German Phrase
War schön, dich zu sprechen.
Meaning
The sentence means ‘It was nice to talk to you.’ It is used after a conversation that has just ended, expressing a pleasant feeling about the interaction.
When to use
Use this phrase right after a phone call, a face‑to‑face chat, or any brief conversation when you want to let the other person know you enjoyed speaking with them. It works best in informal settings with friends, classmates, or colleagues you address with ‘du’.
✦Grammar Breakdown
Warschön,dichzusprechen.
War (Präteritum of sein)
‘War’ is the simple past (Präteritum) form of ‘sein’ and is used to talk about something that happened in the past.
schön as predicative adjective
When an adjective follows a verb like ‘sein’, it stays in its base form (no ending) and describes the subject.
dich (accusative personal pronoun)
‘dich’ is the accusative form of ‘du’ and is required because the infinitive clause ‘zu sprechen’ takes a direct object.
zu + infinitive
The construction ‘zu + infinitive’ creates a purpose or complement clause, similar to ‘to …’ in English.
🗨In Conversation
War schön, dich zu sprechen.
It was nice to talk to you.
Ja, ich habe mich gefreut, dich zu hören.
Yes, I was glad to hear from you.
✕Common Mistakes
War schön dich zu sprechen.
Missing comma after ‘schön’ makes the sentence harder to read; the comma separates the main clause from the infinitive clause.
War schön, du zu sprechen.
‘du’ is the nominative form; the infinitive clause needs the accusative ‘dich’.
Es war schön, dich zu sprechen.
While grammatically correct, the version without ‘Es’ sounds more natural in everyday speech.
↔Alternatives
Es war schön, mit dir zu reden.
It was nice to chat with you.
Ich habe das Gespräch mit dir genossen.
I enjoyed the conversation with you.
War nett, dich zu hören.
It was nice to hear from you.
Cultural Tip
German distinguishes between the informal ‘du’ and the formal ‘Sie’. The phrase uses ‘dich’, so it should only be used with people you address informally. In a business or first‑time meeting, you would say ‘Es war schön, Sie zu sprechen.’ Also, Germans often add a brief ‘Danke für das Gespräch’ after this sentence to close the interaction politely.