Video Chat with German Speakers

Where people speak German

German (Deutsch) is an official language in 5 countries and territories. To meet people from one of them, pick it with the country filter.

• 🇧🇪Belgium
• 🇩🇪Germany
• 🇱🇮Liechtenstein
• 🇱🇺Luxembourg
• 🇳🇦Namibia

Useful German phrases for video chat

Short, natural phrases you can use in your first minute on camera. The pronunciation is a simple English-style guide; stressed syllables are in capitals.

Tips for practicing German on video chat

• Learn every noun with its article: der Tag, die Zeit, das Jahr. It feels slower at first but saves endless guessing later, and partners notice when you get genders right.
• Use "Wie bitte?" when you miss something. It's the polite, all-purpose way to ask for a repeat, and it works with anyone.
• Wait for the verb. In many German sentences a key verb comes last ("Ich habe gestern Fußball gespielt"), so hold your guess until the end of the sentence.
• Ask for corrections explicitly: "Korrigier mich bitte, wenn ich Fehler mache" (Please correct me if I make mistakes). People are much more likely to help when invited.
• Unpack compound words together. Handschuh is hand plus shoe (a glove), and Kühlschrank is cool plus cupboard (a fridge); taking them apart is fun and makes new words easier to remember.

Du or Sie?

German has an informal du and a formal Sie, always written with a capital S, and people notice which one you use.

• Sie is the safe default with older people and in formal situations: "Woher kommen Sie?"
• du is normal among younger adults, online, and in many casual settings: "Woher kommst du?" On a relaxed video chat with someone your age, du is usually fine.
• To switch, the person who'd normally offer it, often the older one, says something like "Wir können uns gern duzen." Answering "Gern!" is all you need.

The verb ending changes with the pronoun (kommst du, kommen Sie), so learn both forms of the handful of questions you ask most.

Sounds that give learners away

• ch. After e, i, ä, ö, ü and consonants it's soft, like a whispered "hyuh" (ich, Milch). After a, o and u it's throaty, like the ch in Scottish "loch" (ach, Buch).
• ü and ö. For ü, say "ee" and round your lips (über); for ö, say "eh" and round your lips (schön).
• ei vs ie. Say the second letter's English name: ei sounds like "eye" (mein), ie like "ee" (Liebe).
• w, v and z. W is an English v (wie sounds like "vee"), v is usually f (Vater), and z is "ts" (Zeit sounds like "tsite").
• Final consonants. B, d and g at the end of a word sound like p, t and k: Tag is "tahk" and Hund is "hoont."

Germany, Austria and Switzerland: same language, different sound

If someone's dialect is hard to follow, ask "Kannst du bitte Hochdeutsch sprechen?" (Could you speak standard German, please?). It's a common, polite request, and most people switch without a second thought.

A 10-minute practice routine

1. Minute 1: "Hallo! Ich heiße… Ich komme aus… Ich lerne Deutsch."
2. Minutes 2–4: ask "Was machst du gern am Wochenende?" (What do you like doing on weekends?) and follow up once.
3. Minutes 4–7: describe your city in four sentences and ask your partner to fix one article or verb ending.
4. Minutes 7–9: ask for a word you're missing: "Wie sagt man … auf Deutsch?"
5. Minute 10: "Danke fürs Gespräch, schönen Abend noch!" (Thanks for the chat, have a nice evening!)

Germany, Austria and Switzerland share one time zone, so a single evening window covers all three. For two-way practice where you help with English too, see how language exchange video chat works, and read these language exchange tips.

Practice German with the country filter

Omlet's interface is in English only, and it doesn't match people by language or translate anything. There are two easy ways to find German speakers:

• Use the country filter. Press Country, pick a country where German is spoken (for example Germany, Belgium or Luxembourg), then press Start.
• Ask whoever you meet. On Worldwide matching, a quick "Do you speak German?" costs nothing to try.

The country filter's first day is free (you add a card to start, and can cancel in Settings before the charge). After that it's $3 one time for that device and browser, with no subscription. It can make matching slower when fewer people from that country are online; if a match takes a while, try another country or switch back to Worldwide.