Read Your First German Story

Explore a free beginner passage with tap-to-translate tools and line-by-line English translations.

Generate a free A0 or A1 story live in German with tap-to-translate words and full line translations.

Ein Tag im Café

Es ist ein schöner Tag in Berlin.

It is a beautiful day in Berlin.

Felix geht in ein kleines Café.

Felix goes into a small café.

Er sitzt an einem Tisch.

He is sitting at a table.

Ein Mann bringt das Getränk.

A man brings the drink.

Felix trinkt einen heißen Kaffee.

Felix drinks a hot coffee.

Der Kaffee schmeckt sehr gut.

The coffee tastes very good.

Auf dem Tisch liegt eine Zeitung.

A newspaper is lying on the table.

Felix nimmt die große Zeitung.

Felix takes the big newspaper.

Er liest die Zeitung langsam.

He reads the newspaper slowly.

Plötzlich fällt ein Foto heraus.

Suddenly a photo falls out.

Ein lustiger Hund ist darauf.

A funny dog is on it.

Felix lacht über das Foto.

Felix laughs at the photo.

Er liest dann den Text.

He then reads the text.

Er findet eine interessante Nachricht.

He finds an interesting news item.

Der Hund sucht ein Zuhause.

The dog is looking for a home.

Felix lächelt und freut sich.

Felix smiles and is happy.

Er will den Hund sehen.

He wants to see the dog.

Jetzt möchte Felix gehen.

Now Felix wants to leave.

Er sucht sein Geld.

He searches for his money.

Das Geld liegt in der Tasche.

The money is in the bag.

Felix bezahlt den Kaffee schnell.

Felix pays for the coffee quickly.

Er sagt danke und auf Wiedersehen.

He says thank you and goodbye.

Felix geht zufrieden nach Hause.

Felix goes home satisfied.

Quick facts about German

Speakers

About 95 million native speakers and an estimated 80–85 million second-language speakers (2014 estimate). Other native-speaker estimates range from about 90 million to nearly 100 million.1

Did you know?

Standard German spelling capitalises every noun and most words used as nouns, not just names: der Hund, die Freiheit.2

The main challenge

Verb placement: the finite verb comes second in a main clause but moves to the end of a subordinate clause, as in Ich helfe dir, weil ich dich mag.3

Sources

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_sentence_structure

About the German language

Language familyIndo-European → Germanic → West Germanic → High German1
SpeakersAbout 95 million native speakers and an estimated 80–85 million second-language speakers (the second-language figure is a 2014 estimate). Other native-speaker estimates run from about 90 million to nearly 100 million, partly because some varieties are disputed as languages or dialects.1
Primary scriptLatin alphabet plus the umlauts ä, ö, ü and the letter ß; all nouns are capitalised2
Word order & typologyVerb-second (V2) in main clauses and verb-final in subordinate clauses; inflected, with four cases and three genders.3,4
Official statusOfficial in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgium, and in Italy’s South Tyrol; an official language of the European Union. In Namibia, where the constitution makes English the only official language, German is one of several recognised national languages.1,5,6,7
  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_orthography
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_sentence_structure
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_grammar
  5. https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/languages_en
  6. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Namibia_2014
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Namibia

German reading proficiency benchmarks (CEFR & Goethe-Zertifikat)

Stichos levelApproximate framework equivalentReader profile
A0Pre-A1Early Beginner
A1CEFR A1 / Goethe-Zertifikat A1Beginner
A2CEFR A2 / Goethe-Zertifikat A2Elementary
B1CEFR B1 / Goethe-Zertifikat B1Intermediate
B2CEFR B2 / Goethe-Zertifikat B2Upper Intermediate

The Goethe-Institut offers one Goethe-Zertifikat per CEFR level, A1 to C2. A0 sits below the first exam, so it is shown as Pre-A1. The column is a rough guide to reading level, not an official equivalence for Stichos texts.

Reference corpora

German word-frequency resources draw on both written text and film and television subtitles.

  • SUBTLEX-DE: Brysbaert and colleagues (Experimental Psychology, 2011) derived German word frequencies from film and television subtitles, and recommend frequency estimates from corpora of at least 20 million words.1
  • Standard German: Stichos writes German readers in dialect-neutral Standard German (Hochdeutsch), avoiding regional, archaic and very colloquial words, and keeps informal du/ihr and formal Sie consistent across a text. Regional literary forms are allowed only at C2.
  1. https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1618-3169/a000123

Readability design principles

German has its own readability formulas, recalibrated for its long words.1

  • Flesch–Amstad: Toni Amstad’s 1978 Zurich dissertation adapted Flesch Reading Ease to German as 180 − sentence length − 58.5 × syllables per word, recalibrating the word term because German words are longer than English ones.1
  • Wiener Sachtextformel: Bamberger and Vanecek (1984) built the Vienna formula for non-fiction, which gives a school grade from 4 to 15 from the share of words with three or more syllables, mean sentence length, the share of words over six letters and the share of one-syllable words.1
  • Stichos: Stichos sets difficulty with level-by-level grammar rules and sentence-length limits rather than a single readability score.
  1. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbarkeitsindex

Script & grammar scaffolding

  • Word order: Main clauses keep the verb in second place, yes/no questions put it first (Hast du Zeit?), and subordinate clauses send it to the end. A0 and A1 use main clauses only; verb-final subordinate clauses arrive at A2.
  • Tenses: A0 uses the present (Präsens) plus the polite ich möchte. A1 adds the conversational past (Perfekt), the modals können, wollen and möchten, and the simple past of sein and haben only. A2 adds Futur I. B1 opens the Präteritum of all verbs and the Plusquamperfekt.
  • Subjunctive and passive: Konjunktiv II with würde, wäre and hätte and the present process passive (Vorgangspassiv) arrive at B1; reported speech in Konjunktiv I and the state passive (Zustandspassiv) at B2. An automatic check flags Konjunktiv II forms in A0 and A1 texts.
  • Subjects: German does not drop subject pronouns: every clause except a command states its subject.

Related academic & framework resources

Frequently asked questions

What writing system does German use?
Latin alphabet plus the umlauts ä, ö, ü and the letter ß; all nouns are capitalised
Is Stichos suitable for complete beginners with zero prior knowledge (A0)?
Yes. A0 is a primary focus, designed for readers with no prior knowledge. A1 then adds basic everyday vocabulary and simple connected clauses as your foundation grows.
Are Stichos levels the same as CEFR levels?
Not exactly. Stichos levels use the familiar CEFR names, from A0 to B2, and are modelled on the CEFR (the Common European Framework of Reference), so a Stichos B1 is meant to feel close to a B1 in your course book. They aren't an official CEFR rating, and different books and exams draw the lines in slightly different places. A0 is Stichos's own addition, just below the framework's first level.
Are the stories written by AI, and how accurate are they?
Yes. Stories are generated by AI and then checked by further automated steps against the grammar and vocabulary rules for your level. That catches most problems, but it isn't a human editor, so an occasional unnatural phrase or slip can get through. Treat Stichos as practice material, and check anything you're unsure of with a teacher or a reference.
Can I read stories with explanations in my native language?
Yes. Stichos allows you to pair any target language with any native support language. You can read a Croatian story with French glosses, or a German story with Spanish explanations.
How does word lookup work while reading?
Tap or click any word for its meaning in that sentence, explained in your own language. In the full version, you can save any word to your Vocab Bank for later review.
Is the preview free, and what happens to my email?
Yes. The preview is free and needs no account. If you join the Reading List, we use your email to send your 3 free sample stories (PDF, after you confirm your address) and to let you know when we fully open. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle it.
Do stories include audio or narration?
Story narration isn't part of the preview. At launch, the Premium Audio add-on reads every story aloud in a natural-sounding AI voice, in 39 of our 40 languages (Esperanto doesn't have audio support yet).

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