German orthography

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:German grammar Template:IPA notice

German orthography is the orthography used in writing the German language, which is largely phonemic. However, it shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogous to other spellings rather than phonemic. The pronunciation of almost every word can be derived from its spelling once the spelling rules are known, but the opposite is not generally the case.

Today, Standard High German orthography is regulated by the Template:Lang (Council for German Orthography), composed of representatives from most German-speaking countries.

Alphabet

Template:See also Template:Listen

Austria's standardized cursive
Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift

The modern German alphabet consists of the twenty-six letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet plus four special letters.

Basic alphabet

Letter Name[1] Name
(IPA) 		Spelling
Alphabet
A a Template:Lang Template:IPA Anton
B b Template:Lang Template:IPA Berta
C c Template:Lang Template:IPA Cäsar
D d Template:Lang Template:IPA Dora
E e Template:Lang Template:IPA Emil
F f Template:Lang Template:IPA Friedrich
G g Template:Lang Template:IPA Gustav
H h Template:Lang Template:IPA Heinrich
I i Template:Lang Template:IPA Ida
J j Template:Lang,Template:Efn
Template:LangTemplate:Efn 		Template:IPATemplate:Efn
Template:IPATemplate:Efn 		Julius
K k Template:Lang Template:IPA Kaufmann,Template:Efn
KonradTemplate:Efn
L l Template:Lang Template:IPA Ludwig
M m Template:Lang Template:IPA Martha
N n Template:Lang Template:IPA Nordpol
O o Template:Lang Template:IPA Otto
P p Template:Lang Template:IPA Paula
Q q Template:Lang,Template:Efn
Template:LangTemplate:Efn 		Template:IPATemplate:Efn
Template:IPATemplate:Efn 		Quelle
R r Template:Lang Template:IPA Richard
S s Template:Lang Template:IPA Samuel,Template:Efn
SiegfriedTemplate:Efn
T t Template:Lang Template:IPA Theodor
U u Template:Lang Template:IPA Ulrich
V v Template:Lang Template:IPA Viktor
W w Template:Lang Template:IPA Wilhelm
X x Template:Lang Template:IPA Xanthippe,Template:Efn
XavierTemplate:Efn
Y y Template:Lang Template:IPATemplate:Efn
Template:IPATemplate:Efn 		Ypsilon
Z z Template:Lang Template:IPA Zacharias,Template:Efn
ZürichTemplate:Efn

Template:Notelist

Special letters

German has four special letters; three are vowels accented with an umlaut sign (Template:Angbr) and one is derived from a ligature of Template:Angbr (long s) and Template:Angbr (Template:Angbr; called Template:Lang "ess-zed/zee" or Template:Lang "sharp s"). They have their own names separate from the letters they are based on.

Template:Listen

Letter Name Name
(IPA) 		Spelling
Alphabet
Ä ä Ä Template:IPA Ärger
Ö ö Ö Template:IPA Ökonom,Template:Efn
ÖsterreichTemplate:Efn
Ü ü Ü Template:IPA Übermut,Template:Efn
ÜbelTemplate:Efn
ẞ ß Template:Lang,
Template:Lang 		Template:IPA
Template:IPA 		Eszett,Template:Efn
scharfes STemplate:Efn

Template:Notelist

  • Capital ẞ was declared an official letter of the German alphabet on 29 June 2017.[2] Previously represented as Template:Angbr.
  • Historically, long s (ſ) was used as well, as in English and many other European languages.[3]

While the Council for German Orthography considers Template:Angbr distinct letters,Template:Sfn disagreement on how to categorize and count them has led to a dispute over the exact number of letters the German alphabet has, the number ranging between 26 (considering special letters as variants of Template:Angbr) and 30 (counting all special letters separately).[4]

Use of special letters

Umlaut diacritic usage

Template:See also The accented letters Template:Angbr are used to indicate the presence of umlauts (fronting of back vowels). Before the introduction of the printing press, frontalization was indicated by placing an Template:Angbr after the back vowel to be modified, but German printers developed the space-saving typographical convention of replacing the full Template:Angbr with a small version placed above the vowel to be modified. In German Kurrent writing, the superscripted Template:Angbr was simplified to two vertical dashes (as the Kurrent Template:Angbr consists largely of two short vertical strokes), which have further been reduced to dots in both handwriting and German typesetting. Although the two dots of umlaut look like those in the diaeresis (trema), the two have different origins and functions.

When it is not possible to use the umlauts (for example, when using a restricted character set) the characters Template:Angbr should be transcribed as Template:Angbr respectively, following the earlier postvocalic-Template:Angbr convention; simply using the base vowel (e.g. Template:Angbr instead of Template:Angbr) would be wrong and misleading. However, such transcription should be avoided if possible, especially with names. Names often exist in different variants, such as Template:Lang and Template:Lang, and with such transcriptions in use one could not work out the correct spelling of the name.

Automatic back-transcribing is wrong not only for names. Consider, for example, Template:Lang ("the new book"). This should never be changed to Template:Lang, as the second Template:Angbr is completely separate from the Template:Angbr and does not even belong in the same syllable; Template:Lang (Template:IPA) is Template:Lang (the root for "new") followed by Template:Angbr, an inflection. The word Template:Angbr does not exist in German.

Furthermore, in northern and western Germany, there are family names and place names in which Template:Angbr lengthens the preceding vowel (by acting as a Template:Lang), as in the former Dutch orthography, such as Template:Lang, which is pronounced with a long Template:Angbr, not an Template:Angbr. Similar cases are Template:Lang and Template:Lang.

In proper names and ethnonyms, there may also appear a rare Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, which are not letters with an umlaut, but a diaeresis, used as in French and English to distinguish what could be a digraph, for example, Template:Angbr in Template:Lang, Template:Angbr in Template:Lang, Template:Angbr in Template:Lang, Template:Angbr in Template:Lang and Template:Lang (although Hoëcker added the diaeresis himself), and Template:Angbr in Template:Lang.[5] Occasionally, a diaeresis may be used in some well-known names, i.e.: Template:Lang[6] (usually written as Template:Lang).

Swiss keyboards and typewriters do not allow easy input of uppercase letters with umlauts (nor Template:Angbr) because their positions are taken by the most frequent French diacritics. Uppercase umlauts were dropped because they are less common than lowercase ones (especially in Switzerland). Geographical names in particular are supposed to be written with Template:Angbr plus Template:Angbr, except Template:Lang. The omission can cause some inconvenience, since the first letter of every noun is capitalized in German.

Template:Anchor Unlike in Hungarian, the exact shape of the umlaut diacritics – especially when handwritten – is not important, because they are the only ones in the language (not counting the tittle on Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr). They will be understood whether they look like dots (Template:Angbr), acute accents (Template:Angbr) or vertical bars (Template:Angbr). A horizontal bar (macron, Template:Angbr), a breve (Template:Angbr), a tiny Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, a tilde (Template:Angbr), and such variations are often used in stylized writing (e.g. logos). However, the breve – or the ring (Template:Angbr) – was traditionally used in some scripts to distinguish a Template:Vr from an Template:Vr. In rare cases, the Template:Vr was underlined. The breved Template:Vr was common in some Kurrent-derived handwritings; it was mandatory in Sütterlin.

Sharp s

German label "Delicacy / red cabbage." Left cap is with old orthography, right with new.

Template:Lang or Template:Lang (Template:Angbr) represents the “s” sound. The German spelling reform of 1996 somewhat reduced usage of this letter in Germany and Austria. It is not used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

As Template:Angbr derives from a ligature of lowercase letters, it is exclusively used in the middle or at the end of a word. The proper transcription when it cannot be used is Template:Vr (Template:Vr and Template:Vr in earlier times). This transcription can give rise to ambiguities, albeit rarely; one such case is Template:Lang "in moderation" vs. Template:Lang "en masse". In all-caps, Template:Angbr is replaced by Template:Vr or, optionally, by the [[capital ß|uppercase Template:Angbr]].Template:Sfn The uppercase Template:Vr was included in Unicode 5.1 as U+1E9E in 2008. Since 2010 its use is mandatory in official documentation in Germany when writing geographical names in all-caps.[7] The option of using the uppercase Template:Vr in all-caps was officially added to the German orthography in 2017.[8]

Although nowadays substituted correctly only by Template:Vr, the letter actually originates from a distinct ligature: long s with (round) z (Template:Vr). Some people therefore prefer to substitute Template:Vr by Template:Vr, as it can avoid possible ambiguities (as in the above Template:Lang vs Template:Lang example).

Incorrect use of the Template:Vr letter is a common type of spelling error even among native German writers. The spelling reform of 1996 changed the rules concerning Template:Vr and Template:Vr (no forced replacement of Template:Vr to Template:Vr at word's end). This required a change of habits and is often disregarded: some people even incorrectly assumed that the Template:Vr had been abolished completely. However, if the vowel preceding the Template:Angbr is long, the correct spelling remains Template:Vr (as in Template:Linktext). If the vowel is short, it becomes Template:Vr, e.g. Template:Lang "I think that…". This follows the general rule in German that a long vowel is followed by a single consonant, while a short vowel is followed by a double consonant.

This change towards the so-called Heyse spelling, however, introduced a new sort of spelling error, as the long/short pronunciation differs regionally. It was already mostly abolished in the late 19th century (and finally with the first unified German spelling of 1901) in favor of the Adelung spelling. Besides the long/short pronunciation issue, which can be attributed to dialect speaking (for instance, in the northern parts of Germany Template:Lang is typically pronounced short, i.e. Spass, whereas particularly in Bavaria elongated may occur as in Template:Lang which is pronounced Geschoß in certain regions), Heyse spelling also introduces reading ambiguities that do not occur with Adelung spelling such as Template:Lang (Adelung: Template:Lang) vs. Template:Lang (Adelung: Template:Lang). It is therefore recommended to insert hyphens where required for reading assistance, i.e. Template:Lang vs. Template:Lang.

Long s

Template:Lang and Template:Lang are distinguished in blackletter typesetting, though no longer in contemporary font styles.

In the Fraktur typeface and similar scripts, a long s (Template:Vr) was used except in syllable endings (cf. Greek sigma) and sometimes it was historically used in antiqua fonts as well; but it went out of general use in the early 1940s along with the Fraktur typeface. An example where this convention would avoid ambiguity is Template:Lang (Template:IPA) "guardhouse", written Template:Vr and Template:Lang (Template:IPA) "tube of wax", written Template:Vr.

Sorting

There are three ways to deal with the umlauts in alphabetic sorting.

  1. Treat them like their base characters, as if the umlaut were not present (DIN 5007-1, section 6.1.1.4.1). This is the preferred method for dictionaries, where umlauted words (Template:Lang "feet") should appear near their origin words (Template:Lang "foot"). In words which are the same except for one having an umlaut and one its base character (e.g. Template:Lang vs. Template:Lang), the word with the base character gets precedence.
  2. Decompose them (invisibly) to vowel plus Template:Angbr (DIN 5007-2, section 6.1.1.4.2). This is often preferred for personal and geographical names, wherein the characters are used unsystematically, as in German telephone directories (Template:Lang).
  3. They are treated like extra letters either placed
    1. after their base letters (Austrian phone books have Template:Angbr between Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr etc.) or
    2. at the end of the alphabet (as in Swedish or in extended ASCII).

Microsoft Windows in German versions offers the choice between the first two variants in its internationalization settings.

A sort of combination of nos. 1 and 2 also exists, in use in a couple of lexica: The umlaut is sorted with the base character, but an Template:Angbr in proper names is sorted with the umlaut if it is actually spoken that way (with the umlaut getting immediate precedence). A possible sequence of names then would be Template:Lang in this order.

Template:Lang is sorted as though it were Template:Angbr. Occasionally it is treated as Template:Angbr, but this is generally considered incorrect. Words distinguished only by Template:Angbr vs. Template:Angbr are rare. The word with Template:Angbr gets precedence, and Template:Lang (story of a building; South German pronunciation) would be sorted before Geschoss (projectile).Template:Cn

Accents in French loanwords are always ignored in collation.

In rare contexts (e.g. in older indices) Template:Angbr (phonetic value equal to English Template:Angbr) and likewise Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are treated as single letters, but the vocalic digraphs Template:Angbr (historically Template:Angbr), Template:Angbr and the historic Template:Angbr never are.

Personal names with special characters

German names containing umlauts (Template:Angbr) and/or Template:Angbr are spelled in the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone of the passport, but with Template:Angbr and/or Template:Angbr in the machine-readable zone, e.g. Template:Angbr becomes Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr becomes Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr becomes Template:Angbr. The transcription mentioned above is generally used for aircraft tickets et cetera, but sometimes (like in US visas) simple vowels are used (Template:Lang). As a result, passport, visa, and aircraft ticket may display different spellings of the same name. The three possible spelling variants of the same name (e.g. Template:Lang) in different documents sometimes lead to confusion, and the use of two different spellings within the same document may give persons unfamiliar with German orthography the impression that the document is a forgery.

Even before the introduction of the capital Template:Angbr, it was recommended to use the minuscule Template:Angbr as a capital letter in family names in documents (e.g. Template:Lang, today's spelling: Template:Lang).

German naming law accepts umlauts and/or Template:Angbr in family names as a reason for an official name change. Even a spelling change, e.g. from Template:Lang to Template:Lang or from Template:Lang to Template:Lang is regarded as a name change.

Features of German spelling

Capitalization

A typical feature of German spelling is the general capitalization of nouns and of most nominalized words. In addition, capital letters are used: at the beginning of sentences (may be used after a colon, when the part of a sentence after the colon can be treated as a sentence); in the formal pronoun Template:Lang 'you' and the determiner Template:Lang 'your' (optionally in other second-person pronouns in letters); in adjectives at the beginning of proper names (e.g. Template:Lang 'the Pacific Ocean'); in adjectives with the suffix '-er' from geographical names (e.g. Template:Lang); in adjectives with the suffix '-sch' from proper names if written with the apostrophe before the suffix (e.g. Template:Lang 'Ohm's law', also written Template:Lang).

Compound words

Compound words, including nouns, are usually written together, e.g. Template:Lang (Template:Lang + Template:Lang; 'house door'), Template:Lang (Template:Lang + Template:Lang; 'table lamp'), Template:Lang (Template:Lang + Template:Lang + Template:Lang; 'cold water tap/faucet). This can lead to long words: the longest word in regular use, Template:Lang[9] ('legal protection insurance companies'), consists of 39 letters.

Hyphen in compound words

Compounds involving letters, abbreviations, or numbers (written in figures, even with added suffixes) are hyphenated: Template:Lang 'A major', Template:Lang 'US embassy', Template:Lang 'with 10 percent', Template:Lang 'group of ten'. The hyphen is used when adding suffixes to letters: Template:Lang 'nth'. It is used in substantivated compounds such as Template:Lang 'alternative' (literally 'either-or'); in phrase-word compounds such as Template:Lang 'equinox', Template:Lang 'postponing' (substantivation of Template:Lang 'to postpone'); in compounds of words containing hyphen with other words: Template:Lang 'A major scale'; in coordinated adjectives: Template:Lang 'German-English dictionary'. Compound adjectives meaning colours are written with a hyphen if they mean two colours: Template:Lang 'red and brown', but without a hyphen if they mean an intermediate colour: Template:Lang 'reddish brown' (from the spelling reform of 1996 to the 2024 revision of the orthographic rules, both variants could be used in both meanings). Optionally the hyphen can be used to emphasize individual components, to clarify the meaning of complicated compounds, to avoid misunderstandings or when three identical letters occur together (in practice, in this case it is mostly used when writing nouns with triple vowels, e.g. Template:Lang 'elephant seal').

The hyphen is used in compounds where the second part or both parts are proper names, e.g. Template:Lang 'the photographer Hansen', Template:Lang 'Lüdenscheid, the city of millers', double-barrelled surnames such as Template:Lang; geographical names such as Template:Lang. Double given names are variously written as Template:Lang. Some compound geographical names are written as one word (e.g. Template:Lang 'North Korea') or as two words (e.g. geographical names beginning with Template:Lang or Template:Lang). The hyphen is not used when compounds with a proper name in the second part are used as common nouns, e.g. Template:Lang 'crybaby'; also in the name of the fountain Template:Lang. The hyphen is used in words derived from proper names with hyphen, from proper names of more than one word, or from more than one proper name (optional in derivations with the suffix Template:Lang from geographical names from more than one word). Optionally the hyphen can be used in compounds where the first part is a proper name. Compounds of the type "geographical name+specification" are written with a hyphen or as two words: Template:Lang or Template:Lang.

Vowel length

Even though vowel length is phonemic in German, it is not consistently represented. However, there are different ways of identifying long vowels:

Double or triple consonants

Even though German does not have phonemic consonant length, there are many instances of doubled or even tripled consonants in the spelling. A single consonant following a checked vowel is doubled if another vowel follows, for instance Template:Lang 'always', Template:Lang 'let'. These consonants are analyzed as ambisyllabic because they constitute not only the syllable onset of the second syllable but also the syllable coda of the first syllable, which must not be empty because the syllable nucleus is a checked vowel.

By analogy, if a word has one form with a doubled consonant, all forms of that word are written with a doubled consonant, even if they do not fulfill the conditions for consonant doubling; for instance, Template:Lang 'to run' → Template:Lang 'he runs'; Template:Lang 'kisses' → Template:Lang 'kiss'.

Doubled consonants can occur in composite words when the first part ends in the same consonant the second part starts with, e.g. in the word Template:Lang ('sheepskin', composed of Template:Lang 'sheep' and Template:Lang 'skin, fur, pelt').

Composite words can also have tripled letters. While this is usually a sign that the consonant is actually spoken long, it does not affect the pronunciation per se: the Template:Vr in Template:Lang ('oxygen bottle', composed of Template:Lang 'oxygen' and Template:Lang 'bottle') is exactly as long as the ff in Template:Lang. According to the spelling before 1996, the three consonants would be shortened before vowels, but retained before consonants and in hyphenation, so the word Template:Lang ('navigation, shipping', composed of Template:Lang 'ship' and Template:Lang 'drive, trip, tour') was then written Template:Lang, whereas Template:Lang already had a triple Template:Vr. With the aforementioned change in Template:Vr spelling, even a new source of triple consonants Template:Vr, which in pre-1996 spelling could not occur as it was rendered Template:Vr, was introduced, e.g. Template:Lang ('compulsory round' in certain card games, composed of Template:Lang 'must' and Template:Lang 'game').

Typical letters

Foreign words

For technical terms, the foreign spelling is often retained such as Template:Vr Template:IPA or Template:Vr Template:IPA in the word Template:Lang (physics) of Greek origin. For some common affixes however, like Template:Lang or Template:Lang, it is allowed to use Template:Lang or Template:Lang instead.[10] Both Template:Lang and Template:Lang are correct, but the mixed variants Template:Lang or Template:Lang are not.[10]

For other foreign words, both the foreign spelling and a revised German spelling are correct such as Template:Lang / Template:Lang[11] or Template:Lang / Template:Lang, though in the latter case the revised one does not usually occur.[12]

For some words for which the Germanized form was common even before the reform of 1996, the foreign version is no longer allowed. A notable example is the word Template:Lang "photograph", which may no longer be spelled as Template:Lang.[13] Other examples are Template:Lang (telephone) which was already Germanized as Template:Lang some decades ago or Template:Lang (office) which got replaced by the Germanized version Template:Lang even earlier.

Except for the common sequences Template:Lang (Template:IPA), Template:Lang (Template:IPA or Template:IPA) and Template:Lang (Template:IPA), the letter Template:Vr appears only in loanwords or in proper nouns. In many loanwords, including most words of Latin origin, the letter Template:Vr pronounced (Template:IPA) has been replaced by Template:Vr. Alternatively, German words which come from Latin words with Template:Vr before Template:Vr are usually pronounced with (Template:IPA) and spelled with Template:Vr. However, certain older spellings occasionally remain, mostly for decorative reasons, such as Template:Lang instead of Template:Lang.

The letter Template:Vr in German appears only in the sequence Template:Vr (Template:IPA) except for loanwords such as Template:Lang or Template:Lang (the latter is also written Template:Lang).

The letter Template:Vr (Template:Lang, Template:IPA) occurs almost exclusively in loanwords such as Template:Lang (xylophone) and names, e.g. Template:Lang and Template:Lang. Native German words now pronounced with a Template:IPA sound are usually written using Template:Vr or Template:Vr, as with Template:Lang (fox). Some exceptions occur such as Template:Lang (witch), Template:Lang (mermaid), Template:Lang (axe) and Template:Lang.

The letter Template:Vr (Template:Lang, Template:IPA) occurs almost exclusively in loanwords, especially words of Greek origin, but some such words (such as Template:Lang) have become so common that they are no longer perceived as foreign. It used to be more common in earlier centuries, and traces of this earlier usage persist in proper names. It is used either as an alternative letter for Template:Vr, for instance in Template:Lang / Template:Lang (a common family name that occurs also in the spellings Template:Lang / Template:Lang), or especially in the Southwest, as a representation of Template:IPA that goes back to an old IJ (digraph), for instance in Template:Lang or Template:Lang (an Alemannic variant of the name Template:Lang).Template:Citation needed Another notable exception is Template:Lang ("Bavaria") and derived words like Template:Lang ("Bavarian"); this actually used to be spelt with an Template:Vr until the King of Bavaria introduced the Template:Vr as a sign of his philhellenism (his son would become King of Greece later).

The Latin and Ancient Greek diphthongs Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are normally rendered as Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr in German, whereas English usually uses a simple Template:Angbr (but see List of English words that may be spelled with a ligature): Template:Lang 'present tense' (Latin Template:Lang), Template:Lang 'federation' (Latin Template:Lang).

The etymological spelling Template:Angbr for the sounds Template:IPA before vowels is used in many words of Latin origin, mostly ending in Template:Angbr, but also Template:Angbr, etc. Latin Template:Angbr in feminine nouns is typically simplified to Template:Angbr in German; in related words, both Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are allowed: Template:Lang 'power' (from Latin Template:Lang), Template:Lang 'potential' (noun), Template:Lang 'potential' (adj.). Latin Template:Angbr in neuter plural nouns may be retained, but is also Germanized orthographically and morphologically to Template:Angbr: Template:Lang 'ingredient', plural Template:Lang; Template:Lang 'expectorant', plural Template:Lang or Template:Lang.

In loan words from the French language, spelling and accents are usually preserved. For instance, café in the sense of "coffeehouse" is always written Template:Lang in German; accentless Cafe would be considered erroneous, and the word cannot be written Template:Lang, which means "coffee". (Template:Lang is normally pronounced Template:IPA; Template:Lang is mostly pronounced Template:IPA in Germany but Template:IPA in Austria.) Thus, German typewriters and computer keyboards offer two dead keys: one for the acute and grave accents and one for circumflex. Other letters occur less often such as Template:Vr in loan words from French or Portuguese, and Template:Vr in loan words from Spanish.

A number of loanwords from French are spelled in a partially adapted way: Template:Lang Template:IPA (quarantine), Template:Lang Template:IPA (communiqué), Template:Lang Template:IPA (overture) from French Template:Lang. In Switzerland, where French is one of the official languages, people are less prone to use adapted and especially partially adapted spellings of loanwords from French and more often use original spellings, e.g. Template:Lang.

In one curious instance, the word Template:Lang ('ski') is pronounced as if it were Template:Lang all over the German-speaking areas (reflecting its pronunciation in its source language Norwegian), but only written that way in Austria.[14]

Grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences

This section lists German letters and letter combinations, and how to pronounce them transliterated into the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is the pronunciation of Standard German. Note that the pronunciation of standard German varies slightly from region to region. In fact, it is possible to tell where most German speakers come from by their accent in standard German (not to be confused with the different German dialects).

Foreign words are usually pronounced approximately as they are in the original language.

Consonants

Double consonants are pronounced as single consonants, except in compound words.

Grapheme(s) Phoneme(s) Notes
b otherwise Template:IPA or Template:IPA
syllable final Template:IPA
c otherwise Template:IPA Used in some loanwords and proper names. In many cases, Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr have replaced an etymological Template:Angbr. In proper names, the letter Template:Angbr before Template:Angbr may be pronounced either Template:IPA (e. g. Template:Lang) or Template:IPA (e. g. Cölbe).
before Template:Angbr Template:IPA
ch after Template:Angbr Template:IPA In Austro-Bavarian, especially in Austria, Template:IPA may always be substituted by Template:IPA. Word-initial Template:Angbr is used only in loanwords. In words of Ancient Greek origin, word-initial Template:Angbr is pronounced Template:IPA before Template:Angbr (with rare exceptions : Template:Lang, where both Template:IPA and Template:IPA are possible); normally Template:IPA before Template:Angbr (but Template:IPA in Southern Germany and Austria); Template:IPA before Template:Angbr. In the word Template:Lang and in geographical names such as Chemnitz or Chur, Template:Angbr is Template:IPA (Chur is also sometimes pronounced with Template:IPA).
after other vowels or consonants Template:IPA
word-initially in words of Ancient Greek origin Template:IPA or Template:IPA
the suffix -Template:Lang Template:IPA
In loanwords and foreign proper names Template:IPA, Template:IPA
chs within a morpheme (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA "badger") Template:IPA
across a morpheme boundary (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA "roof (gen.)") Template:IPA or Template:IPA
ck Template:IPA Follows short vowels
d otherwise Template:IPA or Template:IPA
syllable final Template:IPA
dsch Template:IPA or Template:IPA Used in loanwords and transliterations only. Words borrowed from English can alternatively retain the original Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr. Many speakers pronounce Template:Angbr as Template:IPA (= ⟨tsch⟩), because Template:IPA is not native to German.
dt Template:IPA Used in the word Template:Lang, in morpheme bounds (e.g. Template:Lang), and in some proper names.
f Template:IPA
g otherwise Template:IPA or Template:IPA Template:IPA before Template:Angbr in loanwords from French (as in Template:Lang)
syllable final Template:IPA
when part of word-final -Template:Angbr Template:IPA or Template:IPA (Southern Germany)
h before a vowel Template:IPA
when lengthening a vowel silent
j Template:IPA Template:IPA in loanwords from French, e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, from French Template:Lang.
k Template:IPA
l Template:IPA
m Template:IPA
n Template:IPA
ng usually Template:IPA
Across morpheme boundaries Template:IPA or Template:IPA
nk Template:IPA
p Template:IPA
pf Template:IPA For some speakers Template:IPA morpheme initially.
ph Template:IPA Used in words of Ancient Greek origin.
qu Template:IPA or Template:IPA (in a few regions)
r Template:IPA before vowels, Template:IPA otherwise,

or Template:IPA after long vowels (except Template:IPA), Template:IPA otherwise

[15]
(Austro-Bavarian) Template:IPA before vowels, Template:IPA otherwise
(Swiss Standard German) Template:IPA in all cases
rh same as r Used in words of Ancient Greek origin and in some proper names.
s before vowel (except after obstruents) Template:IPA or Template:IPA
before consonants, after obstruents, or when final Template:IPA
before Template:Angbr at the beginning of a word or syllable Template:IPA
sch otherwise Template:IPA
when part of the Template:Linktext diminutive of a word ending on Template:Angbr, (e.g. Template:Lang "little mouse") Template:IPA
ss Template:IPA
ß Template:IPA
t Template:IPA Silent at the end of loanwords from French (although spelling may be otherwise Germanized: Template:Lang)
th Template:IPA Used in words of Ancient Greek origin and in some proper names.
ti otherwise Template:IPA
in -Template:Angbr Template:IPA Used in words of Latin origin.
tsch Template:IPA
tz Template:IPA follows short vowels
tzsch Template:IPA Used in some proper names.
v otherwise Template:IPA
in foreign borrowings not at the end of a word Template:IPA
w Template:IPA
x Template:IPA
y Template:IPA Used in some loanwords, e. g. Yeti Template:IPA
z Template:IPA
zsch Template:IPA Used in some proper names.

Vowels

Monophthongs
front central back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long short long
close (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr   (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr
near-close Template:IPA Template:Angbr   Template:IPA Template:Angbr     Template:IPA Template:Angbr  
close-mid (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr   (Template:IPA) Template:IPA Template:Angbr
open-mid Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr   Template:IPA Template:Angbr   Template:IPA Template:Angbr  
near-open   Template:IPA -Template:Angbr    
open   Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr  
Diphthongs
  front back
unrounded rounded
close Template:IPA Template:Angbr
open Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr

Short vowels

Consonants are often doubled in writing to indicate the preceding vowel is to be pronounced as a short vowel, mostly when the vowel is stressed. Only consonants written by single letters can be doubled; compare Template:Lang Template:Gloss to Template:Lang Template:Gloss, not *Template:Lang. Hence, short and long vowels before the digraph Template:Angbr are not distinguished in writing: Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:IPA Template:Gloss.

Most one-syllable words that end in a single consonant are pronounced with long vowels, but there are some exceptions such as Template:Lang, and Template:Lang. The suffixes -Template:Lang, -Template:Lang and the word endings -Template:Lang, -Template:Lang, -Template:Lang, -Template:Lang contain short unstressed vowels, but duplicate the final consonants in the plurals: Template:Lang Template:Gloss — Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss — Template:Lang Template:Gloss.

Unstressed short vowels

The Template:Angbr in the ending -Template:Lang is often silent, as in Template:Lang Template:Gloss. The ending -Template:Lang is often pronounced Template:IPA, but in some regions, people say Template:IPA or Template:IPA. The Template:Angbr in the endings -Template:Lang (Template:IPA, e.g. Template:Lang, Template:Lang Template:Gloss) and -Template:Lang (Template:IPA in the dative case of adjectives, e.g. Template:Lang from Template:Lang Template:Gloss) is pronounced as a schwa (after which consonant letters are usually not doubled) or is mute altogether.

Long vowels

A vowel usually represents a long sound if the vowel in question occurs:

Long vowels are generally pronounced with greater tenseness than short vowels.

The long vowels map as follows:

Diphthongs

Shortened long vowels

A pre-stress long vowel shortens, mostly in the unstressed position:

A vowel bearing secondary stress may also shorten, as in Template:Lang Template:Gloss Template:IPA. Phonemically, they are typically analyzed as allophones of the long Template:IPA (thus Template:IPA etc.) and are mostly restricted to loanwords.

Unusual spellings in proper names

In some German proper names, unusual spellings occur, e. g. Template:Angbr Template:IPA: Duisburg Template:IPA; Template:Angbr Template:IPA: Treptow Template:IPA.

Punctuation

The period (full stop) is used at the end of sentences, for abbreviations, and for ordinal numbers, such as Template:Lang for Template:Lang (the first). It is omitted before a full stop at the end of a sentence.

The comma is used between for enumerations (but the serial comma is not used), before adversative conjunctions, after vocative phrases, for clarifying words such as appositions, before and after infinitive and participle constructions, and between clauses in a sentence. A comma may link two independent clauses without a conjunction. The comma is not used before the direct speech; in this case, the colon is used. Using the comma in infinitive phrases was optional before 2024, when the revision of the orthographic rules made it mandatory.

The exclamation mark and the question mark are used for exclamative and interrogative sentences. The exclamation mark may be used for addressing people in letters.

The semicolon is used for divisions of a sentence greater than that with the comma.

The colon is used before direct speech and quotes, after a generalizing word before enumerations (but not when the words Template:Lang are inserted), before explanations and generalizations, and after words in questionnaires, timetables, etc. (e.g. Template:Lang).

The em dash is used for marking a sharp transition from one thought to another one, between remarks of a dialogue (as a quotation dash), between keywords in a review, between commands, for contrasting, for marking unexpected changes, for marking an unfinished direct speech, and sometimes instead of parentheses in parenthetical constructions.

The ellipsis is used for unfinished thoughts and incomplete citations.

The parentheses are used for parenthetical information.

The square brackets are used instead of parentheses inside parentheses and for editor's words inside quotations.

The quotation marks are written as »…« or „…“. They are used for direct speech, quotes, names of books, periodicals, films, etc., and for words in unusual meaning. Quotation inside a quotation is written in single quotation marks: ›…‹ or ‚…‘. If a quotation is followed by a period or a comma, it is placed outside the quotation marks.

The apostrophe is used for contracted forms (such as Template:Lang for Template:Lang) except forms with omitted final Template:Angbr (was sometimes used in this case in the past) and preposition+article contractions. It is also used for genitive of proper names ending in Template:Angbr, but not if preceded by the definite article.

History of German orthography

Middle Ages

The oldest known German texts date back to the 8th century. They were written mainly in monasteries in different local dialects of Old High German. In these texts, Template:Angbr along with combinations such as Template:Angbr was chosen to transcribe the sounds Template:IPA and Template:IPA, which is ultimately the origin of the modern German letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (an old Template:Angbr ligature). After the Carolingian Renaissance, however, during the reigns of the Ottonian and Salian dynasties in the 10th century and 11th century, German was rarely written, the literary language being almost exclusively Latin.

Notker the German is a notable exception in his period: not only are his German compositions of high stylistic value, but his orthography is also the first to follow a strictly coherent system.

Significant production of German texts only resumed during the reign of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (in the High Middle Ages). Around the year 1200, there was a tendency towards a standardized Middle High German language and spelling for the first time, based on the Franconian-Swabian language of the Hohenstaufen court. However, that language was used only in the epic poetry and minnesang lyric of the knight culture. These early tendencies of standardization ceased in the interregnum after the death of the last Hohenstaufen king in 1254. Certain features of today's German orthography still date back to Middle High German: the use of the trigraph Template:Angbr for Template:IPA and the occasional use of Template:Angbr for Template:IPA because around the 12th and 13th century, the prevocalic Template:IPA was voiced.

In the following centuries, the only variety that showed a marked tendency to be used across regions was the Middle Low German of the Hanseatic League, based on the variety of Lübeck and used in many areas of northern Germany and indeed northern Europe in general.

Early modern period

By the 16th century, a new interregional standard developed on the basis of the East Central German and Austro-Bavarian varieties. This was influenced by several factors:

  • Under the Habsburg dynasty, there was a strong tendency to a common language in the chancellery.
  • Since Eastern Central Germany had been colonized only during the High and Late Middle Ages in the course of the Template:Lang by people from different regions of Germany, the varieties spoken were compromises of different dialects.
  • Eastern Central Germany was culturally very important, being home to the universities of Erfurt and Leipzig and especially with the Luther Bible translation, which was considered exemplary.
  • The invention of printing led to an increased production of books, and the printers were interested in using a common language to sell their books in an area as wide as possible.

Mid-16th century Counter-Reformation reintroduced Catholicism to Austria and Bavaria, prompting a rejection of the Lutheran language. Instead, a specific southern interregional language was used, based on the language of the Habsburg chancellery.

In northern Germany, the Lutheran East Central German replaced the Low German written language until the mid-17th century. In the early 18th century, the Lutheran standard was also introduced in the southern states and countries, Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland, due to the influence of northern German writers, grammarians such as Johann Christoph Gottsched or language cultivation societies such as the Fruitbearing Society.

19th century and early 20th century

Template:Multiple image Though, by the mid-18th century, one norm was generally established, there was no institutionalized standardization. Only with the introduction of compulsory education in late 18th and early 19th century was the spelling further standardized, though at first independently in each state because of the political fragmentation of Germany. Only the foundation of the German Empire in 1871 allowed for further standardization.

In 1876, the Prussian government instituted the Template:Interlanguage link multi to achieve a standardization for the entire German Empire. However, its results were rejected, notably by Prime Minister of Prussia Otto von Bismarck.

In 1880, Gymnasium director Konrad Duden published the Template:Lang ('Complete Orthographic Dictionary of the German Language'), known simply as the "Duden". In the same year, the Duden was declared to be authoritative in Prussia.Template:Citation needed Since Prussia was, by far, the largest state in the German Empire, its regulations also influenced spelling elsewhere, for instance, in 1894, when Switzerland recognized the Duden.Template:Citation needed

In 1901, the interior minister of the German Empire instituted the Second Orthographic Conference. It declared the Duden to be authoritative, with a few innovations. In 1902, its results were approved by the governments of the German Empire, Austria and Switzerland.

In 1944, the Nazi German government planned a reform of the orthography, but because of World War II, it was never implemented.

After 1902, German spelling was essentially decided de facto by the editors of the Duden dictionaries. After World War II, this tradition was followed with two different centers: Mannheim in West Germany and Leipzig in East Germany. By the early 1950s, a few other publishing houses had begun to attack the Duden monopoly in the West by putting out their own dictionaries, which did not always hold to the "official" spellings prescribed by Duden. In response, the Ministers of Culture of the federal states in West Germany officially declared the Duden spellings to be binding as of November 1955.

The Duden editors used their power cautiously because they considered their primary task to be the documentation of usage, not the creation of rules. At the same time, however, they found themselves forced to make finer and finer distinctions in the production of German spelling rules, and each new print run introduced a few reformed spellings.

German spelling reform of 1996

Template:Main

German spelling and punctuation was changed in 1996 (Template:Lang) with the intent to simplify German orthography, and thus to make the language easier to learn,[16] without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the language. The rules of the new spelling concern correspondence between sounds and written letters (including rules for spelling loan words), capitalization, joined and separate words, hyphenated spellings, punctuation, and hyphenation at the end of a line. Place names and family names were excluded from the reform.

The reform was adopted initially by Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and later by Luxembourg as well.

The new orthography is mandatory only in schools. A 1998 decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany confirmed that there is no law on the spelling people use in daily life, so they can use the old or the new spelling.[17] While the reform is not very popular in opinion polls, it has been adopted by all major dictionaries and the majority of publishing houses.

See also

References

Template:More citations needed Template:Reflist

Template:Language orthographies Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ DIN 5009:2022-06, section 4.2 „Buchstaben“ (letters), table 1
  2. ↑ Official rules of German spelling updated, Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung, 29 June 2017, retrieved 29 June 2017.
  3. ↑ Andrew West (2006): "The Rules for Long S".
  4. ↑ Template:Cite web
  5. ↑ Die Erde: Haack Kleiner Atlas; VEB Hermann Haack geographisch-kartographische Anstalt, Gotha, 1982; pages: 97, 100, 153, 278
  6. ↑ Italien: Straßenatlas 1:300.000 mit Ortsregister; Kunth Verlag GmbH & Co. KG 2016/2017; München; page: III
  7. ↑ Template:In lang Empfehlungen und Hinweise für die Schreibweise geographischer Namen, 5. Ausgabe 2010 Template:Webarchive
  8. ↑ Template:In lang Rechtschreibrat führt neuen Buchstaben ein, Die Zeit, 29 June 2017, retrieved 29 June 2017.
  9. ↑ (according to the Guinness Book of Records)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 canoo.net: Spelling for "Photographie/Fotografie" 2011-03-13
  11. ↑ canoo.net: Spelling for "Delphin/Delfin" 2011-03-13
  12. ↑ canoo.net: Spelling for "Portemonnaie/Portmonee" 2011-03-13
  13. ↑ canoo.net: Spelling for "Foto" 2011-03-13
  14. ↑ Wortherkunft, Sprachliches Das Wort Ski wurde im 19. Jahrhundert vom norwegischen ski ‚Scheit (gespaltenes Holz); Schneeschuh‘ entlehnt, das seinerseits von dem gleichbedeutenden altnordischen skíð abstammt und mit dem deutschen Wort Scheit urverwandt ist.[1] Als Pluralform sind laut Duden Ski und Skier bzw. Schi und Schier üblich.[2] Die Aussprache ist vornehmlich wie „Schi“ (wie auch original im Norwegischen), lokal bzw. dialektal kommt sie auch als „Schki“ (etwa in Graubünden oder im Wallis) vor.
  15. ↑ Template:Cite book
  16. ↑ Template:Cite journal
  17. ↑ Template:Citation
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