German language facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids German
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) all German: 120 million (1990–2005) L2 speakers: 80 million (2006)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German German
Early forms:	Old High German Middle High German Early New High German German
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet) German Braille
Official status
Official language in	European Union (official and working language) Germany Austria Switzerland South Tyrol (Italy) Liechtenstein Luxembourg Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium)
Recognised minority language in	Czech Republic Denmark Hungary Kazakhstan Italy (Trentino) Namibia (National language; official language 1984–90) Poland (Auxiliary language) Romania Russia Slovakia (Official municipal language of Krahule/Blaufuß) Brazil (Co-official municipal language in Pomerode and other municipalities) Vatican City (Administrative and commanding language of the Swiss Guard) Venezuela ( Colonia Tovar)
Regulated by	No official regulation (German orthography regulated by the Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung)).

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. Swiss German also has some differences in writing, for example, the letter ß, which is only seen in German, is always replaced by ss.

Dialects
German loanwords in the English language
Examples
- Some German words with English translations
- Basic German expressions
Images for kids
See also

Dialects

Distribution of the native speakers of major continental West-Germanic dialectal varieties.

Alsatian
Bavarian dialect
Franconian Dialect
Kölsch
Low Saxon
Swiss dialect
Mannheimerisch dialect
Palatinate German

German loanwords in the English language

English has taken many loanwords from German, often without any change of spelling (aside from, often, the elimination of umlauts and not capitalizing nouns):

German word	English loanword	Meaning of German word
abseilen	abseil	to descend by rope / to fastrope
Angst	angst	fear
Ansatz	ansatz	onset / entry / math / approach
Anschluss	anschluss	connection / access / annexation
Automat	automat	automation / machine
Bildungsroman	bildungsroman	novel concerned with the personal development or education of the protagonist
Blitz	Blitz	flash / lightning
Bratwurst	bratwurst	fried sausage
Delikatessen	delikatessen / delicatessen	delicate / delicious food items
Doppelgänger	doppelgänger	lit. "double going / living person alive", look-alike of somebody
Dramaturg	dramaturg	professional position within a theatre or opera company that deals mainly with research and development of plays or operas
Edelweiß	edelweiss	edelweiss flower
Ersatz	ersatz	lit. "replacement", typically used to refer to an inferior substitute for a desired substance or item
Fest	fest	feast / celebration
Gedankenexperiment	gedankenexperiment	thought experiment
Geländesprung	gelandesprung	ski jumping for distance on alpine equipment
Gemütlichkeit	gemütlichkeit	snug feeling, cosiness, good nature, geniality
Gestalt	gestalt	form or shape / creature / scheme; a concept of 'wholeness' (etymologically die Gestalt is the past participle of stellen used as an abstract noun, i. e. the same form as contemporary die Gestellte)
Gesundheit!	Gesundheit! (Amer.)	health / bless you! (when someone sneezes)
Glockenspiel	glockenspiel	percussion instrument
Heiligenschein	heiligenschein	meteo. "holy shine" / halo
Hinterland	hinterland	lit. mil. "area behind the front-line": interior / backwoods
kaputt	kaput	out of order, not working
Kindergarten	kindergarten	lit. "children's garden" – nursery or preschool
Kitsch	kitsch	fake art, something produced exclusively for sale
Kohlsalat	cole slaw	cabbage salad
Kraut	kraut	herb, cabbage in some dialects
Leitmotiv	leitmotif	guiding theme (the verb leiten means "to guide, to lead")
plündern (v.)	to plunder	lit. "taking goods by force" (original meaning "to take away furniture" shifted in German and was borrowed by English both during the Thirty Years War)
Poltergeist	poltergeist	lit. "rumbling ghost"
Realpolitik	realpolitik	diplomacy based on practical objectives rather than ideals
Reich	reich	empire or realm
Rucksack	rucksack	backpack (Ruck → Rücken which means "back")
Sauerkraut	sauerkraut	shredded and salted cabbage fermented in its own juice
Schadenfreude	schadenfreude	taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune
Sprachraum	sprachraum	lit. "place/area/room of a language": area where a certain language is spoken
Über	uber	over, above
Übermensch	übermensch	superhuman, "overhuman"
verklemmt	verklemmt (Amer.)	lit. "jammed": inhibited, uptight
Waldsterben	waldsterben	lit. "forest dieback", dying floral environment
Wanderlust	wanderlust	desire, pleasure, or inclination to travel or walk
Weltanschauung	weltanschauung	lit. "perception of the world": ideology
Wunderkind	wunderkind	lit. "wonder child": child prodigy, whiz kid
Zeitgeist	zeitgeist	lit. "spirit of the times": the spirit of the age; the trend at that time
Zugzwang	zugzwang	chess term lit. "compulsion to move"

Examples

Some German words with English translations

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

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.

Images for kids

The Germanic languages in contemporary Europe
German language area and major dialectal divisions around 1900.
(Swiss) German is one of four national languages of Switzerland, and it is spoken in seven of the country's ten largest cities.
Luxembourg lies in the Moselle Franconian dialect area.
Bilingual German-English sign at a bakery in Namibia, where German is a national language.
Self reported knowledge of German as a foreign language in the EU member states (+Turkey), in per cent of the adult population (+15), 2005
The national and regional standard varieties of German
The Low Franconian dialects
The Central German dialects
The Franconian dialects (Low Franconian, Central- and Rhine Franconian, and High Franconian)
The Upper German and High Franconian (transitional between Central and Upper German)
Volume 1 "German Orthography" of the 25th edition of the Duden dictionary
42nd edition of the Österreichisches Wörterbuch ("Austrian Dictionary")
The Deutsches Wörterbuch (1st vol., 1854) by the Brothers Grimm
Austria's standardized cursive
Germany's standardized cursive
A Russian dictionary from 1931, showing the "German alphabet" – the 3rd and 4th columns of each half are Fraktur and Kurrent respectively, with the footnote explaining ligatures used in Fraktur.