German Food & Grocery Vocabulary: Shop and Cook in German

Q: How do you say food in German?

Food is das Essen (also das Lebensmittel for groceries). "I'm hungry" is Ich habe Hunger , and "Enjoy your meal" is Guten Appetit .

Q: How do I ask for the price in German?

Say Wie viel kostet das? (How much is this?). Answers come in euros, so brushing up your German numbers helps.

🍽 Vocabulary 📖 7 min read

A German breakfast table with bread rolls, pretzels, cheese and coffee

Food is the vocabulary you use most

You shop and eat every day, so food words repay learning faster than almost any other category. Learn a handful before your next trip to the Supermarkt and you will use them within the hour.

Here are the essentials, with their articles, grouped the way they sit on the shelves.

Fruit and vegetables

der Apfel — apple
die Banane — banana
die Tomate — tomato
die Karotte — carrot
die Kartoffel — potato
die Zwiebel — onion
der Salat — lettuce/salad
die Blaubeere — blueberry

From the app · Picture Scenes

In DeutschSpeak you tap fruit and vegetables in a real market scene, hear each German word with its article, then find and say them back. market · der Markt

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A plate of grilled German bratwurst sausages with mustard and a pretzel — die Bratwurst **sausage** · der Senf **mustard** · die Brezel **pretzel**. Classic German street food — and a tasty set of words to learn first.

Staples and the fridge

das Brot — bread
die Milch — milk
der Käse — cheese
die Butter — butter
das Ei — egg
der Kaffee — coffee
das Wasser — water
das Fleisch — meat

Useful phrases at the shop

Wie viel kostet das? — How much is this?
Wo ist...? — Where is...?
Kann ich ... haben? — May I have...?
Nein, danke. — No thank you.
Danke. — Thank you.

Remember them where you will use them

Attach each word to the place you meet it — the market stall, the fridge shelf, the plate. That is why a market scene beats a market word list: your memory of "die Karotte" comes back the moment you see carrots, exactly when you need it.

Practise food words in a German market

DeutschSpeak's market, grocery and produce scenes teach food vocabulary the way you meet it in real life. Free to start.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you say food in German?

Food is das Essen (also das Lebensmittel for groceries). "I'm hungry" is Ich habe Hunger, and "Enjoy your meal" is Guten Appetit.

How do I ask for the price in German?

Say Wie viel kostet das? (How much is this?). Answers come in euros, so brushing up your German numbers helps.

Is German food vocabulary hard?

Not really — many food words are close to English (Apfel/apple, Milch/milk, Wasser/water), and they repeat constantly in daily life, making them some of the easiest German words to start with.