Buying Vegetables at a German Market
After this lesson you can ask for quantities and weights and pay without switching to English.
Do this first: Numbers 0–20
Übungen
Eight exercises on what you just watched. Get 80% and the lesson is marked done and added to your A1 progress.
1 / 8 · Type the missing word
2 / 8 · Type the missing word
3 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
And a pound of potatoes.
4 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
Are the strawberries sweet?
5 / 8 · Choose
How many grams is ein Pfund?
6 / 8 · Choose
How do you say "a kilo of tomatoes"?
7 / 8 · Choose
What does das Gemüse mean?
8 / 8 · Choose
What does das Obst mean?
In short
At a German market you ask by weight or by piece: ein Kilo Tomaten, ein Pfund Kartoffeln, drei Stück. Ein Pfund is 500 g. Close with Das ist alles, danke, and expect to be served — you do not pick up the produce yourself.
How it works
A Markt or Wochenmarkt stall works differently from a supermarket: you tell the seller what you want and they select and weigh it. Reaching in and handling the fruit yourself is a small but real faux pas, and it is the thing visitors most often get wrong.
Quantities come in three forms. By weight — ein Kilo, ein halbes Kilo, ein Pfund (which means 500 g, not the imperial pound). By piece — drei Stück, zwei Bund for bunched things like radishes or parsley. Or loosely — etwas, ein bisschen.
The pattern is quantity + item: ein Kilo Tomaten, ein Pfund Kartoffeln, zwei Bund Radieschen. Note there is no word for "of" — German just puts the two nouns together. Then Das ist alles, danke to close, and the seller totals it up.
| German | English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ein Kilo | a kilo | 1000 g |
| ein Pfund | a pound | 500 g — metric, not imperial |
| ein halbes Kilo | half a kilo | same as ein Pfund |
| 100 Gramm | 100 grams | hundert Gramm |
| ein Stück | one piece | drei Stück = three of them |
| ein Bund | a bunch | herbs, radishes, spring onions |
| eine Schale | a punnet | berries |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Ein Kilo Tomaten, bitte. | A kilo of tomatoes, please. |
| Sind die Erdbeeren süß? | Are the strawberries sweet? |
| Woher kommen die Äpfel? | Where are the apples from? |
| Das ist alles, danke. | That's everything, thanks. |
| Darf ich probieren? | May I try one? |
| Etwas weniger, bitte. | A bit less, please. |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| die Tomate | tomato |
| die Kartoffel | potato |
| die Zwiebel | onion |
| die Karotte / Möhre | carrot |
| der Apfel | apple |
| die Erdbeere | strawberry |
| der Salat | lettuce, salad |
| die Gurke | cucumber |
| die Paprika | pepper |
Examples
- Ein Kilo Tomaten, bitte.A kilo of tomatoes, please.
- Und ein Pfund Kartoffeln.And a pound of potatoes.
- Drei Stück, bitte.Three, please.
- Sind die Erdbeeren süß?Are the strawberries sweet?
- Woher kommen die Äpfel?Where are the apples from?
- Etwas weniger, bitte.A bit less, please.
- Was kostet ein Kilo?How much is a kilo?
- Das ist alles, danke.That's everything, thanks.
- Haben Sie auch Gurken?Do you have cucumbers too?
- Ich nehme zwei Bund Radieschen.I'll take two bunches of radishes.
Mistakes to avoid
✗ Picking up the produce yourself
✓ Asking the seller for it
At a market stall the seller selects and weighs. Handling the fruit yourself is genuinely frowned on — it is the classic tourist mistake.
✗ Ein Kilo von Tomaten
✓ Ein Kilo Tomaten
German has no "of" here. Quantity and item simply sit next to each other.
✗ Assuming ein Pfund is 454 g
✓ ein Pfund = 500 g
The German Pfund is a metric half-kilo. It is used constantly at markets and butchers.
✗ Expecting a bag
✓ Bringing your own
Plastic bags are charged for or simply not offered. Germans carry a Stoffbeutel or a Korb — showing up with one marks you as a regular.
Wortschatz
The words from this lesson.
| der Markt | market | |
| das Gemüse | vegetables | |
| das Obst | fruit | |
| das Kilo | kilo | |
| das Pfund | pound (500 g) | |
| das Stück | piece | |
| das Bund | bunch | |
| die Tüte | bag | |
| probieren | to try, to taste | |
| frisch | fresh |
Kulturnotiz
Bring your own bag. Germany charges for plastic bags and many market stalls do not offer them at all — the Stoffbeutel (cloth tote) and the wicker Korb are standard equipment, and you will see them on every arm at a Saturday Wochenmarkt. It is also worth knowing that most markets are cash-only, and that they pack up around 13:00.
Common questions
+How much is ein Pfund?
500 grams — half a kilo. It is a metric measure that kept the old name, so it is not the same as an imperial pound (454 g). Butchers and market stalls use it constantly.
+Why is there no word for "of"?
German puts the quantity and the item straight together: ein Kilo Tomaten, eine Tasse Kaffee, ein Glas Wasser. Adding von is a direct translation from English and sounds wrong.
+Can I pick the fruit myself?
At a market stall, no — the seller chooses and weighs. In a supermarket, yes. Getting this the wrong way round is the most visible tourist mistake at a Wochenmarkt.
+What is the difference between Karotte and Möhre?
None — both mean carrot. Möhre is more common in the north, Karotte in the south and Austria. Gelbe Rübe turns up in Bavaria.