🇩🇪 German
German graded readers: what to read at each level
German has a solid supply of graded readers from publishers such as Klett, Hueber, Cornelsen and ELI, many of them short detective stories. Choosing well mostly means accepting how slowly the jump from A2 to B1 happens: subordinate clauses, the case system and long compound nouns all arrive at once.
ReadNative's German book is Hansel and Gretel, retold after the Brothers Grimm as one graded story from A1 to B1 over 30 chapters. It is free, and you can read the first chapters free in your browser, tapping any word for its English meaning or any sentence for a translation.
German graded readers on ReadNative
What to read at each level
A1
Main clauses, present tense, and the most frequent words. The first chapters of Hansel and Gretel — the house by the forest, the hunger, the white stones — use a familiar plot so you can concentrate on the language.
A2
The Perfekt, modal verbs and separable verbs. The middle of the Hansel and Gretel retelling and A2 readers from Klett or Hueber are a good fit. Keep reading in volume.
B1
Subordinate clauses with the verb at the end, the Präteritum of story-telling, more cases. The last chapters of Hansel and Gretel reach B1. Learner-focused news written in simpler German is also useful here.
B2
Native young-adult novels, short stories, and longer adapted classics. Importing your own EPUBs into ReadNative lets you keep tap-to-translate support.
Not sure where you are? Take the German vocabulary test or check a text with the difficulty checker.
Questions
What is a graded reader?
A book written or retold with controlled vocabulary and grammar for a specific level, so a learner can read a whole story in German with little dictionary use. The aim is lots of comfortable reading, not decoding.
How do I know if a book is the right level?
If you understand the story and need to look up only a few words per page, it is right. If every sentence needs help, drop down a level; if you never tap anything, move up. In German the step from graded books to native texts is steep, so do not rush it.
Do German graded readers teach the cases?
They do not explain them, but they show them in context constantly, which is how the patterns become automatic. Pair reading with a grammar resource if you want rules.