At the counter
L27 gave you the categories — Brot, Käse, Fleisch, Obst, Milch. These are the things you actually ask for.
| das Brötchen, - | bread roll | die Zwiebel, -n | onion |
| die Wurst, ¨-e | sausage | die Birne, -n | pear |
| der Schinken, - | ham | die Kirsche, -n | cherry |
| die Butter (Sg.) | butter | die Banane, -n | banana |
| der Pfeffer (Sg.) | pepper | die Pizza, -s/-en | pizza |
| I am buying two bread rolls. | Ich kaufe zwei Brötchen. |
die Butter and der Pfeffer have no plural
Substances are singular in German the way they are in English: die Butter, der Pfeffer, die Milch. You count them with a container or a measure — ein Glas Milch, ein Kilo Butter.
das Lebensmittel — the shopping-list word
das Lebensmittel is what a supermarket sells: literally a means of living. You will almost always meet it in the plural, die Lebensmittel, and on shop signs.
Im Supermarkt kaufe ich Lebensmittel.
| I buy groceries at the supermarket. | Im Supermarkt kaufe ich Lebensmittel. |
Watch the gender of das Brötchen
Every German noun ending in -chen is das, no exceptions — das Brötchen, das Mädchen (L9). The ending makes things small, so das Brot (bread) gives das Brötchen (a little bread, a roll).
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io
