Lesson 52: How You Feel: Tired, Sick, Cold, Fine

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say how you feel in simple German. This is an important late-A1 skill because it helps you talk about your body, your energy, and very basic health needs in everyday situations. Goethe’s A1 course-content outline includes understanding health-related language, so this fits well here.

What You’ll Learn

• How to say I am tired or I am sick
• How to say I feel cold or I feel warm
• How to answer How are you? in more than one way
• The difference between Ich bin … and Mir ist …
• How to talk about very simple health or comfort problems

Two Important Patterns

In this lesson, you need two main sentence patterns:

Pattern 1: Ich bin …

Use this pattern with many adjectives that describe your condition.

Ich bin müde.
I am tired.

Ich bin krank.
I am sick.

Ich bin okay.
I am okay.

Pattern 2: Mir ist …

Use this pattern with words like cold, warm, or bad/unwell.

Mir ist kalt.
I am cold.

Mir ist warm.
I am warm.

Mir ist schlecht.
I feel sick./I feel unwell.

These two patterns do not work in the same way, so it is important to learn when to use each one.

Pattern 1: Ich bin …

You already know the verb sein.

Ich bin = I am

Now you can add simple adjectives after it.

Examples:

Ich bin müde.
I am tired.

Ich bin krank.
I am sick.

Ich bin okay.
I am okay.

How This Pattern Works

This is the structure:

So:

Ich bin müde.

This is one of the easiest patterns in German.

Pattern 2: Mir ist …

Now look at this sentence:

Mir ist kalt.

Word-for-word, this is not the same as English. You wouldn’t say “me is cold,” but the meaning is:

I am cold.

German often uses this pattern for physical sensations.

How This Pattern Works

You do not say:

Ich bin kalt when you want to say I am cold.

Instead, German says:

Mir ist kalt.

For now, learn these as complete chunks:

• Mir ist kalt.
• Mir ist warm.
• Mir ist schlecht.

Why Ich Bin And Mir Ist Are Different

This is the important difference:

Use Ich bin … for your general condition

• Ich bin müde.
• Ich bin krank.
• Ich bin okay.

Use Mir ist … for physical feelings or sensations

• Mir ist kalt.
• Mir ist warm.
• Mir ist schlecht.

A simple beginner rule:

Answering “How Are You?”

You already know:

Wie geht’s?
How are you?

You can answer.

A Small Difference

These two answers are both possible:

Mir geht es gut.
I’m doing well.

Ich bin müde.
I’m tired.

The first one answers the question more generally.

The second one gives a specific condition.

Useful Feeling Words For This Lesson

Here are the most useful words to learn now:

You do not need a huge list. These are enough to start talking about how you feel.

Short Everyday Situations

Here is how these phrases work in real life.

Situation 1: You are tired

Wie geht’s?
How are you?

Ich bin müde.
I’m tired.

Situation 2: You feel cold

Ist dir kalt?
Are you cold?

Ja, mir ist kalt.
Yes, I’m cold.

Situation 3: You are sick

Wie geht es dir?
How are you?

Ich bin krank.
I’m sick.

Situation 4: You feel unwell

Wie geht’s?
How are you?

Mir ist schlecht.
I feel unwell.

A Small Grammar Note: Ist Dir Kalt?

You may also hear questions like:

Ist dir kalt?
Are you cold?

Ist dir warm?
Are you warm?

This is the question form of:

Mir ist kalt.
I am cold.

For now, learn the question and answer as chunks:

• Ist dir kalt?
• Ja, mir ist kalt.

Practice