· 7 min read
Is German Hard to Learn? The Real Picture
By Language Lab editorial team
Is German hard to learn? The US State Department allows about 828 class hours, more than French or Spanish. See which parts of German take the work.
German is harder for English speakers than French or Spanish, and much easier than Russian, Arabic or Japanese. The US State Department puts German in Category II and allows about 36 weeks, or 828 class hours, to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. French and Spanish take 30 weeks; Russian takes about 1,012 hours and Japanese 2,200. The extra time goes on grammar. Deutsche Welle's grammar overview for learners lists noun gender, the accusative, dative and genitive, two-case prepositions, separable verbs and subordinate clauses, and it runs a separate trainer just for der, die and das. The help is free: Deutsche Welle offers German courses free of charge from beginner level upwards.
Where German sits
The State Department's timelines show the time an English-speaking student is usually expected to need to reach an ILR score of 3 in speaking and listening. The Department previously published this list under the name Foreign Service Institute (FSI); an archived version of the page gives identical class-hour totals to the current one.
| State Department category | Class time | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Category I | 24–30 weeks (552–690 class hours) | Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, French, Spanish |
| Category II | About 36 weeks (828 class hours) | German, Indonesian, Malay, Swahili, Haitian Creole |
| Category III | About 44 weeks (1,012 class hours) | Russian, Polish, Greek, Turkish, Hindi |
| Category IV | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) | Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean |
The State Department describes Category I as languages close to English, Category III as hard languages with significant linguistic or cultural differences from English, and Category IV as super-hard. German sits between the first and the third: six weeks more than French or Spanish, and eight weeks less than the hard group.
What 828 hours looks like
The State Department's figures are class hours: it describes a typical week as 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study. It says the actual time varies with a learner's natural ability, prior language-learning experience and time spent in the classroom.
| Hours per week | Weeks to cover 828 hours |
|---|---|
| 5 | About 166 |
| 10 | About 83 |
| 20 | About 41 |
| 23 | 36 |
The parts that take the work
Deutsche Welle publishes a grammar overview of what it calls the most important German grammar rules. Its headings are a fair map of where learners spend their time.
| Area | What the overview lists |
|---|---|
| Nouns and articles | Noun gender, definite and indefinite articles, plurals, compound words |
| Declination | The accusative, the dative and the genitive, plus personal pronouns in the accusative and dative |
| Prepositions | Prepositions with the dative, and two-case prepositions |
| Verbs | Present-tense conjugation, vowel changes, modal verbs, separable verbs, reflexive verbs, the passive |
| Tenses | Present perfect with haben and with sein, simple past of regular and irregular verbs |
| Sentence structure | Subordinate clauses with dass and weil, relative clauses, indirect questions |
The Open University's free beginner courses point the same way. Their learning outcomes include understanding the basic rules of German pronunciation, using regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, understanding word order in sentences and using separable verbs.
Der, die, das
Articles get special treatment. Deutsche Welle runs an Artikeltrainer, described as a way to practise German articles, alongside its courses. In the grammar overview, noun gender and the articles share one heading, and the cases have a heading of their own.
Word order
Word order is a stated outcome of the second Open University beginner course, and Deutsche Welle gives sentence construction its own group of pages, with separate entries for statements, questions and several kinds of subordinate clause.
What works in your favour
- Pronunciation is taught as a set of basic rules in the first beginner course.
- German is widely used. The Open University notes that almost 100 million people speak it as their main language, most of them in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- The free material is extensive. Deutsche Welle's courses are free of charge, with learning content from A1 to C1 and a placement test.
- Progress is easy to measure. The Goethe-Institut has one exam for each level from A1 to C2, and 1.1 million of its exams were taken in 2025.
What each level means
| Level | The Goethe-Institut's description |
|---|---|
| A1 | Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases |
| A2 | Communicate in routine situations requiring a simple and direct exchange of information |
| B1 | Deal with everyday situations likely to arise at work, school or in leisure settings |
| B2 | Interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers possible without strain for either party |
| C1 | Use the language effectively and flexibly for personal, academic and professional purposes |
B1 is a common goal: 461,000 of the Goethe-Institut's exams in 2025 were at B1.
How to make German easier
- Learn every noun with its article from day one, and drill der, die and das separately.
- Take the cases one at a time, in the order the courses introduce them.
- Practise word order by building sentences aloud, not only by reading rules.
- Test yourself instead of rereading. A 2013 review of learning research rated practice testing and distributed practice as high utility, and rereading and highlighting as low.
- Use a structured free course such as Deutsche Welle's Nicos Weg, a video course for beginners with detailed grammar pages.
Language Lab's German course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so you hear and use the grammar in spoken situations.
Frequently asked
Is German hard to learn for English speakers?
It is in the middle. The US State Department places German in Category II at about 36 weeks, or 828 class hours. That is more than French or Spanish at 30 weeks and less than Russian at about 44 weeks.
Is German harder than French or Spanish?
By the State Department's figures, yes. French and Spanish are Category I languages at 30 weeks; German is Category II at about 36 weeks.
What is the hardest part of German?
The grammar. Deutsche Welle's grammar overview lists noun gender, the accusative, dative and genitive, two-case prepositions, separable verbs and subordinate clauses among the most important rules.
How long does it take to learn German?
The State Department allows about 828 class hours for a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. At ten hours a week that is about 83 weeks.
How many cases does German have?
Deutsche Welle's grammar overview covers four: the nominative, the accusative, the dative and the genitive.
Can I learn German for free?
Yes. Deutsche Welle offers German courses free of charge, with learning content from A1 to C1, and the Goethe-Institut publishes free practice material.
Sources: US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Deutsche Welle, Learn German and Grammar Overview; The Open University, OpenLearn, Getting started with German 1, 2 and 3; Goethe-Institut, German examinations A1–C2 and Levels A1–C2; Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Cologne Cathedral, main station and the Hohenzollern Bridge, Siebbi / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
