Learn German B1: stories for intermediate readers

After twenty years without contact, Katrin gets a message from her old school friend Julia. Over coffee, the two are polite strangers at first, until a waiter trips over a chair.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Every Friday, three friends play the lottery and dream big: a trip around the world, a house by the sea. Then, one Saturday evening, some of their numbers actually come up.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

At the back of a kitchen cupboard, Jelena finds her late grandmother's recipe book, full of notes, photos and memories. She decides to bake the family's favourite dish.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Lukas and Ana set off on a sunny hike to a mountain inn famous for its apple strudel. Then, halfway up, the fog rolls in.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

Four strangers share a compartment on the night train from Hamburg to Vienna, and none of them can sleep. So they start telling each other why they are travelling – all except the silent man in the grey suit.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Ayla wants to travel through Europe by train, and her seventy-five-year-old grandmother simply comes along. Soon it is no longer clear who is looking after whom.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

When her phone falls into a cup of coffee, Mira has to live without it for a whole week. What she misses, and what she finds instead, surprises her.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Anna lives in Berlin, Stefan in Belgrade, and their phone gets hot every evening. Anna often wonders what life would be like in one city, until Stefan sends her a photo of a train ticket.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

An ordinary Monday at the office – until Anna notices that her boss has not turned up.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Anna has wanted to go to the theatre for a long time. When she finally goes, the evening brings more than just a good play.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Every night on her drive home, the nurse Mira listens to a small radio station. Then the presenter with the deep voice starts talking about things only she can know.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Jonas has spent three weeks writing his speech as best man. At the wedding the first page goes perfectly, and then he turns to the second one.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

The evening before the premiere, the lead actor of a small amateur theatre is in bed with a fever, and there is no understudy. Then a quiet voice speaks up from under the stage.

Präteritum (simple past) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

Mira has spent three weeks preparing the presentation that could win her team more money. Five minutes before it starts, her laptop screen goes black.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Nebensatz (subordinate clause) · 7 new words

At two in the morning, nurse Miriam finds an old patient who can't sleep. He tells her about storms, ports and a ship's cook, and the night flies by.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Luca is travelling to his first big trade fair in Frankfurt. The journey takes much longer than expected, and the people in his compartment suddenly start speaking Polish.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

Bilal is training to be a baker, and his alarm rings at three every morning. At first he hates it, until one early morning he is sent outside for a moment.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

The new caretaker has a rule for everything, from doormats to laughing in the stairwell. After a few weeks, the tenants decide to answer him in his own language.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

On a cold Monday in January, a man plays the violin in a busy station and almost nobody stops. Only Mira, a music student, listens to the end, and two days later she finds out who he really is.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

Selin and Jakob take over an allotment garden that comes with a thick folder of rules and a neighbour who measures hedges for fun. What starts as a lecture turns into a friendship.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

The Haddads look after their neighbour's parrot for two weeks. “He only talks a little,” she says – but Kasimir listens to everything, and he has a very good memory.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 6 new words

In Mr Brandt's window, the light is on every single night, and the whole building has a theory about why. Then a card turns up in every mailbox.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

A red suitcase stands alone on platform three, and soon the whole station is closed. When the police finally open it, they find something nobody expected.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

Ivana enters the village cooking competition with her grandmother's paprika stew. The problem: there has never been a written recipe.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

Marta gets dizzy on a ladder, but her daughter has given her a climbing course for her birthday. Twelve metres of wall, one rope and a head full of “what if” questions.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 6 new words

Sabine's internet is down, so she asks her provider's chatbot for help. Max is extremely helpful, just not with the router.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

Petra trains for six months for her first marathon, while her friend Ines, who hates sport, thinks she's crazy. At kilometre thirty, Petra's legs feel like concrete and she wants to stop.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

While renovating their old house, Karim and Dorota find a yellowed letter behind the wall panelling. It was written in 1957, and nobody has ever read it.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

One by one, the bikes in a courtyard disappear, and a few days later they are back, in better shape than before. A teacher on the ground floor decides to find out who is behind it.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

On a walk in the park, Anna hears loud shouts – and suddenly finds herself in a football game she never planned.

Präteritum (simple past) · 8 new words

Three friends build a bike-delivery app in an old garage, financed by one very strict grandmother. Then a man in an expensive suit turns up and asks how many customers they have.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 8 new words

For his birthday, Felix's girlfriend takes him to a restaurant where the chef decides what everyone eats. Felix would much rather have a schnitzel.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

A village football club from the lowest league suddenly has to play a Bundesliga team in the cup. Ten thousand people come to watch, and nobody expects a miracle.

Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

A mysterious parcel addressed to a certain “Mr Bello” sits in the stairwell for days, and the neighbours can't agree on what to do with it. Then Lena, who has just moved in, hears something that gives her an idea.

Präteritum (simple past) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

The Novak family is late for a wedding, and Grandma Ruža has brought her old road map. Nobody needs it, says her son: the GPS knows everything.

Präteritum (simple past) · Konjunktiv II (would, could) · 7 new words

A tiny museum in an old station shows things that travellers forgot on trains, from umbrellas to a wedding dress. One grey Sunday, a visitor stops in front of a one-eared teddy bear and goes very quiet.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words

Jan's smart house controls the lights, the heating and the door, so he no longer needs a key. Then, on a rainy evening, his phone shows a message he has never seen before.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

In an open-plan office in Cologne, Dario sings all day long, and his colleagues dream of having their own offices. Then he goes on holiday for two weeks.

Konjunktiv II (would, could) · Relativsatz (relative clause) · 7 new words

In a box of old photos at a flea market, Sofia finds a picture of her late grandfather in front of a house she has never seen. She decides to find out where it is.

Relativsatz (relative clause) · Präteritum (simple past) · 7 new words

Sara only wants a cheap sofa for two nights in Leipzig. Her host Konrad describes himself in a single sentence: “I have a sofa and too much coffee.”

Relativsatz (relative clause) · 6 new words