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 (called Deutsch in German) is a West Germanic language. It belongs to the larger Indo-European language family.

About 100 million people speak German as their first language. It is spoken mainly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. German is the most common native language in the European Union.

You can also find German speakers in parts of Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and northern Italy. Many people who moved from Germany to other countries, like the United States and Canada, also speak German. It is also spoken in some parts of Eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia.

What is German Like?
- Capital Letters in German
- Swiss German Dialect
German Dialects
German Words Used in English
Learn Some German Words
Images for kids
See also

What is German Like?

German is part of the West Germanic language family. This means it is related to languages like English and Dutch. Many German words are similar to English words.

However, German grammar is more complex than English. German uses a system called cases. This means that words change their form depending on their role in a sentence.

When you use helping verbs in German, the main verb often moves to the end of the sentence. For example, "Someone has stolen my car" becomes Jemand hat mein Auto gestohlen (which means "Someone has my car stolen").

Capital Letters in German

In German writing, every noun must start with a capital letter. Long ago, English and Danish also had this rule, but they don't anymore. Today, German is the only language that still uses this rule.

Swiss German Dialect

German is an official language in Switzerland. However, the Swiss dialect of German can be hard for native German speakers from Germany to understand. Even Swiss people who don't speak German as their first language might find it difficult.

One reason for these differences is history. During World War II, German Swiss people wanted to show they were different from the Nazis. So, they chose to speak their local Swiss dialect instead of standard German.

Swiss German also has some differences in writing. For example, the letter ß (called "Eszett" or "sharp S"), which is only found in German, is always written as ss in Swiss German.

German Dialects

This map shows where different West-Germanic dialects are spoken.

German has many different dialects. A dialect is a way of speaking a language that is specific to a certain area. Here are some common German dialects:

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

German Words Used in English

English has borrowed many words from German. Often, these words are used in English with almost no changes to their spelling. Sometimes, the special German umlaut marks (like the two dots over a letter) are removed, and nouns are not capitalized.

German word	English word	Meaning in German
Angst	angst	fear
Blitz	Blitz	flash or lightning
Bratwurst	bratwurst	fried sausage
Doppelgänger	doppelgänger	a look-alike of someone
Ersatz	ersatz	a replacement, often not as good as the original
Fest	fest	a feast or celebration
Gedankenexperiment	gedankenexperiment	a thought experiment
Gesundheit!	Gesundheit! (Amer.)	health / bless you! (when someone sneezes)
Glockenspiel	glockenspiel	a musical instrument with metal bars
Hinterland	hinterland	the area behind a coast or a city
kaputt	kaput	broken or not working
Kindergarten	kindergarten	literally "children's garden" – a preschool
Kitsch	kitsch	art or objects that are considered to be in bad taste
Leitmotiv	leitmotif	a guiding theme or idea
Poltergeist	poltergeist	literally "rumbling ghost"
Rucksack	rucksack	a backpack
Sauerkraut	sauerkraut	fermented cabbage
Schadenfreude	schadenfreude	taking joy in someone else's bad luck
Wanderlust	wanderlust	a strong desire to travel
Wunderkind	wunderkind	literally "wonder child" – a child prodigy
Zeitgeist	zeitgeist	the spirit or mood of a particular period of history

Learn Some German Words

Here are some basic German words and phrases to help you get started!

Numbers in German

null	zero
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

Common German Words

ja	yes
nein	no
ich	I
du	you (used with friends or family)
er	he
sie	she
es	it
wir	we
ihr	you (used for a group of friends)
Sie	you (polite, used with adults or strangers)
sie	they
Schweiz	Switzerland
Österreich	Austria
Deutschland	Germany
wer	who
wie	how
wo	where
was	what
der	the (for masculine words)
die	the (for feminine words)
das	the (for neutral words)

Basic German Phrases

Guten Morgen	Good morning
Guten Abend	Good evening
Guten Tag	"Hello" (used during the day)
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're welcome")
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?
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?
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.