The telephone is where German formality, separable verbs, and number-reading all collide at once — and where a single wrong reflex (answering with Hallo?) instantly marks you as a foreigner. Below, a caller (der Anrufer) reaches a company switchboard and is put through. The whole exchange stays in the formal Sie. Watch how the answerer states a surname instead of "hello", the chain of fixed phone formulas, the separable verbs anrufen / zurückrufen / ausrichten, the indirect question with ob, and the special telephone goodbye Auf Wiederhören.
The dialogue
Spedition Wagner, Müller, guten Tag?
The receptionist: Wagner Forwarding, Müller speaking, good day?
Guten Tag, hier spricht Anna Berger von der Firma Lindt. Kann ich bitte mit Herrn Wagner sprechen?
The caller: Good day, this is Anna Berger from Lindt. Could I speak with Mr Wagner, please?
Worum geht es denn, wenn ich fragen darf?
The receptionist: What is it regarding, if I may ask?
Es geht um die Lieferung von nächster Woche.
The caller: It's about next week's delivery.
Einen Moment, bitte, ich verbinde Sie.
The receptionist: One moment, please, I'll put you through.
Tut mir leid, Herr Wagner ist gerade nicht am Platz. Kann ich etwas ausrichten?
The receptionist: I'm sorry, Mr Wagner isn't at his desk right now. Can I take a message?
Könnten Sie ihm ausrichten, dass die Lieferung sich um zwei Tage verschiebt?
The caller: Could you let him know that the delivery is being pushed back by two days?
Mache ich. Ich wollte nur fragen, ob er Sie heute noch zurückrufen soll?
The receptionist: Will do. I just wanted to ask whether he should still call you back today?
Ja, gern. Er erreicht mich unter der Nummer null sechs eins, drei zwo neun, vier acht.
The caller: Yes, gladly. He can reach me at the number oh six one, three two nine, four eight.
Ich wiederhole: null sechs eins, drei zwo neun, vier acht. Hat er Ihre Durchwahl?
The receptionist: Let me repeat: oh six one, three two nine, four eight. Does he have your extension?
Nein, am besten ruft er mich auf dem Handy an.
The caller: No, it's best if he calls me on my mobile.
Alles klar, ich richte es ihm aus. Falls es dringend ist, kann er auch in einer Stunde wieder telefonieren.
The receptionist: All right, I'll pass it on. If it's urgent, he can also be back on the phone in an hour.
Das wäre super. Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe.
The caller: That would be great. Thank you very much for your help.
Gern geschehen. Auf Wiederhören!
The receptionist: You're welcome. Goodbye!
Auf Wiederhören!
The caller: Goodbye!
Grammar in context
Answering with your surname: Müller?
When a German answers a phone — at work and traditionally at home too — they state their surname, often with a rising, slightly questioning intonation: Müller?. On a business line the company name comes first, then the name: Spedition Wagner, Müller, guten Tag?. Identifying yourself with Hier spricht … or … am Apparat is the polite caller's mirror of this. Answering with a bare Hallo? is the single most reliable way to sound foreign on a German phone — it reads as careless, even slightly rude, because the other side now has to ask who they have reached. See the du/Sie decision.
Berger. — Guten Tag, hier ist Wagner am Apparat.
Berger speaking. — Good day, this is Wagner here.
Kann ich bitte mit … sprechen? — reaching a person
The standard way to ask for someone is Kann ich bitte mit Herrn/Frau X sprechen? — note mit + dative: you speak with a person, and the title-noun Herr takes its weak ending in the dative (mit Herrn Wagner, not mit Herr Wagner). The hedging bitte and the modal kann keep it polite without the heavier könnte. This is the line you will use on almost every call.
Guten Tag, kann ich bitte mit Frau Doktor Lindt sprechen?
Good day, could I please speak with Dr Lindt?
The switchboard chain: Worum geht es?, Ich verbinde Sie, ist nicht am Platz
A receptionist runs through a predictable script. Worum geht es? ("what is it regarding?") screens the call — the wo(r)- compound stands for um was. Einen Moment, ich verbinde Sie ("one moment, I'll connect you") puts you through; verbinden takes the accusative person. If the person is out, you hear Er ist gerade nicht am Platz / nicht erreichbar ("not at his desk / not reachable"). Learning the chain as a unit lets you predict what comes next and answer without freezing. See phone and set phrases.
Worum geht es? — Es geht um meinen Termin am Freitag.
What is it regarding? — It's about my appointment on Friday.
anrufen, zurückrufen, ausrichten, telefonieren — the phone verbs
German splits the English idea of "phoning" across several separable verbs, and the prefix flies to the end of the clause. jemanden anrufen = to call someone (takes the accusative: ich rufe dich an); zurückrufen = to call back; jemandem etwas ausrichten = to pass a message on to someone (dative person, accusative message). telefonieren is the only non-separable one — it means "to be on the phone / to make a call" in general and takes mit + dative for the person. Watching the prefix land at the very end (ruft er mich … an, richte es ihm … aus) is the clearest possible drill for the separable-verb bracket. See common separable verbs and anrufen.
Ich rufe dich heute Abend an, und wenn du nicht rangehst, rufe ich morgen wieder an.
I'll call you this evening, and if you don't pick up, I'll call again tomorrow.
Ich wollte nur fragen, ob … — indirect questions
Yes/no questions get embedded with the conjunction ob ("whether"), and — crucially — the verb goes to the end of the subclause: … ob er Sie zurückrufen soll. The framing Ich wollte (nur) fragen, … uses the Präteritum of wollen as a softener; the past tense makes the request feel more tentative and polite, exactly like English "I just wanted to ask …". Note that ob renders "if" only in the sense of "whether" — for conditional "if" you need wenn (as in Falls/Wenn es dringend ist). See ob and indirect questions.
Ich wollte fragen, ob der Termin noch steht.
I wanted to ask whether the appointment still stands.
Reading the phone number: units before tens, and zwo for zwei
German says two-digit numbers units before tens: 48 is acht-und-vierzig, "eight-and-forty". When reading a phone number aloud, speakers normally group it into two-digit chunks read this way, or spell it out digit by digit. Either way, zwei is very often replaced by zwo over the phone. The reason is purely acoustic: zwei and drei are easy to confuse on a crackly line, and zwo removes all doubt. So 329 read digit by digit becomes drei – zwo – neun. English keeps a flat units-after-tens count and has no "zwo" trick, so this is a real adjustment. See numbers read aloud.
Meine Nummer ist null eins fünf eins, zwo zwo, vier sieben.
My number is oh one five one, two two, four seven. (zwo to avoid confusion with drei)
Könnten Sie …? and the polite frame
When the caller asks the receptionist to relay a message, she uses Könnten Sie ihm ausrichten, dass …? — the Konjunktiv II könnten ("could you") rather than the flatter Können Sie. On the phone, where you cannot soften a request with a smile or gesture, this extra layer of grammatical politeness does real work. The same logic produces Das wäre super ("that would be great") instead of Das ist super. See Konjunktiv II overview.
Könnten Sie ihn bitten, mich morgen zurückzurufen?
Could you ask him to call me back tomorrow?
Auf Wiederhören — the telephone goodbye
You end a phone call with Auf Wiederhören — literally "until we hear each other again" — not Auf Wiedersehen ("until we see each other again"), which is for goodbyes in person. The verb root tells you which to use: hören (to hear) on the line, sehen (to see) face to face. Saying Auf Wiedersehen when hanging up is a tiny but very noticeable slip. Casually, Tschüss works on both.
Vielen Dank, auf Wiederhören! — Auf Wiederhören!
Thank you, goodbye! — Goodbye! (on the phone)
Vocabulary
| German | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| anrufen (+ acc.) | sep. verb | to call (someone) |
| zurückrufen | sep. verb | to call back |
| ausrichten (+ dat. + acc.) | sep. verb | to pass on a message |
| telefonieren (mit + dat.) | verb | to be on the phone / to phone |
| verbinden | verb | to connect, put through |
| der Apparat | m. | (telephone) extension, handset |
| die Durchwahl | f. | direct line, extension number |
| erreichbar | adj. | reachable, available |
| Worum geht es? | phrase | what is it regarding? |
| Auf Wiederhören | phrase | goodbye (on the phone) |
Common Mistakes
❌ Hallo? — Hallo, ist da Herr Wagner?
Foreign-sounding — Germans answer with their surname, not 'Hallo?'.
✅ Wagner. — Guten Tag, hier ist Berger.
Wagner speaking. — Good day, this is Berger.
❌ Auf Wiedersehen! (said while hanging up the phone)
Wrong on the phone — that's for goodbyes in person; on the line use 'Auf Wiederhören'.
✅ Auf Wiederhören!
Goodbye! (on the phone)
❌ Ich rufe an dich heute Abend.
Wrong word order — the separable prefix goes to the end: 'Ich rufe dich heute Abend an'.
✅ Ich rufe dich heute Abend an.
I'll call you this evening.
❌ Ich wollte fragen, ob er kann mich zurückrufen.
Wrong — in an indirect question the verb goes last: '... ob er mich zurückrufen kann'.
✅ Ich wollte fragen, ob er mich zurückrufen kann.
I wanted to ask whether he can call me back.
❌ Meine Nummer ist drei-zwei-neun (read as 'drei-zwei-neun' with confusion risk).
On the phone, prefer 'zwo' for 'zwei' to avoid sounding like 'drei': 'drei, zwo, neun'.
✅ Meine Nummer ist drei, zwo, neun.
My number is three, two, nine.
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- anrufen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of the separable verb anrufen 'to call/phone' across every tense and mood, with usage notes, the accusative object, the telefonieren contrast, and the errors English speakers make.
- High-Frequency Separable Verbs ReferenceA2 — A practical reference of the most common German separable verbs, grouped by prefix, with meanings, participles, and the correct Perfekt auxiliary.
- ob and Indirect QuestionsB1 — How German embeds questions: ob means 'whether/if' for yes/no questions and w-words introduce embedded wh-questions — both verb-final, with no question mark — and ob must never be confused with conditional wenn.
- Pronouncing Numbers, Dates, and Spelling AloudA2 — Spoken German says the units before the tens (einundzwanzig = 'one-and-twenty'), uses zwo on the phone to avoid confusion with drei, and has its own spelling alphabet — the survival skills for phone numbers, prices, dates, and dictation.
- Forms of Address and the du/Sie DecisionA2 — When to say du and when to say Sie, who gets to offer the switch, and how titles work — the single biggest social-grammar decision in German.
- Konjunktiv II: Hypotheticals, Wishes, and PolitenessB1 — The German mood for the unreal — hypotheticals, wishes, and the everyday politeness behind hätte gern, könnten Sie, and würden Sie.