culture
The best German TV shows and series to learn with, by level
2026-10-02
Watching TV doesn't feel like studying, and that's exactly why it works. You hear real German at real speed, with faces, places and context that help you guess what's going on. The trick is picking a show at the right level and using subtitles the right way.
Here's a list sorted by level, from beginner to upper intermediate, and a simple subtitle plan at the end.
A1 to A2: start slow and clear
At this level you want slow, clear speech and lots of visual help.
- Nicos Weg from Deutsche Welle is a free video course built like a series. Nico arrives in Germany and you follow him through everyday life. It's made for learners, so the German is clear and the episodes are short.
- Extr@ is a sitcom made for language learners. It's a bit cheesy, but the dialogue is simple and the situations are easy to follow.
- Die Sendung mit der Maus has been on German TV since 1971. It's a kids' show that explains how things work, from how a pencil gets its lead to how a train is built. The narrators speak slowly and clearly, and adults secretly love it too.
- logo! is the ZDF news show for children. Real news, simple sentences, short episodes.
A2 to B1: everyday German with a story
Now you can handle normal speed, as long as the topic is familiar.
- Türkisch für Anfänger is a comedy from the 2000s about a German-Turkish patchwork family in Berlin. Lots of everyday family German and teenage drama.
- How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) on Netflix follows a nerdy teenager in a small German town who starts an online business that gets out of hand. The language is young and casual, so it's great for slang, though some of it is fast.
- Easy German on YouTube is not a series, but its street interviews show how real people talk, with German and English subtitles on screen.
- Tagesschau in 100 Sekunden gives you the main news in under two minutes. It's quick, but the topics repeat every day, so you get used to the vocabulary fast.
B1 to B2: the big series
These are made for German audiences, not learners. Use German subtitles and don't worry about catching every word.
- Dark was Netflix's first German original series: a time-travel mystery in a small town with a lot of characters. The German is clear and fairly formal, which helps, but the story is complicated in any language. Many people watch it twice.
- Babylon Berlin is set in Berlin in 1929, based on the crime novels by Volker Kutscher. Great for history lovers. Expect some old-fashioned expressions and Berlin dialect.
- Deutschland 83 is a Cold War spy story about a young East German soldier sent undercover to the West. Exciting and easier to follow than Dark.
- Tatort is Germany's most famous crime series, on Sunday evenings since 1970. Every city has its own detectives, so you hear accents from all over the German-speaking world. Watching Tatort on Sunday night is a real German ritual, and a great small-talk topic on Monday.
- Der Tatortreiniger is a dark comedy about a crime scene cleaner who talks to a new person in every episode. The conversations are clever and the episodes short.
- Die Discounter is a mockumentary comedy set in a supermarket. Very funny and very colloquial, so better near B2.
Where to watch
Netflix and other streaming services have several of these shows. Don't forget the free options: the ARD Mediathek and the ZDFmediathek are the online libraries of Germany's public broadcasters. Many programs there have German subtitles, marked UT (Untertitel). Some content is only available inside Germany.
How to use subtitles
Subtitles can help you or hold you back. Here's a simple plan:
- First episode with English subtitles. Learn who the characters are and what the story is about.
- Switch to German subtitles as soon as you can follow the story. Now you see and hear the same words, which is the best combination for learning.
- Rewatch a favorite scene without subtitles. If you understand most of it, you've made real progress.
A few more tips:
- Pause and repeat. When you hear a phrase you like, pause, say it out loud, and write it down.
- Watch the same show for a long time. Each series has its own vocabulary. By episode five, you'll know the words that keep coming back.
- Don't look up every word. Look up the words you hear three times. The rest can wait.
- Rewatch something you know. A show you've already seen in English is much easier in German, because you know the story.
Useful words for TV night
- die Folge: episode
- die Staffel: season
- der Untertitel: subtitle
- die Serie: series
- der Krimi: crime show
- Was läuft heute? What's on today?
- Hast du schon die neue Staffel gesehen? Have you seen the new season yet?
Keep the words
When a line from a show sticks in your head, don't let it go. Paste it into our sentence explainer to see how it's built, and save the new words to your word library for flashcard review. Not sure which level you're at? The free level test takes a few minutes.
Viel Spaß beim Schauen!