Word
Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
Meaning
I speak a little German.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
ich
I
sprechen
to speak
Deutsch
German
ein bisschen
a bit, a little
Questions & Answers about Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
The lesson is about replacement pronouns like einer and eins. Why is it just ein in ein bisschen?
ein bisschen (a little/a bit) is a fixed expression. Here, ein is not acting as a standalone pronoun replacing a neuter noun, so it does not take the -s ending. The phrase never changes its form.
Doesn't the verb sprechen usually have a vowel change to an 'i'?
Yes, but only for the singular 'you' and 'he/she/it' forms! It becomes du sprichst and er/sie/es spricht. For the ich (I) and plural forms, it keeps its original 'e' vowel: ich spreche.
Why is Deutsch capitalized in this sentence?
In German, all nouns are capitalized, and names of languages are treated as nouns. You are essentially saying that you speak a little of the German language, so Deutsch gets a capital letter.
If I want to say I speak 'not a bit' of German, do I use kein bisschen?
Exactly! kein bisschen is the negative version of this phrase. You can say Ich spreche kein bisschen Deutsch (I do not speak a bit of German) or simply use the negative article on its own: Ich spreche kein Deutsch (I speak no German).