German Phrase
Erstmal rede ich über …
Meaning
Literally ‘First, I talk about …’. It is a handy way to introduce the first item on a list of topics, especially in a presentation, a classroom explanation, or a casual conversation where you are outlining what you will say next.
When to use
Use this phrase at the beginning of a speech, a meeting, a lesson, or any situation where you need to signal that you are about to discuss a particular subject before moving on to the next point.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Erstmalredeichüber...
Erstmal
An adverb meaning ‘first of all’ or ‘to start with’; placed at the beginning of a sentence to set the order of points.
reden (ich rede)
Present‑tense form of the verb reden ‘to talk/speak’. With the subject pronoun ‘ich’ it follows the regular –en conjugation pattern.
ich
Personal pronoun for the first person singular; always placed before the verb in main clauses.
über + Akkusativ
The preposition über introduces the topic of discussion and governs the accusative case; the object that follows is the thing you talk about.
Ellipsis (…)
The three dots indicate that the speaker will insert a specific topic after ‘über’. In practice you replace the dots with a noun or noun phrase.
🗨In Conversation
Erstmal rede ich über die Geschichte unseres Unternehmens.
First, I will talk about the history of our company.
Dann können wir uns die aktuellen Zahlen anschauen.
Then we can look at the current figures.
✕Common Mistakes
Erstmal rede ich von …
‘von’ means ‘from’ and does not introduce a topic. The correct preposition for ‘talk about’ is ‘über’.
Erst rede ich über …
‘Erst’ alone means ‘only’ or ‘just’; to express ‘first of all’ you need ‘Erstmal’ or ‘Zuerst’.
Erstmal rede ich über der Markt.
When the object is a noun phrase, you must use the accusative case after ‘über’. For masculine nouns, the article changes to ‘den’. Example: ‘Erstmal rede ich über den Markt.’
↔Alternatives
Zuerst spreche ich über …
First, I will speak about …
Als Erstes rede ich über …
As the first point, I will talk about …
Zunächst rede ich über …
Initially, I will talk about …
Cultural Tip
‘Erstmal’ is common in spoken, informal German. In a formal presentation you might prefer ‘Zunächst’ or ‘Als Erstes’, which sound a bit more polished. Also, ‘reden’ is slightly colloquial; ‘sprechen’ is the neutral alternative for formal contexts.