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🇩🇪 German #12 Most Spoken Language (134M speakers)

German (Deutsch)

West Germanic • Latin alphabet • V2 main clauses
Family / Branch
Indo-European → Germanic → West Germanic (cousin to Dutch & English)
High lexical compounding
Writing System
Latin alphabet with umlauts: ä ö ü and Eszett: ß
All nouns capitalizedä/ö/ü ≈ ae/oe/ue
Typical Word Order
V2 in main clauses; verb-final in subclauses; separable prefixes
Four casesThree genders
ISO Codes
ISO 639-1: de • 639-2: deu • 639-3: deu
D/A/CH standards
Difficulty (for English speakers)
Medium–Hard: cases + gender + flexible word order
Predictable spellingRich morphology
Quick Overview

German leans on case-marked articles, verb-second (V2) main clauses, and verb-final subclauses. Compounds pack meaning into long words, and separable prefixes bounce to the right edge in main clauses. Formal “Sie” vs informal “du” matters a lot in tone.

Sound & Spelling Tips
  • Umlauts: ä/ö/ü change vowel quality; write as ae/oe/ue when needed.
  • ch has two flavors: ich-sound /ç/ (after front vowels) vs Bach-sound /x/ (after back vowels).
  • Final devoicing: b→p, d→t, g→k at word end (Tag sounds like /tak/).
  • ß is a long-s marker; Switzerland uses ss.
Grammar Snapshot
  • Cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive.
  • Genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; plural behaves like its own “gender”.
  • Articles: der/die/das vs ein/eine; dative plural often adds -n.
  • Verbs: separable prefixes (an-, auf-, mit-…), modal verbs, Perfekt vs Präteritum.
  • Word order: V2 main clause; verb-final in weil/da/dass clauses.
Register & Variety

Sie keeps things formal; du is friendly or intimate. Austrian and Swiss standards tend to avoid ß and have a few lexical differences (Paradeiser vs Tomate, Velo vs Fahrrad).

Sample & Breakdown

Heute bringe ich das Buch meiner Schwester in die Schule.
V2: bringe is 2nd; cases: das Buch (ACC), meiner Schwester (GEN), in die Schule (ACC, motion).

Subclause: …, weil ich es ihr geben will. (verb-final cluster)

Common Phrases
Hallo (Hello)Guten Morgen (Good morning) Wie geht’s? (How are you?)Danke schön (Thank you) Bitte (Please/You’re welcome)Tschüss (Bye)

Hallo! • Wie geht’s? • Vielen Dank

Interesting Notes
  • Gender cues: -ung/-heit/-keit → feminine; -chen/-lein → neuter.
  • Two-way prepositions: ACC for motion (in die Stadt), DAT for location (in der Stadt).
  • Particles: tiny words like doch, mal, schon add mood, not facts.
Learning Tips
  • Anchor article tables early; they’re the compass for cases.
  • Practice V2 with frame sentences: Heute | bringe | ich…
  • Collect separable verbs in families (an-, auf-, mit-) and drill main vs subclause positions.
Numbers (1–10)

eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn

Article & Case Helper (with Two-Way Preps)

Type a noun (singular or plural as you want it shown). Pick gender/number and case or a preposition. The helper applies common article forms, dative plural -n, and smart contractions (im/ins, am, zum/zur, vom, beim). Try Hund (dog), Blume (flower), Buch (book), Leute (people).

Note: Lightweight model. It adds -n in dative plural if missing and contracts common prep+article combos. Noun stem changes (Genitive -s/-es, strong noun patterns) and adjective endings are not covered.

Separable Verb Helper (V2/Main vs Subclause)

Enter a separable verb, choose a subject, and add complements (object/time/place). The helper shows a V2 main clause with the prefix kicked right, and a subclause where the verb stays glued and final. Try anrufen, mitbringen, aufstehen.

Note: Lightweight present-tense conjugation. Perfect participles are guessed (prefix + ge + stem + t/en) and may be off for strong verbs.