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A1-2 · Countries, cities and languages

Where are you from?

Say where you come from, where you live and which languages you speak. Ask the same questions politely or with du.

About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions

Three classmates introduce themselves beside a world map in a language classroom.

01

Where are you from?

You can already introduce yourself. Now ask where someone comes from: Woher kommst du? Answer with Ich komme aus … and a country.

Woher kommst du?

Where are you from?

Ich komme aus Deutschland.

I'm from Germany.

Ich komme aus Spanien.

I'm from Spain.

Ich komme aus Indien.

I'm from India.

Woher asks about origin. Learn aus Deutschland, aus Spanien and aus Indien as phrases. Some country names need an extra word, such as aus der Schweiz. You will learn those patterns later.

A learner stands outside an apartment building on a Berlin street, with a city map in hand.

02

Where do you live?

Where you come from and where you live can be different. Wo wohnst du? asks where you live now. Use Ich wohne in … with a city.

Wo wohnst du?

Where do you live?

Ich wohne in Berlin.

I live in Berlin.

Ich wohne in Madrid.

I live in Madrid.

Ich komme aus Spanien. Ich wohne in Berlin.

I'm from Spain. I live in Berlin.

Wo asks about a place. Compare Woher kommst du? with Wo wohnst du? Use aus for your origin and in for the city where you live in these phrases.

Two classmates practise speaking together at a table with language-learning books.

03

Talk about languages

A country and a language have different names: Deutschland is Germany; Deutsch is German. Ask Was sprichst du zu Hause? to find out what someone speaks at home. Learn zu Hause as the phrase 'at home'.

Was sprichst du zu Hause?

What do you speak at home?

Ich spreche Spanisch.

I speak Spanish.

Ich spreche Hindi.

I speak Hindi.

Ich spreche Deutsch und Englisch.

I speak German and English.

Was means 'what'. In this question, the answer is a language. Und means 'and'. Write these language names with a capital letter: Deutsch, Englisch, Spanisch, Hindi. Learn spreche and sprichst as part of these phrases for now.

04

Four useful question words

Put the question word first and the verb next: Wo wohnst du? Then comes the person, here du. Wie heißt du? from Chapter 1 follows the same pattern.

Four useful question words
Question word and meaningExample
wie · howWie heißt du?
wo · whereWo wohnst du?
woher · where fromWoher kommst du?
was · whatWas sprichst du zu Hause?

Wie heißt du?

What's your name?

Wo wohnst du?

Where do you live?

Woher kommst du?

Where are you from?

Was sprichst du zu Hause?

What do you speak at home?

Wie literally means 'how', but Wie heißt du? is the German way to ask someone's name. Keep the word order: question word + verb + person. The rest of the question can follow, as in Was sprichst du zu Hause?

A receptionist and a new learner have a friendly conversation at a language school's reception desk.

05

A polite conversation

Use Sie in a polite conversation, just as in Chapter 1. Learn the matching questions as whole phrases: Woher kommen Sie? Wo wohnen Sie? Was sprechen Sie zu Hause?

Frau Weber

Wie heißen Sie?

What's your name? · polite

Ravi

Ich heiße Ravi.

My name is Ravi.

Frau Weber

Woher kommen Sie?

Where are you from? · polite

Ravi

Ich komme aus Indien.

I'm from India.

Frau Weber

Wo wohnen Sie?

Where do you live? · polite

Ravi

Ich wohne in Berlin.

I live in Berlin.

Frau Weber

Was sprechen Sie zu Hause?

What do you speak at home? · polite

Ravi

Ich spreche Hindi.

I speak Hindi.

Try a short introduction with your own details: Ich heiße … Ich komme aus … Ich wohne in … Ich spreche … Keep polite Sie capitalized, even in the middle of a sentence.

Ready to try it?

Check what you remember with 12 short questions.