What is your name?
Literally, how are you called? Du addresses one person informally.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 3 · GERMAN
German: Nice to meet you
Introduce yourself and ask someone their name.
Informal · introductions. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful German phrases and their meanings
My name is Alex.
Replace Alex with your own name. Heiße is the ich form of heißen.
I am Sam.
Ich bin means I am. It is another natural way to introduce yourself.
Nice to meet you.
A common short expression when you meet someone. The fuller form is Es freut mich, dich kennenzulernen.
How the sentence works
Ich heiße introduces your name. In Wie heißt du?, the question word comes first, then the verb, then du. German ß is a distinct letter: heiße is also written heisse where ß is unavailable. Ich bin can identify you, and freut mich is a common friendly reply to an introduction.
A short conversation in German
Hello! My name is Alex. What is your name?
I am Sam.
Nice to meet you.
Words to recognise
I
you (informal singular)
the name
to be called
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning German
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.