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German orthography is theorthography used inwriting theGerman language, which is largelyphonemic. 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 theRat für deutsche Rechtschreibung (Council for German Orthography), composed of representatives from mostGerman-speaking countries.

German alphabet

(Listen to a German speaker recite the alphabet in German)

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The modern Germanalphabet consists of the twenty-sixletters of theISO basic Latin alphabet plus four special letters.

German has four special letters; three arevowelsaccented with anumlaut sign (⟨ä,ö,ü⟩) and one is derived from aligature of⟨ſ⟩ (long s) and⟨z⟩ (⟨ß⟩; calledEszett "ess-zed/zee" orscharfes S "sharp s"). They have their own names separate from the letters they are based on.

German extra letters

(Listen to a German speaker naming these letters)

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

While the Council for German Orthography considers⟨ä, ö, ü, ß⟩ distinct letters,^[4] 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⟨a, o, u, s⟩) and 30 (counting all special letters separately).^[5]

Theaccented letters⟨ä,ö,ü⟩ are used to indicate the presence ofumlauts (fronting of back vowels). Before the introduction of theprinting press, frontalization was indicated by placing an⟨e⟩ after the back vowel to be modified, but German printers developed the space-saving typographical convention of replacing the full⟨e⟩ with a small version placed above the vowel to be modified. In GermanKurrent writing, the superscripted⟨e⟩ was simplified to two vertical dashes (as the Kurrent⟨e⟩ 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 thediaeresis (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⟨Ä, Ö, Ü, ä, ö, ü⟩ should be transcribed as⟨Ae, Oe, Ue, ae, oe, ue⟩ respectively, following the earlier postvocalic-⟨e⟩ convention; simply using the base vowel (e.g.⟨u⟩ instead of⟨ü⟩) would be wrong and misleading. However, such transcription should be avoided if possible, especially with names. Names often exist in different variants, such asMüller andMueller, 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,das neue Buch ("the new book"). This should never be changed todas neü Buch, as the second⟨e⟩ is completely separate from the⟨u⟩ and does not even belong in the same syllable;neue ([ˈnɔʏ.ə]) isneu (the root for "new") followed by⟨e⟩, an inflection. The word⟨neü⟩ does not exist in German.

Furthermore, in northern and western Germany, there are family names and place names in which⟨e⟩ lengthens the preceding vowel (by acting as aDehnungs-e), as in the former Dutch orthography, such asStraelen, which is pronounced with a long⟨a⟩, not an⟨ä⟩. Similar cases areCoesfeld andBernkastel-Kues.

In proper names and ethnonyms, there may also appear a rare⟨ë⟩ and⟨ï⟩, which are not letters with an umlaut, but adiaeresis, used as in French and English to distinguish what could be adigraph, for example,⟨ai⟩ inKaraïmen,⟨eu⟩ inAlëuten,⟨ie⟩ inPiëch,⟨oe⟩ invon Loë andHoëcker (although Hoëcker added the diaeresis himself), and⟨ue⟩ inNiuë.^[6] Occasionally, a diaeresis may be used in some well-known names, i.e.:Italiën^[7] (usually written asItalien).

Swiss keyboards and typewriters do not allow easy input of uppercase letters with umlauts (nor⟨ß⟩) 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⟨a, o, u⟩ plus⟨e⟩, exceptÖsterreich. The omission can cause some inconvenience, since the first letter of everynoun is capitalized in German.

Unlike inHungarian, the exact shape of the umlaut diacritics – especially when handwritten – is not important, because they are the only ones in the language (not counting thetittle on⟨i⟩ and⟨j⟩). They will be understood whether they look like dots (⟨¨⟩),acute accents (⟨ ˝ ⟩) orvertical bars (⟨^‖⟩). A horizontal bar (macron,⟨¯⟩), abreve (⟨˘⟩), a tiny⟨N⟩ or⟨e⟩, atilde (⟨˜⟩), and such variations are often used in stylized writing (e.g. logos). However, the breve – or thering (⟨°⟩) – was traditionally used in some scripts to distinguish a⟨u⟩ from an⟨n⟩. In rare cases, the⟨n⟩ was underlined. The breved⟨u⟩ was common in someKurrent-derived handwritings; it was mandatory inSütterlin.

Eszett orscharfes S (⟨ß⟩) represents the“s” sound. In the current orthography, the letter is used only after long vowels and diphthongs. Prior to theGerman spelling reform of 1996, it was used additionally whenever the letter combination⟨ss⟩ occurred at the end of a syllable or word. It is not used inSwitzerland andLiechtenstein.

As⟨ß⟩ 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⟨ss⟩ (⟨sz⟩ and⟨SZ⟩ in earlier times). This transcription can give rise to ambiguities, albeit rarely; one such case isin Maßen "in moderation" vs.in Massen "en masse". In all-caps,⟨ß⟩ is replaced by⟨SS⟩ or, optionally, by theuppercase⟨ß⟩.^[8] The uppercase⟨ß⟩ was included inUnicode 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.^[9] The option of using the uppercase⟨ẞ⟩ in all-caps was officially added to the German orthography in 2017.^[10]

There are three ways to deal with the umlauts inalphabetic 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 (Füße "feet") should appear near their origin words (Fuß "foot"). In words which are the same except for one having an umlaut and one its base character (e.g.Müll vs.Mull), the word with the base character gets precedence.
2. Decompose them (invisibly) to vowel plus⟨e⟩ (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 Germantelephone directories (Müller, A.; Mueller, B.; Müller, C.).
3. They are treated like extra letters either placed
   1. after their base letters (Austrian phone books have⟨ä⟩ between⟨az⟩ and⟨b⟩ etc.) or
   2. at the end of the alphabet (as inSwedish 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⟨ae, oe, ue⟩ 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 beMukovic; Muller; Müller; Mueller; Multmann in this order.

Eszett is sorted as though it were⟨ss⟩. Occasionally it is treated as⟨s⟩, but this is generally considered incorrect. Words distinguished only by⟨ß⟩ vs.⟨ss⟩ are rare. The word with⟨ß⟩ gets precedence, andGeschoß (story of a building; South German pronunciation) would be sorted beforeGeschoss (projectile).^{[citation needed]}

Accents in Frenchloanwords are always ignored in collation.

In rare contexts (e.g. in older indices)⟨sch⟩ (phonetic value equal to English⟨sh⟩) and likewise⟨st⟩ and⟨ch⟩ are treated as single letters, but the vocalicdigraphs⟨ai, ei⟩ (historically⟨ay, ey⟩),⟨au, äu, eu⟩ and the historic⟨ui, oi⟩ never are.

German names containing umlauts (⟨ä, ö, ü⟩) and/or⟨ß⟩ are spelled in the correct way in the non-machine-readable zone of the passport, but with⟨AE, OE, UE⟩ and/or⟨SS⟩ in themachine-readable zone, e.g.⟨Müller⟩ becomes⟨MUELLER⟩,⟨Weiß⟩ becomes⟨WEISS⟩, and⟨Gößmann⟩ becomes⟨GOESSMANN⟩. The transcription mentioned above is generally used for aircraft tickets et cetera, but sometimes (like in US visas) simple vowels are used (MULLER, GOSSMANN). 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.Müller/Mueller/Muller) 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⟨ẞ⟩, it was recommended to use the minuscule⟨ß⟩ as a capital letter in family names in documents (e.g.HEINZ GROßE, today's spelling:HEINZ GROẞE).

German naming law accepts umlauts and/or⟨ß⟩ in family names as a reason for an official name change. Even a spelling change, e.g. fromMüller toMueller or fromWeiß toWeiss is regarded as a name change.

A typical feature of German spelling is the generalcapitalization of nouns and of mostnominalized 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 pronounSie 'you' and the determinerIhr 'your' (optionally in other second-person pronouns in letters); in adjectives at the beginning of proper names (e.g.der Stille Ozean 'the Pacific Ocean'); in adjectives with the suffix '-er' from geographical names (e.g.Berliner); in adjectives with the suffix '-sch' from proper names if written with the apostrophe before the suffix (e.g.Ohm'sches Gesetz 'Ohm's law', also writtenohmsches Gesetz).

Compound words, including nouns, are usually written together, e.g.Haustür (Haus +Tür; 'house door'),Tischlampe (Tisch +Lampe; 'table lamp'),Kaltwasserhahn (Kalt +Wasser +Hahn; 'cold water tap/faucet). This can lead to long words: the longest word in regular use,Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften^[11] ('legal protection insurance companies'), consists of 39 letters.

Compounds involving letters, abbreviations, or numbers (written in figures, even with added suffixes) are hyphenated:A-Dur 'A major',US-Botschaft 'US embassy',10-prozentig 'with 10 percent',10er-Gruppe 'group of ten'. The hyphen is used when adding suffixes to letters:n-te 'nth'. It is used in substantivated compounds such asEntweder-oder 'alternative' (literally 'either-or'); in phrase-word compounds such asTag-und-Nacht-Gleiche 'equinox',Auf-die-lange-Bank-Schieben 'postponing' (substantivation ofauf die lange Bank schieben 'to postpone'); in compounds of words containing hyphen with other words:A-Dur-Tonleiter 'A major scale'; in coordinated adjectives:deutsch-englisches Wörterbuch 'German-English dictionary'. Compound adjectives meaning colours are written with a hyphen if they mean two colours:rot-braun 'red and brown', but without a hyphen if they mean an intermediate colour:rotbraun '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.See-Elefant 'elephant seal').

The hyphen is used in compounds where the second part or both parts are proper names, e.g.Foto-Hansen 'the photographer Hansen',Müller-Lüdenscheid 'Lüdenscheid, the city of millers', double-barrelled surnames such asMeyer-Schmidt; geographical names such asBaden-Württemberg. Double given names are variously written asAnna-Maria, Anna Maria, Annamaria. Some compound geographical names are written as one word (e.g.Nordkorea 'North Korea') or as two words (e.g. geographical names beginning withSankt orBad). The hyphen is not used when compounds with a proper name in the second part are used as common nouns, e.g.Heulsuse 'crybaby'; also in the name of the fountainGänseliesel. 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-er 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:München-Ost orMünchen Ost.

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

• A vowel in an open syllable (afree vowel) is long, for instance inge-ben ('to give'),sa-gen ('to say'). The rule is unreliable in given names, cf.Oliver[ˈɔlivɐ].
• It is rare to see a bare⟨i⟩ used to indicate a long vowel/iː/. It occurs mainly in loanwords, e.g.Krise 'crisis', but also in some native German words, e.g.wir 'we',gib 'give (imperative)'. Mostly, the long vowel/iː/ is represented in writing by thedigraph⟨ie⟩, for instance inLiebe ('love'),hier ('here'). This use is a historical spelling based on the Middle High German diphthong/iə/ which wasmonophthongized in Early New High German. It has beengeneralized to words that etymologically never had that diphthong, for instanceviel ('much'),Friede ('peace') (Middle High Germanvil,vride). Occasionally – typically in word-final position – this digraph represents/iː.ə/ as in the plural nounKnie/kniː.ə/ ('knees') (cf. singularKnie/kniː/). In the wordsViertel (viertel)/ˈfɪrtəl/ ('quarter'),vierzehn/ˈfɪʁt͡seːn/ ('fourteen'),vierzig/ˈfɪʁt͡sɪç/ ('forty'),⟨ie⟩ represents a short vowel, cf.vier/fiːɐ̯/ ('four'). InFraktur, where capital⟨I⟩ and⟨J⟩ are identical or near-identical${\displaystyle \mathfrak{J}}$, the combinationsIe andJe are confusable; hence⟨ie⟩ is not used at the start of a word, for exampleIgel ('hedgehog'),Ire ('Irishman').
• A silent⟨h⟩ indicates the vowel length in certain cases. That⟨h⟩ derives from an old/x/ in some words, for instancesehen ('to see')zehn ('ten'), but in other words it has no etymological justification, for instancegehen ('to go') ormahlen ('to mill'). Occasionally a digraph can be redundantly followed by⟨h⟩, either due to analogy, such assieht ('sees', fromsehen) or etymology, such asVieh ('cattle', MHGvihe),rauh ('rough', pre-1996 spelling, now writtenrau, MHGruh).
• The letters⟨a, e, o⟩ are doubled in a few words that have long vowels, for instanceSaat ('seed'),See ('sea'/'lake'),Moor ('moor').
• A doubled consonant after a vowel indicates that the vowel is short, while a single consonant often indicates the vowel is long, e.g.Kamm ('comb') has a short vowel/kam/, whilekam ('came') has a long vowel/kaːm/. Two consonants are not doubled:⟨k⟩, which is replaced by⟨ck⟩ (until the spelling reform of 1996, however,⟨ck⟩ was divided across a line break as⟨k-k⟩), and⟨z⟩, which is replaced by⟨tz⟩. In loanwords,⟨kk⟩ (which may correspond with⟨cc⟩ in the original spelling) and⟨zz⟩ can occur.
• Fordifferent consonants and for sounds represented by more than one letter (⟨ch⟩ and⟨sch⟩) after a vowel, no clear rule can be given, because they can appear after long vowels, yet are not redoubled if belonging to the same stem, e.g.Mond/moːnt/ 'moon',Hand/hant/ 'hand'. On a stem boundary, reduplication usually takes place, e.g.,nimm-t 'takes'; however, in fixed, no longer productive derivatives, this too can be lost, e.g.,Geschäft/ɡəˈʃɛft/ 'business' despiteschaffen 'to get something done'.
• ⟨ß⟩ indicates that the preceding vowel is long, e.g.Straße 'street' vs. a short vowel inMasse 'mass' or 'host'/'lot'. In addition to that, texts written before the 1996 spelling reform also use⟨ß⟩ at the ends of words and before consonants, e.g.naß 'wet' andmußte 'had to' (after the reform spellednass andmusste), so vowel length in these positions could not be detected by the⟨ß⟩, cf.Maß 'measure' andfußte 'was based' (both unaffected by the reform).

Even though German does not have phonemicconsonant length, there are many instances of doubled or even tripled consonants in the spelling. A single consonant following achecked vowel is doubled if another vowel follows, for instanceimmer 'always',lassen 'let'. These consonants are analyzed asambisyllabic because they constitute not only thesyllable onset of the second syllable but also thesyllable coda of the first syllable, which must not be empty because thesyllable 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,rennen 'to run' →er rennt 'he runs';Küsse 'kisses' →Kuss '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 wordSchaffell ('sheepskin', composed ofSchaf 'sheep' andFell '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⟨fff⟩ inSauerstoffflasche ('oxygen bottle', composed ofSauerstoff 'oxygen' andFlasche 'bottle') is exactly as long as the ff inSchaffell. According to the spelling before 1996, the three consonants would be shortened before vowels, but retained before consonants and in hyphenation, so the wordSchifffahrt ('navigation, shipping', composed ofSchiff 'ship' andFahrt 'drive, trip, tour') was then writtenSchiffahrt, whereasSauerstoffflasche already had a triple⟨fff⟩. With the aforementioned change in⟨ß⟩ spelling, even a new source of triple consonants⟨sss⟩, which in pre-1996 spelling could not occur as it was rendered⟨ßs⟩, was introduced, e.g.Mussspiel ('compulsory round' in certain card games, composed ofmuss 'must' andSpiel 'game').

• ⟨ei⟩: This digraph represents thediphthong/aɪ̯/. The spelling goes back to the Middle High German pronunciation of that diphthong, which was[ei̯]. The spelling⟨ai⟩ is found in only a very few native words (such asSaite 'string',Waise 'orphan') but is commonly used to romanize/aɪ̯/ in foreign loans from languages such as Chinese.
• ⟨eu⟩: This digraph represents the diphthong[ɔʏ̯], which goes back to the Middle High German monophthong[yː] represented by⟨iu⟩. When the sound is created byumlaut of⟨au⟩[aʊ̯] (from MHG[uː]), it is spelled⟨äu⟩.
• ⟨ß⟩: This letter alternates with⟨ss⟩. For more information, seeabove.
• ⟨st,sp⟩: At the beginning of a word or syllable, these digraphs are pronounced[ʃt,ʃp]. In the Middle Ages, thesibilant that was inherited fromProto-Germanic/s/ was pronounced as analveolo-palatal consonant[ɕ] or[ʑ] unlike thevoiceless alveolar sibilant/s/ that had developed in theHigh German consonant shift. In the Late Middle Ages, certain instances of[ɕ] merged with/s/, but others developed into[ʃ]. The change to[ʃ] was represented in certain spellings such asSchnee 'snow',Kirsche 'cherry' (Middle High Germansnê,kirse). The digraphs⟨st, sp⟩, however, remained unaltered.
• ⟨v⟩: The letter⟨v⟩ occurs only in a few native words and then, it represents/f/. That goes back to the 12th and 13th century, when prevocalic/f/ was voiced to[v]. The voicing was lost again in the late Middle Ages, but the⟨v⟩ still remains in certain words such as inVogel (cf. Scandinavianfugl or Englishfowl) 'bird' (hence,⟨v⟩ is sometimes calledVogel-vau),viel 'much'.
• ⟨w⟩: The letter⟨w⟩ represents the sound/v/. In the 17th century, the former sound[w] became[v], but the spelling remained the same. An analogous sound change had happened inlate-antique Latin.
• ⟨z⟩: The letter⟨z⟩ represents the sound/t͡s/. The sound, a product of theHigh German consonant shift, has been written with⟨z⟩ sinceOld High German in the 8th century.

For technical terms, the foreign spelling is often retained such as⟨ph⟩/f/ or⟨y⟩/yː/ in the wordPhysik (physics) of Greek origin. For some common affixes however, like-graphie orPhoto-, it is allowed to use-grafie orFoto- instead.^[12] BothPhotographie andFotografie are correct, but the mixed variants*Fotographie or*Photografie are not.^[12]

For other foreign words, both the foreign spelling and a revised German spelling are correct such asDelphin /Delfin^[13] orPortemonnaie /Portmonee, though in the latter case the revised one does not usually occur.^[14]

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 wordFoto "photograph", which may no longer be spelled asPhoto.^[15] Other examples areTelephon (telephone) which was already Germanized asTelefon some decades ago orBureau (office) which got replaced by the Germanized versionBüro even earlier.

Except for the common sequencessch (/ʃ/),ch ([x] or[ç]) andck (/k/), the letter⟨c⟩ appears only inloanwords or inproper nouns. In many loanwords, including most words of Latin origin, the letter⟨c⟩ pronounced (/k/) has been replaced by⟨k⟩. Alternatively, German words which come from Latin words with⟨c⟩ before⟨e, i, y, ae, oe⟩ are usually pronounced with (/ts/) and spelled with⟨z⟩. However, certain older spellings occasionally remain, mostly for decorative reasons, such asCircus instead ofZirkus.

The letter⟨q⟩ in German appears only in the sequence⟨qu⟩ (/kv/) except for loanwords such asCoq au Vin/kɔkoˈvɛ̃ː/ orQigong/tʃiˈɡʊŋ/ (the spellingChigong was also in use but is nowadays nonstandard).

The letter⟨x⟩ (Ix,/ɪks/) occurs almost exclusively in loanwords such asXylofon (xylophone) and names, e.g.Alexander andXanthippe. Native German words now pronounced with a/ks/ sound are usually written using⟨chs⟩ or⟨(c)ks⟩, as withFuchs (fox). Some exceptions occur such asHexe (witch),Nixe (mermaid),Axt (axe) andXanten.

The letter⟨y⟩ (Ypsilon,/ˈʏpsilɔn/) occurs almost exclusively in loanwords, especially words of Greek origin, but some such words (such asTyp) 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⟨i⟩, for instance inMayer /Meyer (a commonfamily name that occurs also in the spellingsMaier /Meier), or especially in the Southwest, as a representation of[iː] that goes back to an oldIJ (digraph), for instance inSchwyz orSchnyder (anAlemannic variant of the nameSchneider).^{[citation needed]} Another notable exception isBayern ("Bavaria") and derived words likebayrisch ("Bavarian"); this actually used to be spelt with an⟨i⟩ until the King of Bavaria introduced the⟨y⟩ as a sign of hisphilhellenism (his son would become King of Greece later).

The Latin and Ancient Greek diphthongs⟨ae (αι)⟩ and⟨oe (οι)⟩ are normally rendered as⟨ä⟩ and⟨ö⟩ in German, whereas English usually uses a simple⟨e⟩ (but seeList of English words that may be spelled with a ligature):Präsens 'present tense' (Latintempus praesens),Föderation 'federation' (Latinfoederatio).

The etymological spelling⟨-ti-⟩ for the sounds[tsɪ̯] before vowels is used in many words of Latin origin, mostly ending in⟨-tion⟩, but also⟨-tiell, -tiös⟩, etc. Latin⟨-tia⟩ in feminine nouns is typically simplified to⟨-z⟩ in German; in related words, both⟨-ti-⟩ and⟨-zi-⟩ are allowed:Potenz 'power' (from Latinpotentia),Potential/Potenzial 'potential' (noun),potentiell/potenziell 'potential' (adj.). Latin⟨-tia⟩ in neuter plural nouns may be retained, but is also Germanized orthographically and morphologically to⟨-zien⟩:Ingrediens 'ingredient', pluralIngredienzien;Solvens 'expectorant', pluralSolventia orSolvenzien.

In loan words from theFrench language, spelling and accents are usually preserved. For instance,café in the sense of "coffeehouse" is always writtenCafé in German; accentlessCafe would be considered erroneous, and the word cannot be writtenKaffee, which means "coffee". (Café is normally pronounced/kaˈfeː/;Kaffee is mostly pronounced/ˈkafe/ in Germany but/kaˈfeː/ in Austria.) Thus, Germantypewriters and computer keyboards offer twodead keys: one for theacute andgrave accents and one forcircumflex. Other letters occur less often such as⟨ç⟩ in loan words from French or Portuguese, and⟨ñ⟩ in loan words from Spanish.

A number of loanwords from French are spelled in a partially adapted way:Quarantäne/kaʁanˈtɛːnə/ (quarantine),Kommuniqué/kɔmyniˈkeː,kɔmuniˈkeː/ (communiqué),Ouvertüre/u.vɛʁˈtyː.ʁə/ (overture) from Frenchquarantaine, communiqué, ouverture. 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.Communiqué.

In one curious instance, the wordSki ('ski') is pronounced as if it were*Schi all over the German-speaking areas (reflecting its pronunciation in its source languageNorwegian), but only written that way in Austria.^[16]

This section lists German letters and letter combinations, and how to pronounce them transliterated into theInternational Phonetic Alphabet. This is the pronunciation ofStandard 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 differentGerman dialects).

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

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

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; compareWasser'water' towaschen'wash', not *waschschen. Hence, short and long vowels before the digraph⟨ch⟩ are not distinguished in writing:Drache/ˈdʁaxə/'dragon',Sprache/ˈʃpʁaːxə/'language'.

Most one-syllable words that end in a single consonant are pronounced with long vowels, but there are some exceptions such asan, das, es, in, mit, andvon. The suffixes -in, -nis and the word endings -as, -is, -os, -us contain short unstressed vowels, but duplicate the final consonants in the plurals:Leserin'female reader' —Leserinnen'female readers',Kürbis'pumpkin' —Kürbisse'pumpkins'.

• ⟨a⟩:[a] as inWasser'water'
• ⟨ä⟩:[ɛ] as inMänner'men'
• ⟨e⟩:[ɛ] as inBett'bed';
• ⟨i⟩:[ɪ] as inMittel'medium'
• ⟨o⟩:[ɔ] as inkommen'to come'
• ⟨ö⟩:[œ] as inGöttin'goddess'
• ⟨u⟩:[ʊ] as inMutter'mother'
• ⟨ü⟩:[ʏ] as inMüller'miller'
• ⟨y⟩:[ʏ] as inDystrophie'dystrophy'

The⟨e⟩ in the ending -en is often silent, as inbitten'to ask, request'. The ending -er is often pronounced[ɐ], but in some regions, it is[ʀ̩] or[r̩]. The⟨e⟩ in the endings -el ([əl~l̩], e.g.Tunnel,Mörtel'mortar') and -em ([əm~m̩] in the dative case of adjectives, e.g.kleinem fromklein'small') is pronounced as aschwa.

• ⟨e⟩:[ə] as inOchse'ox' or mute, making the following sound syllabic as inbitten[ˈbɪtn̩]'to ask, request';
• ⟨er⟩[ɐ] or[ɛɐ̯], as inWasser'water',[ə] inÖsterreich'Austria' and derivatives

In the following cases, the vowel letter always represents a long vowel:

• being the final letter (except for⟨e⟩)
• in the stressed open syllable as inWagen "car"
• doubled as inBoot "boat"
• followed bysilent letter⟨h⟩ as inWeh "pain",gehen "go"

Also, the vowel letter usually represents a long vowel:

• being only followed by a single consonant as inbot "offered", which is continuously valid in thecompound words includingBotschaft "embassy".

The Germandefinite article is pronounced with long vowels in the formsder, dem, den, die, but with short vowels in the formsdas anddes.

A vowel before two or more different consonants is usually pronounced short, but there are some words where it is pronounced long, e.g.Mond "moon".

Long vowels are generally pronounced with greatertenseness than short vowels.

The long vowels map as follows:

• ⟨a, ah, aa⟩:[aː] as inBahn 'railway'
• ⟨ä, äh⟩:[ɛː] or[eː] as inregelmäßig 'regularly'
• ⟨e, eh, ee⟩:[eː] as inMeer 'sea'
• ⟨i, ih⟩:[iː] as inwir 'we'
• ⟨ie, ieh⟩:[iː] as inriesig 'huge'
• ⟨o, oh, oo⟩:[oː] as inSohn 'son'
• ⟨ö, öh⟩:[øː] as inÖsterreich 'Austria'
• ⟨u, uh⟩:[uː] as inKuh 'cow'
• ⟨ü, üh⟩:[yː] as inüber 'above/about'
• ⟨y⟩:[yː] (chiefly foreign, extremely rare) as inpsychisch 'psychical'

• ⟨au⟩:[aʊ] as inlaut 'loud'
• ⟨eu, äu⟩:[ɔʏ] as inDeutschland 'Germany'
• ⟨ei, ai, ey, ay⟩:[aɪ] as inSeite 'side'

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

• ⟨i⟩:[i]
• ⟨y⟩:[y]
• ⟨u⟩:[u]
• ⟨e⟩:[e]
• ⟨ö⟩:[ø]
• ⟨o⟩:[o]

A vowel bearing secondary stress may also shorten, as inMonolog'monologue'[ˌmonoˈloːk]. Phonemically, they are typically analysed as allophones of the long/iː,yː,uː,eː,øː,oː/ (thus/ˌmoːnoːˈloːk/ etc.) and are mostly restricted to loanwords.

In some German proper names, unusual spellings occur, e. g.⟨ui⟩[yː]:Duisburg/dyːsbʊʁk/;⟨ow⟩[oː]:Treptow/ˈtʁeːptoː/.

Theperiod (full stop) is used at the end of sentences, for abbreviations, and for ordinal numbers, such asder 1. forder erste (the first). It is omitted before a full stop at the end of a sentence.

Thecomma is used between for enumerations (but theserial 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 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.

Theexclamation mark and thequestion mark are used for exclamative and interrogative sentences. It is not preceded by a space, in contrast with languages like French. The exclamation mark may be used for addressing people in letters.

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

Thecolon is used before direct speech and quotes, after a generalizing word before enumerations (but not when the wordsdas ist, das heißt, nämlich, zum Beispiel are inserted), before explanations and generalizations, and after words in questionnaires, timetables, etc. (e.g.Vater: Franz Müller).

Theem dash is used for marking a sharp transition from one thought to another one, between remarks of a dialogue (as aquotation 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.

Theellipsis is used for unfinished thoughts and incomplete citations.

Theparentheses are used for parenthetical information.

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

Thequotation 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.

Theapostrophe is used for contracted forms (such as’s fores) except forms with omitted final⟨e⟩ (was sometimes used in this case in the past) and preposition+article contractions. It is also used for genitive of proper names ending in⟨s, ß, x, z, ce⟩, but not if preceded by the definite article.

The oldest knownGerman texts date back to the 8th century. They were written mainly inmonasteries in different local dialects ofOld High German. In these texts,⟨z⟩ along with combinations such as⟨tz, cz, zz, sz, zs⟩ was chosen to transcribe the sounds/ts/ and/s(ː)/, which is ultimately the origin of the modern German letters⟨z, tz⟩ and⟨ß⟩ (an old⟨sz⟩ligature). After theCarolingian Renaissance, however, during the reigns of theOttonian andSalian dynasties in the 10th century and 11th century, German was rarely written, the literary language being almost exclusivelyLatin.

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 theHohenstaufen dynasty (in theHigh Middle Ages). Around the year 1200, there was a tendency towards a standardizedMiddle High German language and spelling for the first time, based on theFranconian-Swabian language of the Hohenstaufen court. However, that language was used only in theepic poetry andminnesang lyric of theknight culture. These early tendencies of standardization ceased in theinterregnum after the death of the last Hohenstaufen king in 1254. Certain features of today's Germanorthography still date back to Middle High German: the use of thetrigraph⟨sch⟩ for/ʃ/ and the occasional use of⟨v⟩ for/f/ because around the 12th and 13th century, the prevocalic/f/ was voiced.

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

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

• Under theHabsburg dynasty, there was a strong tendency to a common language in thechancellery.
• Since Eastern Central Germany had been colonized only during the High and Late Middle Ages in the course of theOstsiedlung 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 ofErfurt andLeipzig and especially with theLuther Bible translation, which was considered exemplary.
• The invention ofprinting 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 centuryCounter-Reformation reintroducedCatholicism 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 theLow 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 asJohann Christoph Gottsched or language cultivation societies such as theFruitbearing Society.

19th century German alphabet

(Becker, 1896)

(Falck-Lebahn, 1851)

(Smissen-Fraser, 1900)

(Schlomka, 1885)

Though, by the mid-18th century, one norm was generally established, there was no institutionalized standardization. Only with the introduction ofcompulsory 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 theGerman Empire in 1871 allowed for further standardization.

In 1876, the Prussian government instituted theFirst Orthographic Conference [de] to achieve a standardization for the entire German Empire. However, its results were rejected, notably byPrime Minister of PrussiaOtto von Bismarck.

In 1880,Gymnasium directorKonrad Duden published theVollständiges Orthographisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache ('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.^{[citation needed]} Since Prussia was, by far, the largest state in the German Empire, its regulations also influenced spelling elsewhere, for instance, in 1894, whenSwitzerland recognized the Duden.^{[citation needed]}

In 1901, theinterior minister of the German Empire instituted theSecond 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, theNazi German government planned areform of the orthography, but because ofWorld War II, it was never implemented. However, they successfully abolished Fraktur script and enforced the general use of Antiqua.

After 1902, German spelling was essentially decidedde facto by the editors of the Duden dictionaries. AfterWorld War II, this tradition was followed with two different centers:Mannheim inWest Germany andLeipzig inEast 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 newprint run introduced a few reformed spellings.

German spelling and punctuation was changed in 1996 (Reform der deutschen Rechtschreibung von 1996) with the intent to simplify German orthography, and thus to make the language easier to learn,^[18] 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 spellingloan 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 theFederal 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.^[19] While the reform is not very popular in opinion polls, it has been adopted by all major dictionaries and the majority of publishing houses.

• Antiqua-Fraktur dispute
• Binnen-I, a convention for gender-neutral language in German
• Dutch orthography
• English orthography
• German braille
• German phonology
• Non-English usage of quotation marks
• Otto Basler
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Silent letter#German

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• Amtliches Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung(PDF) (in German), Mannheim: Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung, 2024, retrieved2024-07-09

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