5 kleine Affen & das Krokodil

5 kleine Affen und das Krokodil is probably one of my favorite German children’s songs. My son and daughter love it, too. I wouldn’t really consider it a song, but more of a Fingerspiel (finger game, a story with hand motions). In the video above you can watch me act out the Fingerspiel with my son and talk about the colors of the monkeys in his game. A little later in this post, I have included the text of the Fingerspiel.

Reasons why I love this Fingerspiel

1. Adorable and humorous.
2. Catchy.
3. Can be used to introduce German grammar.
4. One of the few ways I have gotten my children to speak German spontaneously without prompting them to speak German instead of English.

Grammar Lessons with 5 kleine Affen & das Krokodil

Wait?!? This can be used to teach German grammar? Yep. It includes examples of several very important grammar topics in German. I have listed them below

1. Adjective Endings: 5 kleine Affen vs ein kleiner Affe vs keine kleinen Affen vs das große Krokodil
2. Simple Past Irregular Verbs: saß(en), ärgerte(n), kam
3. Accusative Personal Pronouns: Du kriegst uns nicht. vs Du kriegst mich nicht.

If you want to practice these grammar topics, I have created worksheets with answer keys that go with each of those lessons. While I have created several in the past about these topics, I also made one specifically for this video, which you can find here.

Alternatively, you can find worksheets to practice these grammar topics individually linked below.

• Adjective Endings (via the 3 Minuten Deutsch series, which is FREE!)
• Simple Past Irregular Verbs
  • Irregular Verbs Lesson
  • Rapunzel in Präteritum
  • A Story in Präteritum using a variety of verbs with worksheet & answer key
  • 3 Principal Parts of German Verbs (Switching between Präsens, Präteritum, Perfekt & Plusquamperfekt)
  • Also included in the 3 Minuten Deutsch series linked above.
• Accusative Personal Pronouns
  • Switching word order based on if the direct or indirect objects are pronouns or not as a story
  • Same as above, but as an actual grammar lesson
  • Also included in the Accusative Case Master Class and Dative Case Master Class

5 kleine Affen & das Krokodil Official Music Video

Ok. There is no such thing as an official music video for a children’s Fingerspiel. There is, however, the version of the song embedded above, which is by far the best version of this song. If you search on YouTube right now for this Fingerspiel, you will find several incredibly creepy versions with animated monkeys. Then you will find my version ranked in the top 10.

If you want to download the script as a side-by-side file with German and English next to each other or get an MP3 download of this, you can get that for FREE from my online store.

5 kleine Affen & das Krokodil Text

Verse 1

5 kleine Affen saßen auf einem Baum
und ärgerten das Krokodil.
“Du kriegst uns nicht. Du kriegst uns nicht.
Nä nä nä nä nä nä”
Da kam das große Krokodil
Schnapp, schnapp, schnapp.

5 little monkeys sat on a tree
and annoyed the crocodile
“You can’t get us. You can’t get us.
Na na na na na na”
Then came the large crocodile
Snap, snap, snap

Verse 2

4 kleine Affen saßen auf einem Baum
und ärgerten das Krokodil.
“Du kriegst uns nicht. Du kriegst uns nicht.
Nä nä nä nä nä nä”
Da kam das große Krokodil
Schnapp, schnapp, schnapp.

4 little monkeys sat on a tree
and annoyed the crocodile
“You can’t get us. You can’t get us.
Na na na na na na”
Then came the large crocodile
Snap, snap, snap

Verse 3

3 kleine Affen saßen auf einem Baum
und ärgerten das Krokodil.
“Du kriegst uns nicht. Du kriegst uns nicht.
Nä nä nä nä nä nä”
Da kam das große Krokodil
Schnapp, schnapp, schnapp.

3 little monkeys sat on a tree
and annoyed the crocodile
“You can’t get us. You can’t get us.
Na na na na na na”
Then came the large crocodile
Snap, snap, snap

Verse 4

2 kleine Affen saßen auf einem Baum
und ärgerten das Krokodil.
“Du kriegst uns nicht. Du kriegst uns nicht.
Nä nä nä nä nä nä”
Da kam das große Krokodil
Schnapp, schnapp, schnapp.

2 little monkeys sat on a tree
and annoyed the crocodile
“You can’t get us. You can’t get us.
Na na na na na na”
Then came the large crocodile
Snap, snap, snap

Verse 5

1 kleiner Affe saß auf einem Baum
und ärgerte das Krokodil.
“Du kriegst mich nicht. Du kriegst mich nicht.
Nä nä nä nä nä nä”
Da kam das große Krokodil
Schnapp, schnapp, schnapp.

1 little monkey sat on a tree
and annoyed the crocodile
“You can’t get me. You can’t get me.
Na na na na na na”
Then came the large crocodile
Snap, snap, snap

Verse 6

Kein kleiner Affe saß mehr auf dem Baum.
Da kam das große Krokodil.
Rülps, rülps, rülps, rülps, rülps.

No little monkeys sat on the tree anymore.
Then came the large crocodile.
Burp, burp, burp, burp, burp.

More German Children’s Songs by Herr Antrim

Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß

Learn some basic German   body part vocabulary in this fun and interactive song. This song is the German version of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes“. In the accompanying blog post, you will find a ton of extra vocabulary to help you learn the German body parts.

Wir haben Hunger featuring Dominik from Get Germanized

This song is used in German classrooms around the world. It is a simple, but fun song. You can sing this before lunch and get students ready to eat or simply to have some fun. In this version of the song Dominik from the YouTube channel “Get Germanized” stopped by to help Herr Antrim sing it.

5 kleine Affen springen auf dem Bett & More!

Herr Antrim has an entire playlist full of songs to help you learn German. In this playlist you will find the German version of “5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” as well as a bunch of other songs. This playlist includes songs about German grammar and vocabulary as well as classic German children’s songs.