Lesson 12 · German A1-2

Shopping & Food Vocabulary

Einkaufen

Grocery shopping is daily-life German at its most frequent - and it's also a classic Goethe/telc A1 Schreiben (writing) prompt: "write a shopping list" or "write a short note about what you need." Today's vocabulary plugs straight into the "Ich möchte ..." pattern from Lesson 11.

Today's win: name common grocery items with their articles, ask for a price, and understand euro prices spoken aloud.

Core food nouns

das Brotbreaddie Milchmilk
der Käsecheesedas Ei / die Eieregg / eggs
der Apfelappledas Gemüsevegetables
das Obstfruitdas Wasserwater

Asking for and about things

Ich möchte ein Brot und Käse, bitte.
Was kostet das? (What does that cost?)
Wie viel kostet die Milch? (How much is the milk?)

Both questions reuse the W-question pattern from Lesson 5 - question word first, verb second.

Prices in euros

German reads a price with the whole-euro number, the word "Euro," then the cents:

2,50 €zwei Euro fünfzig
0,99 €neunundneunzig Cent
15,30 €fünfzehn Euro dreißig

Note the comma, not a decimal point - German uses , where English uses . for decimals. Reading "fünfzehn Euro dreißig" out loud reuses the exact "flip" number rule from Lesson 2 for anything above 20.

Try it out loud: write a 4-item shopping list in German with articles, then say "Ich möchte ..." followed by all four items in one sentence, joined with "und."

Quick recall check

1. What's the article for "Milch" (milk)?

Show answer
die

2. "What does that cost?" - Was ______ das?

Show answer
kostet

3. Say "2,50 €" in German (two words plus a number word).

Show answer
zwei Euro fünfzig

4. What's the German word for "vegetables"?

Show answer
Gemüse

5. What's the article for "Apfel" (apple)?

Show answer
der

Primary source

Vocabulary drawn from the "Essen und Trinken" (food and drink) topic in the official Goethe-Zertifikat A1 Wortliste.

Want to practice writing a full shopping list or a short note to a roommate? Ask your teaching agent to check your writing.