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German adverb · CEFR A2

fast

Meaning in English: almost, nearly

Rank 271 of 5,000adverbLevel A2

False friend: fast is not “fast”. It means almost. Fast as in quick is schnell. More false friends.

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Example

Ich habe den Zug fast verpasst.

I almost missed the train.

How common is fast?

fast is number 271 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 321 times per million words — about once every 3,100 words.

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 53% of the words in an ordinary German text. A2 means an elementary word, usually learned in the first year.

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 267Personenpersons, people
  2. 268ebenfallslikewise, also
  3. 269die Entwicklungdevelopment
  4. 270die Möglichkeitpossibility, opportunity
  5. 271fastalmost, nearly
  6. 272zeigtshows
  7. 273die Frauwoman; wife; Mrs
  8. 274langelong, for a long time
  9. 275zwaradmittedly (zwar … aber)

In these word lists

Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.