005 is zwei tausend fünf.
11. Days of the Week / Die Tage
To say on a certain day or the weekend, use am.  Add an -s to the day to express "on Mondays, Tuesdays, etc."  All days, months and seasons are masculine so they all use the same form of these words:  jeden - every, nächsten - next, letzten - last (as in the last of a series), vorigen - previous.  In der Woche is the expression for "during the week" in Northern and Eastern Germany, while unter der Woche is used in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
12. Months of the Year / Die Monate
13. Seasons / Die Jahreszeiten
14. Directions / Die Richtungen
15. Colors & Shapes / Die Farben & Die Formen
Because colors are adjectives, they must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe if they are placed before the noun. However, not all adjectives agree, such as colors ending in -a or -e; nor do they agree when they are used as predicate adjectives. More about Adjectives in German III. To say that a color is light, put hell- before it, and to say that a color is dark, put dunkel- before it.
16. Time / Die Zeit
Official time, such as for bus and train schedules, always uses the 24 hour clock. Notice that halb + number means half to, not half past, so you have to use the hour that comes next.
17. Weather / Das Wetter
18. Family / Die Familie

The letters in parentheses indicate the plural form of the noun. Notice that sometimes an umlaut is placed over the main vowel of the word in the plural. For example, der Mann is singular (the man) and die Männer is plural (the men). For step- and -in-law relations, just add Stief- or Schwieger- before the main person, except in the case of brother-in-law and sister-in-law noted above. The plurals follow the pattern for the main person, i.e. die Schwiegermutter (singular) and die Schwiegermütter (plural)
19. To Know People & Facts
20. Formation of Plural Nouns
Plural nouns in German are unpredictable, so it's best to memorize the plural form with the singular.  However, here are some rules that can help:
1. Feminine nouns usually add -n or -en.  Nouns that end in -in (such as the female equivalents of masculine nouns) add -nen.
2. Masculine and neuter nouns usually add -e or -er.  Many masculine plural nouns ending in -e add an umlaut as well, but neuter plural nouns ending in -e don't.  Plurals that end in -er add an umlaut when the stem vowel is a, o , u or au.
3. Masculine and neuter singular nouns that end in -er either add an umlaut or change nothing at all.  Many nouns with a stem vowel of a, o, u or au add an umlaut. Masculine and neuter singular nouns that end in -el also add nothing at all (with three exceptions: Pantoffel, Stachel, Muskel).
4. Nouns that end in a vowel other than an unstressed -e and nouns of foreign origin add -s.