LanguageThe ProfessorBeginner
Everyday German, a free language course on Tomo

Everyday German

Like Duolingo, but for Everyday German. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

24 levels across 3 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Making First Contact, Navigating Daily Life, and Expanding Expression. It starts from scratch.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Gus the German Shepherd, the guide who teaches the Everyday German course
Everyday German
with Gus the German Shepherd
24
Levels
3
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Everyday German

  • 'Guten Morgen' belongs strictly to the morning, switching to 'Guten Tag' midday
  • 'Hallo' serves as an all-day casual greeting among peers but is too informal for strangers or business
  • 'Gute Nacht' is used exclusively when parting to sleep, not as a general evening greeting
  • 'Ich komme aus...' means 'I come from...' and introduces your origin or hometown
  • 'Ich heiße...' introduces your name, not your origin
  • 'Ich wohne in...' states your current residence, not where you are originally from
  • 'Sie' is the mandatory polite form for adult strangers, officials, and service staff
  • 'du' is reserved for family, close friends, children, and fellow students
  • Switching between 'du' and 'Sie' changes the verb ending (e.g., 'heißt du' vs. 'heißen Sie')
  • 'Und dir?' is the quick conversational bounce-back for someone you address as 'du'
  • 'Und Ihnen?' is the polite equivalent used for someone you address as 'Sie'
  • Short reciprocal phrases keep a conversation flowing without restating full question clauses
  • English 'd' frequently shifts to 't' in German (e.g., 'drink'/'trinken', 'day'/'Tag', 'dance'/'tanzen')
  • English 'th' regularly shifts to 'd' in German (e.g., 'brother'/'Bruder', 'this'/'dies')
  • Recognizing these regular shifts gives beginners immediate reading comprehension of basic vocabulary
  • Recognizing how the social divide between 'du' and 'Sie' affects verb forms and social distance in German
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Everyday German the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Saying Hello and Introducing Yourself

When is 'Hallo' the right greeting to use?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

Where Everyday German takes you

Build real conversational ability in German from your very first sentence. Master essential daily interactions, conquer sentence structure, and speak with confidence in everyday situations.

  1. 1

    Making First Contact

    • Breaking the Ice: Greetings and Introductions
    • Ordering and Buying: Café and Shop Essentials
    • Present Tense Basics and Word Order
  2. 2

    Navigating Daily Life

    • Finding Your Way: Directions and Places
    • Daily Routines, Schedules, and Time
    • Direct Objects and the Accusative Case
  3. 3

    Expanding Expression

    • Wants, Rules, and Abilities: Modal Verbs
    • Talking About the Past: The Spoken Perfect

3 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Everyday German is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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