german5000
My words Take the test
German verb · CEFR A1

sprechen

Meaning in English: speak, talk

Rank 692 of 5,000verbLevel A15 forms in the list
Learn this word

Add sprechen and its 4 forms to your reviews. Progress stays in this browser.

Test my vocabulary

Example

Können wir kurz unter vier Augen sprechen?

Can we talk privately for a moment?

Forms of sprechen in the top 5,000

German verbs change their ending with the person and tense, and each form is counted on its own. These forms of sprechen are also in the top 5,000:

spricht#685
speaksA1

Sie spricht drei Sprachen fließend.
She speaks three languages fluently.

sprach#1,271
spokeA2

Mein Opa sprach fließend Französisch.
My grandpa spoke fluent French.

gesprochen#1,725
spoken, talkedA1

Hast du schon mit deinem Chef gesprochen?
Have you spoken to your boss yet?

sprachen#2,014
spoke, talked (past)A2

Wir sprachen den ganzen Abend über Musik.
We talked about music all evening.

How common is sprechen?

sprechen is number 692 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 130 times per million words — about once every 7,700 words. Its most frequent form is spricht (#685).

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 61% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 688wannwhen (question)
  2. 689internationaleninternational
  3. 690anschließendafterwards, then
  4. 691ermöglichtenables, makes possible
  5. 692sprechenspeak, talk
  6. 693zumindestat least
  7. 694kannstcan (du form)
  8. 695gefundenfound
  9. 696betroffenenaffected

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.