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Say it in German 1: New Words
What's your name?
 

Say it in German - the new German short lessons for absolute beginners who can start right away without any background knowledge.

What do you have to say to someone if you want to ask him or her for his name? Here comes the answer.

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German text

Sentence

English translation
1. Question: Wie heißen Sie? (polite form) What's your name? (polite form)
    [vi: 'haisən zi:]   Literally: How are you called?
         
  Answer: Ich heiße ... . My name is ... .
    [ɪç 'haisə]   Literally: I am called ... .

In order to be able to form further sentences, we need to know the nominative forms of the personal pronouns because the subject of a sentence - the part of the sentence who or which is doing something - always stands in the nominative.

Form German Phonetic Script English Subject Form
polite form Sie [zi:] you (polite form)
1. person singular ich [ɪç] I
2. person singular (familiar) du [du:] you
3. person singular er [e:ɐ] he
3. person singular sie [zi:] she
3. person singular es [ɛs] it
1. person plural wir [vi:ə] we
2. person plural ihr [i:ə] you
3. person plural sie [zi:] they

Now that you have learned the forms of the personal pronouns, we have to conjugate the verb "heißen" which means "to be called":

Form German Phonetic Script English
infinitive heißen ['haisən] to be called
polite form Sie heißen [zi: 'haisən] you are called
1. person singular ich heiße [ɪç 'haisə] I am called
2. person singular (familiar) du heißt [du: haist] you are called
3. person singular er/sie/es heißt [e:ɐ/zi:/ɛs haist] he/she/it is called
1. person plural wir heißen [vi:ə 'haisən] we are called
2. person plural ihr heißt [i:ə haist] you are called
3. person plural sie heißen [zi: 'haisən] they are called

Now we can also ask the following questions:

   

German text

Sentence

English translation
2. Question: Wie heiße ich? What's my name?
    [vi: 'haisə ɪç]   Literally: How am I called?
         
  Answer: Du heißt ... . (familiar form singular) Your name is ... . (familiar form singular)
    [du: haist]   Literally: You are called ... .
         
  or: Sie heißen ... . (polite form) Your name is ... . (polite form)
    [zi: 'haisən]   Literally: You are called ... .
         
         
3. Question: Wie heißt du? (familiar form singular) What's your name? (familiar form singular)
    [vi: haist du:]   Literally: How are you called?
         
  Answer: Ich heiße ... . My name is ... .
    [ɪç 'haisə]   Literally: I am called ... .
         
         
4. Question: Wie heißt er? What's his name?
    [vi: haist e:ɐ]   Literally: How is he called?
         
  Answer: Er heißt ... . His name is ... .
    [e:ɐ haist]   Literally: He is called ... .
         
         
5. Question: Wie heißt sie? What's her name?
    [vi: haist zi:]   Literally: How is she called?
         
  Answer: Sie heißt ... . Her name is ... .
    [zi: haist]   Literally: She is she called ... .
         
         
6. Question: Wie heißt es? What's its name?
    [vi: haist ɛs]   Literally: How is it called?
         
  Answer: Es heißt ... . Its name is ... .
    [ɛs: haist]   Literally: It is called ... .
         
         
7. Question: Wie heißen wir? What's our name?
    [vi: haist ɛs]   Literally: How are we called?
         
  Answer: Ihr heißt ... . (familiar form plural) Your name is ... . (familiar form plural)
    [i:ə haist]   Literally: You are called ... .
         
         
8. Question: Wie heißt ihr? What's your name? (familiar form plural)
    [vi: haist i:ə]   Literally: How are you called?
         
  Answer: Wir heißen ... . (familiar form plural) Our name is ... .
    [vi:ə 'haisən]   Literally: We are called ... .

 

While "du" is the familiar form in the singular, "ihr" is the familiar form in the plural.

Please keep in mind: There is only one polite form which is used for one or more persons. There is no extra plural form.

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