German language
| German | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deutsch, Deutsche Sprache | ||||
| Pronunciation | [ˈdɔʏtʃ] | |||
| Native to | Primarily in German-speaking Europe, as a minority language and amongst the German diaspora worldwide | |||
| Native speakers | Standard German: 90–100 million (2005–2010)[1][2] all German: 120 million (1990–2005)[3] L2 speakers: 80 million (2006)[4] |
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| Language family | ||||
| Early forms: | ||||
| Writing system | Latin (German alphabet) German Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |
 Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium) |
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| Recognised minority language in |
 Namibia (National language; official language 1984–90)[11][12] Poland (Auxiliary language)[13] Romania[14] Russia[15] Slovakia (Official municipal language of Krahule/Blaufuß)[4][16] Brazil (Co-official municipal language in Pomerode and other municipalities)[17] Vatican City (Administrative and commanding language of the Swiss Guard)[18] Venezuela ( Colonia Tovar)[19] |
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| Regulated by |
No official regulation |
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | de | |||
| ISO 639-2 | ger (B) deu (T) |
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| ISO 639-3 | Variously: deu – New High German gmh – Middle High German goh – Old High German gct – Alemán Coloniero bar – Austro-Bavarian cim – Cimbrian geh – Hutterite German ksh – Kölsch nds – Low German sli – Lower Silesian ltz – Luxembourgish vmf – Main-Franconian mhn – Mócheno pfl – Palatinate German pdc – Pennsylvania German pdt – Plautdietsch swg – Swabian German gsw – Swiss German uln – Unserdeutsch sxu – Upper Saxon wae – Walser German wep – Westphalian |
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| Linguasphere | 52-AC (Continental West Germanic) > 52-ACB (Deutsch & Dutch) > 52-ACB-d (Central German incl. 52-ACB–dl & -dm Standard/Generalised High German) + 52-ACB-e & -f (Upper German & Swiss German) + 52-ACB-g (Yiddish) + 52-ACB-h (émigré German varieties incl. 52-ACB-hc Hutterite German & 52-ACB-he Pennsylvania German etc.) + 52-ACB-i (Yenish); totalling 285 varieties: 52-ACB-daa to 52-ACB-i |
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The German language (German: Deutsch or (die) deutsche Sprache) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family.
It is spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg; natively by around 100 million people. It is the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. There are some people who speak German in Belgium and in the Netherlands, as well as in France and Northern Italy. There are people who speak German in many countries, including the United States and Canada, where many people emigrated from Germany. In Eastern Europe, too, in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, etc.
German is a part of the West Germanic language family (a group of languages that are similar) and is much like English and Dutch. A lot of the vocabulary in German is related to English, but the grammar is more complicated. German has a system of cases, and when helping verbs are used, the main part of the verb must be moved to the end of the sentence. For example, "Someone has stolen my car" is Jemand hat mein Auto gestohlen (Someone has my car stolen) or, "Someone called me last night" is Jemand hat mich letzte Nacht angerufen (Someone has me last night called).
In German writing, every noun must start with a capital letter. English and Danish also did this long ago, but not now. Today, German is the only language that has this rule.
While German is an official language in Switzerland, the Swiss dialect of German is difficult for native speakers from Germany, and even for Swiss who are not native to speaking German, to understand. One reason why the dialects are still so different today is that even though Switzerland adopted Standard German, mostly as a written standard, German Swiss in WWII wanted to separate themselves from the Nazis by choosing to speak the Swiss dialect over the standard dialect.[20] Swiss German also has some differences in writing, for example, the letter ß, which is only seen in German, is always replaced by ss.
Contents
Dialects[change | change source]
- Alsatian
- Bavarian dialect
- Franconian Dialect
- Kölsch
- Low Saxon
- Swiss dialect
- Mannheimerisch dialect
- Palatinate German
Examples[change | change source]
Some German words with English translations[change | change source]
| null | zero, nil |
| eins | one |
| zwei | two |
| drei | three |
| vier | four |
| fünf | five |
| sechs | six |
| sieben | seven |
| acht | eight |
| neun | nine |
| zehn | ten |
| elf | eleven |
| zwölf | twelve |
| dreizehn | thirteen |
| vierzehn | fourteen |
| fünfzehn | fifteen |
| sechzehn | sixteen |
| siebzehn | seventeen |
| achtzehn | eighteen |
| neunzehn | nineteen |
| zwanzig | twenty |
| ja | yes |
| nein | no |
| ich | I |
| du | you (friendly) |
| er | he |
| sie | she |
| es | it |
| wir | we |
| ihr | you (plural, friendly) |
| Sie | you (polite) |
| sie | they |
| Schweiz | Switzerland |
| Österreich | Austria |
| Deutschland | Germany |
| wer | who |
| wie | how |
| wo | where |
| was | what |
| der | the (masculine) |
| die | the (feminine) |
| das | the (neuter (neutral)) |
Basic German expressions[change | change source]
| Guten Morgen | Good morning |
| Guten Abend | Good evening |
| Guten Tag | "Hello" (meaning 'Good day', used between morning and evening) |
| Gute Nacht | Good night |
| Wie geht es dir/Ihnen/euch? | How are you? |
| Mir geht's gut, danke! | I'm fine, thank you! |
| bitte | please (can also mean "you are welcome" in response to some form of danke, but not literally) |
| danke | Thank you |
| Auf Wiedersehen | Goodbye |
| Ich heiße ... | My name is ... |
| Wie heißt du/Wie heißen Sie | What's your name? |
| Entschuldigung/Entschuldigen Sie | Excuse me |
| Woher kommst du?/Woher kommen Sie? | Where are you from? |
| Ich komme aus Deutschland/Österreich | I'm from Germany/Austria |
| Wo wohnst du?/Wo wohnen Sie? | Where do you live? |
| Was ist los? | What's up? |
| Ich wohne in Hamburg, in der Marienstraße im Norden Hamburgs. | I'm living in Hamburg, in the Marienstraße (Mary's street) in the north of Hamburg. |
| Hast du Lust auf Pizza? Ich mache gerade eine. | Do you want to have a pizza? I'm preparing one. |
| Entschuldigen Sie. Wo ist der Bahnhof? | Excuse me. Where is the train station? |
| Wie viel kostet dieser Pullover? | How much is this pullover (sweater)? |
| Wie viel kostet diese Jeans? | How much are these jeans? |
| Fräulein (generally obsolete German) | Miss |
| Frau | Mrs., Ms. |
| Herr | Mr. |
Other websites[change | change source]
 |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the German language edition. |
- Online German Language Course An online German language course that includes lessons covering pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
- German phrasebook at Wikivoyage
- Learn to Speak German Student Resource
- Free German Language Course
- German Thesaurus
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References[change | change source]
- ↑ Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2010" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2010
- ↑ Marten, Thomas; Sauer, Fritz Joachim, eds. (2005) (in German). Länderkunde - Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz und Liechtenstein im Querschnitt [Regional Geography - An Overview of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein]. Berlin: Inform-Verlag. p. 7. ISBN 3-9805843-1-3.
- ↑ "{{{title}}}". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16). (2009). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World. Willard, Ohio: R.R Donnelley & Sons Company. April 2006. pp. 257–299. ISBN Regular:0-7922-3662-9, 978-0-7922-3662-7. Deluxe: 0-7922-7976-X, 978-0-7922-7976-1.
- ↑ "Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung - Über den Rat". Rechtschreibrat.ids-mannheim.de. http://rechtschreibrat.ids-mannheim.de/rat/. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ↑ EUROPA - Allgemeine & berufliche Bildung - Regional- und Minderheitensprachen der Europäischen Union - Euromosaik-Studie
- ↑ EUROPA - Education and Training - Europa - Regional and minority languages - Euromosaïc study
- ↑ Support from the European Commission for measures to promote and safeguard regional or minority languages and cultures - The Euromosaic study: German in Denmark (engl.). Letzter Zugriff am 13. November 2009
- ↑ EC.europa.eu
- ↑ "KAZAKHSTAN: Special report on ethnic Germans". Irinnews.org. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=28051. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ↑ "Deutsch in Namibia" (in German) (PDF). Supplement of the Allgemeine Zeitung. 2007-08-18. http://www.az.com.na/fileadmin/pdf/2007/deutsch_in_namibia_2007_07_18.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
- ↑ "CIA World Fact book Profile: Namibia" cia.gov. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
- ↑ "Map on page of Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA)". http://www2.mswia.gov.pl/download.php?s=1&id=944. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ↑ "SbZ - Deutsche Minderheit in Rumänien: "Zimmerpflanze oder Betreuungs-Objekt" - Informationen zu Siebenbürgen und Rumänien". Siebenbuerger.de. http://www.siebenbuerger.de/zeitung/artikel/alteartikel/223-deutsche-minderheit-in-rumaenien.html. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ↑ "Geschichte". Rusdeutsch.EU. http://www.rusdeutsch.eu/?menu=1&menu0=38&level3=&z=1. Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ↑ EUROPA - Allgemeine & berufliche Bildung - Regional- und Minderheitensprachen der Europäischen Union - Euromosaik-Studie
- ↑ Leis Municipais http://www.leismunicipais.com.br/twitter/222/legislacao/lei-2251-2010-pomerode-sc.html
- ↑ Verein Deutsche Sprache e.V. (2006-06-15). "Wussten Sie, dass...". Vds-ev.de. http://www.vds-ev.de/wussten-sie-dass. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ↑ Ethnologue report for Alemán Coloniero
- ↑ "Languages of Switzerland". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p8GgX_hWyA.
