A1 Skills Checklist

1.What A1 covers

A1 is the first working level of German. Language at this level is short and concrete: mostly the present tense, talk about oneself, everyday objects, place, and time. The aim is not “know everything,” but to hold this narrow range securely.

Typical A1 sentences look like this:

Reading sentences of this kind, forming them slowly, and understanding them when they are spoken clearly sits inside A1.

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2.Knowledge and skill

This checklist names two different things side by side.

• Knowledge — what theory explains: the form, the rule, the distinction.
• Skill — what Practice trains: recognition, recall, and production.

Understanding a rule is not the same as using it. The targets below are goals for the level. The drills themselves are not on this page.

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3.Reading and sounds

At A1, ordinary short words and sentences need to be readable without guessing from English spelling habits. IPA by heart is not required — a recognisable reading of ordinary A1 words is.

In practice that includes:

• the full German alphabet, including ä, ö, ü, and ß;
• common letter groups: sch, ch, ei, ie, au, eu, st, sp;
• hearing that vowels can be long or short;
• reading short words and sentences aloud without guessing “from English.”

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4.The sentence

The A1 core is a simple main clause: subject plus conjugated verb. Without this skeleton, later tables have nowhere to sit.

Needed skills:

• build a sentence from subject + verb;
• put the conjugated verb in position 2 in a main clause;
• form a yes/no question by starting with the verb;
• form a W-question with wer, was, wo, wohin, wann, wie;
• negate with nicht.

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5.Verbs in the present

The dictionary form of a verb is the infinitive. In a sentence the present conjugated form is needed. Every irregular verb is not required — the mechanism and the high-frequency forms are.

A1 targets include:

• the infinitive as dictionary form: wohnen, kommen, lesen;
• regular Präsens conjugation: ich wohne, du wohnst, er wohnt;
• sein and haben;
• the common modals kann, muss, möchte in short phrases;
• a separable verb in the present: Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf.

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6.Nouns, articles, and pronouns

A noun at A1 is learned with its article: gender belongs to the word, the article shows it. Nouns in writing take a capital letter.

The package includes:

• article with noun: das Haus, der Tisch, die Frau;
• ein / eine and kein / keine;
• plurals of frequent words: die Häuser, die Tische;
• personal pronouns ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie.

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7.Cases

At A1 three cases matter by function, not as an abstract table for every situation. The common forms der / den / dem and ein / einen / einem on frequent words need to be recognised.

Not A1 yet:

• Genitiv as a working case;
• the full adjective-ending system.

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8.Place, direction, numbers, and time

Everyday A1 constantly asks where someone is and where to they are going: wo and wohin are different. Numbers, clock time, and time words sit next to frequent prepositions.

Needed skills:

• distinguish wo and wohin;
• use frequent prepositions: in, auf, an, nach, zu, mit, für, von;
• use numbers and say the time;
• use basic time words: heute, morgen, gestern, um, am, im.

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9.The past

The first past at A1 is narrow but usable. That is enough for short facts about yesterday — not yet for connected narration.

Needed skills:

• use war and hatte;
• form Perfekt of common verbs with haben or sein;
• keep the participle at the end in a main clause.

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10.Everyday communication

The same grammar covers simple everyday exchanges. New words appear; the sentence shape stays the same.

Typical topics:

• introducing oneself;
• family and personal details;
• food and drink;
• shopping and prices;
• home and furniture;
• work;
• body and the doctor;
• the city and transport;
• travel, hotel, weather;
• short messages and forms.

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11.What is not A1

A word heard in a café does not by itself become A1 grammar. Outside the level are, in particular:

• subordinate clauses with weil, dass, wenn as a stable system — that is A2;
• the full adjective-ending paradigm before nouns;
• connected stories in the past;
• arguments, reports, and formal texts;
• C1 stylistic precision.