The compound Li4GeS4 has been prepared as transparent, light yellow moisture-sensitive crystals. Li4GeS4 belongs to the space group Pnma with a = 14.107(6) Å, b = 7.770(3) Å and c = 6.162(2) Å. The crystal structure was solved by direct-methods. The final R and Rw-values are 1.85 and 1.65% for 866 observed reflections. The Li4GeS4 structure has three crystallographically independent lithium sites and one germanium site. The lithium atoms adopt two different coordination types. The Li l atom is coordinated to five sulfur atoms in a square pyramidal geometry, while the Li2 and Li3 atoms have distorted tetrahedral coordination. The Ge atom is tetrahedrally coordinated by four sulfur atoms and is found as [GeS4]4- units. The anisotropic three-dimensional crystal structure of Li4GeS4 is described.