Situations
Real German situations, ready to rehearse
These are real situations from the OGIMA community — created by people living them in Germany, from the Bürgeramt counter to the hospital night shift. Read why each moment is trickier than it looks, then practice it out loud in the app before it happens to you.
Everyday Berlin 73 situations
- Asking a kiosk clerk about tonight's screenings
- Asking about Sunday deals at the station bookstore
- Asking about your Steuer-ID at the Finanzamt
- Asking for the toilet in a Prenzlauer Berg trattoria
- Asking the corner shop owner for local tips
- Asking the Späti cashier where the ATM is
- Asking the Späti clerk how to open a beer bottle
- Asking the Späti line about the nearest ATM
- Booking a Steuererklärung help session online
- Building sentences at a Neukölln language meetup
- Building sentences during a U-Bahn study break
- Cheering on the Mauerpark dachshund race
- Closed supermarket on a Sunday in Berlin
- Coffee-order drill in class at Friedrichstraße
- Currywurst at Alexanderplatz
- Debating cinnamon roll flavors in the office kitchen
- Debating the meaning of Alter at the coworking table
- Digging through racks at a Kreuzberg vintage shop
- Drilling prepositions at a language meetup
- Explaining your visa status at the counter
- Finding your way through Alexanderplatz
- Fixing the coffee-and-tea order with the caterer
- Flipping through vinyl at the Hauptbahnhof kiosk
- German novels on the S-Bahn
- Getting the joke at a Kreuzberg Kneipe
- Grabbing an empty seat on the U-Bahn
- Grabbing coffee before Sunday Hauptbahnhof shopping
- Grumbling at the Späti's cash-only sign
- Guiding the handymen through the kitchen install
- Hunting for dropped keys in the Treppenhaus
- Lining up for a Neukölln apartment viewing
- Meeting friends at the Kreuzberg mezcal bar
- Midnight snack run at the corner shop
- One more chapter at a Prenzlauer Berg café
- Opening a line at the Späti beer counter
- Ordering for two at a Prenzlauer Berg café
- Picking a meetup spot after Berghain closes
- Picking the fastest U-Bahn route home at night
- Picking up slang at Tempelhofer Feld
- Pitching part-time hours at the Neukölln studio
- Planning a sunrise picnic at Viktoriapark
- Planning a Tiergarten picnic with no groceries
- Planning the dress code before Berghain
- Practicing icebreakers on a Späti beer run
- Pretending to text when you spot your ex
- Queueing outside a Berlin late-night kiosk
- Quick coffee from the corner shop counter
- Quizzing the bartender on mezcal origins
- Reading assembly steps with the delivery handyman
- Rush-hour scanning at Edeka Prenzlauer Berg
- Sending a cheesy text after the Berghain set
- Sharing a weird teddy video from Kreuzberg
- Shushing loud phones inside the Liquidrom steam
- Slang translator duty at Alexanderplatz
- Späti chat about which cinema is still playing
- Splitting the bill at the Rüyam döner terrace
- Spotting a huge teddy bear at the corner kiosk
- Stairwell chat about the Sunday closures
- Starting a flirt at a Prenzlauer Berg café
- Stuck behind tourists on a U8 morning rush
- Sunday food court rendezvous at Hauptbahnhof
- Swapping Kiez words at a Plattenbau housewarming
- Swiping on the tram before Mauerpark
- Testing your Berlin slang on a cab driver
- Texting a friend to meet at the Rüyam counter
- The creepy teddy bear in the Neukölln park
- Trading favorite drinks with the Späti owner
- Train-noise gripe outside Warschauer Straße
- Turning down a drink at the main bar
- Waiting for cinnamon rolls at a Prenzlauer Berg bakery
- Waiting for the S-Bahn at Alexanderplatz
- Waiting for the vet pickup with a damp cat
- Waiting in the Anmeldung line at Bezirksamt
Expat Life 24 situations
- Apologizing for a mistake during the team meeting
- Asking the curator about the Van Neerle exhibit
- Borrowing salt at a neighborhood potluck
- Borrowing salt at a rooftop party next door
- Calling a neighbor for salt mid-snack
- Comparing coworking memberships over afternoon coffee
- CV review with the mentor at the coworking space
- Decompressing at the museum café after a tour
- Homesick at the language exchange table
- Introducing a new friend at an expat party
- Joining the Berlin tech Slack channel
- Lining up speakers for your monthly tech meetup
- Listening to a new expat's bad week
- New face at the language exchange table
- Opening the laptop at the expat-freelancer patio
- Ordering an oat milk latte before opening your laptop
- Rehashing the meetup takeaways over coffee
- Sharing your story at a German language class
- Smoothing over a cultural mix-up with the team
- Swapping LinkedIn at the tech-meetup bar
- The moment you switch from English to German
- Video call home from your student dorm
- Video-calling a neighbor for a salt substitute
- Video-calling home on slow café Wi-Fi
Doctors & Nurses 32 situations
- Asking the ward lead about the unfamiliar protocol
- Calling the attending during a cardiac arrest
- Calming a child before the blood sample
- Catching a coffee break in the hospital garden
- Checking in at the doctor's Praxis reception
- Checking the IV dose with the senior nurse
- Checking visa appointment dates online
- Comforting a family in the pediatric ER
- Comparing handover notes over hospital coffee
- Consulting an elderly patient on morning rounds
- Drawing blood from an elderly patient's arm
- Handing off patient care to the night team
- Holding a family hand through the MRI scan
- Mentoring a student through an emergency shift
- Morning handover at the nurse station
- Paging the on-call physician at 3 am
- Planning weekend shifts under the hospital oak
- Reading back meds orders on the night shift
- Relaying doctor's feedback to the patient's family
- Rescheduling a doctor's appointment by phone
- Reviewing radiology results at the nurses' station
- Running the code-blue response in the ICU
- Running through stretches in the hospital corridor
- Sharing pediatric test results with the parents
- Side effects and the pharmacy counter
- Taking a patient's vitals in the pre-op room
- Talking discharge steps with an expat family
- Translating bedside terms for the new nurse
- Triaging multiple trauma cases at 3am
- Verifying patient identity at the radiology door
- Walking a confused patient to radiology
- Ward rounds at a German hospital
Everyday Life 76 situations
- Answering the phone the German way
- Arguing in the living room about the dishes
- Backhand trouble at the tennis club
- Balcony small talk on a summer evening
- Bantering with the market vendor in local slang
- Breaking the ice at the campus café
- Calling an ambulance after a kitchen accident
- Calling out a street harasser on the way home
- Career doubts on a park bench with a friend
- Coming home late, roommate asleep
- Complimenting your neighbor's dog
- Confronting a hallway bully before class starts
- Dinner plans over text with a friend
- Dithering at the neighborhood ice-cream parlor
- Doorstep chat about why you are learning German
- Dressing room, wrong size, need help
- Drilling FAA exam questions with your mentor
- Editing the Lisbon photos with your roommate
- Explaining the quiet-zone rules to a new patron
- Flashcards and a sandwich at the lunch table
- Following the math teacher's step-by-step logic
- Friendly exchange at the coffee counter
- Fumbling for a cigarette under the neon sign
- Giving a genuine compliment over lunch
- Greeting the morning rush at a bakery counter
- Grocery run with your roommate
- Introducing yourself at school orientation
- Joining the Tuesday language exchange circle
- Knocking on your neighbor's door for salt
- Language tandem at the neighborhood café
- Learning sauna etiquette at a wellness center
- Living room catch-up with your roommate
- Locking in the Saturday picnic headcount
- Lost in the station, asking for the exit
- Mailbox small talk with your neighbor
- Morning yoga, German mantras
- Naming the in-between sweater color at coffee
- Negotiating the omelette fillings before 8 am
- Noisy neighbors and the hallway complaint
- Office coffee break small talk
- Package delivery and the intercom
- Packing volleyball gear before dawn practice
- Picking an outfit in front of the bedroom mirror
- Planning the Saturday park picnic with friends
- Plugging the new pizzeria in the breakroom
- Pre-class small talk at morning yoga
- Refusing to let a classmate pay for your coffee
- Saying tschüss to your regular barista
- Sharing a park bench with strangers
- Shower schedule negotiations in the WG
- Sidewalk shoveling and the neighbor dispute
- Slipping into Italian with a coworker at lunch
- Small office win and the watercooler chat
- Smoothie chaos in the shared kitchen
- Snapping candid photos at the backyard barbecue
- Standing up for a friend in a group chat
- Sulking in the bedroom after the prank went too far
- Swapping numbers with your new apartment neighbor
- Talking about your Algerian origins in class
- Talking date night up at the new riverfront pizzeria
- Teacher pep talk before the high-school test
- Telling jokes at a lunchtime park picnic
- Texting a friend about the missing iced latte
- The bill fight at the end of dinner
- The dinner party where nobody knows your name
- The morning text that starts the day
- Trading paperbacks at a neighborhood book swap
- Waiting for coffee, circling one life question
- Walking out of a café after a birthday slip
- Weather joke with your neighbor in the pool
- Weekend plans over coffee with a friend
- Weighing your day under the morning shower
- When the morning nod becomes a chat
- Working vocab lists with a study group
- Your barista knows your face. Now what?
- Your package is at the neighbor's place