Essen und Trinken: food, drink and mögen

Der Käse, die Wurst, das Brot: food with its article

Every food in German has its article, and you cannot guess it from the meaning: der Käse, die Wurst, das Brot. Learn each word together with der, die or das, exactly as in the table. Two words name a whole group and are used in the singular: das Obst (fruit) and das Gemüse (vegetables) – Ich esse Obst, Gemüse ist gesund. When you talk about food in general, German uses no article at all: Ich esse Brot, Wir trinken Wasser.

Ich mag Käse: the verb mögen

mögen means “to like” and is followed by a noun: Ich mag Käse. It is irregular. In the singular the vowel becomes a, and ich and er/sie/es share one form with no ending: ich mag, er mag. The plural is regular again: wir mögen, ihr mögt, sie mögen. To say that you do not like something, put kein or keine before the noun: Ich mag keine Wurst, Er mag kein Fleisch.

Mögt ihr Wurst? – Nein, wir essen kein Fleisch.Do you (all) like sausage? – No, we don’t eat meat.

Ich esse gern Obst – and the meals of the day

When you like doing something, German uses the verb + gern instead of mögen: Ich esse gern Obst (I like eating fruit), Er trinkt gern Saft. nicht gern says the opposite: Ich esse nicht gern Fisch. The meals are das Frühstück, das Mittagessen and das Abendessen, and “for breakfast” is zum Frühstück. A German breakfast is often Brötchen with butter, jam, cheese or cold meats; in Austria and Bavaria the roll is called die Semmel. Traditionally the warm meal was eaten at midday and the evening meal was bread with cheese and sausage – hence the old word das Abendbrot, still common in northern and eastern Germany.

Zum Frühstück esse ich gern ein Brötchen mit Käse.For breakfast I like to eat a bread roll with cheese.