DecksGerman A1 vocabulary plan: 852 words in 8 weeks
Learn 15 new words a day and you'll have seen the whole A1 list, 852 words and phrases, in about 8 weeks. Reviews settle at around 60 a day. If that's too much, 10 new words a day takes about 12 weeks.
The word list
The German A1 Vocabulary deck follows the word list for the Goethe-Institut A1 exam, the first level for complete beginners. Each card shows the German word with audio, its article and plural, the English meaning, and an example sentence with audio and a translation.
Learn the article with the noun
German nouns are der, die or das, and you usually can't guess which from the word. So learn the article together with the noun. Say "die Stunde", not "Stunde". If you know the meaning but get the article wrong, count it as wrong and press Again, not Hard. Hard vs Again explains why that matters for the schedule.
The plan
The review numbers below assume you rate every card Good. In Decks, a card you keep getting right comes back after 1 day, 2 days, 5, 12 and 30. Cards you miss come back sooner, so expect more reviews than this.
| Week | New words a day | Reviews a day (if all Good) | Words seen by the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 15 to 30 | 105 |
| 2 | 15 | about 45 | 210 |
| 3 | 15 | 45 to 60 | 315 |
| 4 to 7 | 15 | about 60 | 735 |
| 8 | 15 | about 75 | 840 |
| 9 | 15, last word on day 1 | about 60 | 852 |
| 10 onward | 0 | falling to about 35 | 852 |
The German A1 Vocabulary deck is free in Decks. To follow this plan on your iPhone, get Decks on the App Store.
Each day
- Do your reviews first.
- Then learn your new words.
- Play the example sentence. It shows the word in a normal sentence, with the right case and word order.
If you miss a day, do the reviews and skip new words until you've caught up.
If reviews pile up
If reviews start taking much longer than before, stop adding new words for a few days. What to do when reviews pile up has more. The free plan in Decks has a daily review limit. Premium lets you set your own.
After A1
German A2 Vocabulary has the 661 A2 exam words that are new after A1. Keep reviewing your A1 cards while you start it.
Published 2026-10-19. Updated 2026-10-28.