Courses / German / Basics, lesson 5

Writing German

German writing has one rule that surprises everyone (every noun has a capital letter), one special letter to place (ß), and four letters to type. Then the fun part: how German builds long words out of short ones.

Every noun has a capital letter

Capital nouns

Every noun

der Hund · das Haus · die Liebe

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ß or ss?

Both sound like s. After a long vowel or a pair like ei and au, write ß; after a short vowel, write ss.

After a long vowel or pair: ß	After a short vowel: ss
Straße street	Wasser water
groß big	Kuss kiss
weiß white	muss must

Listen to the vowel

Straße · Wasser

long a before ß · short a before ss

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Note.

In Switzerland, ß is not used: Swiss German writes ss everywhere (Strasse).

German quotation marks

German opens a quotation low and closes it high: „Hallo“, not "Hallo".

Typing ä, ö, ü and ß

Device	How
Phone or tablet	Touch and hold a, o or u for ä, ö, ü; touch and hold s for ß. Or add a German keyboard.
Mac	Option+u, then the vowel: ä ö ü · Option+s: ß
Windows, US International keyboard	" then the vowel: ä ö ü · Right Alt+s: ß
Windows, any keyboard	Hold Alt and type on the number pad: ä 0228 · ö 0246 · ü 0252 · Ä 0196 · Ö 0214 · Ü 0220 · ß 0223
No way to type them	Write ae, oe, ue, ss: Aepfel, schoen, Strasse. Understood, but the real letters are correct.

Long words, built from short ones

Compound words

Building words

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Practice

Question

Which is written correctly?

A. Ich habe einen hund.B. Ich habe einen Hund.

Hint

Every noun...

Solution

Hund is a noun, so it has a capital: Ich habe einen Hund, I have a dog.

Question

How is street written in Germany?

A. StrasseB. Straße

Hint

The a before it is long.

Solution

Straße: ß after a long vowel. (Strasse is the Swiss spelling.)

Question

How is water written?

A. WasserB. Waßer

Hint

The a is short.

Solution

Wasser: ss after a short vowel.

Question

What is a Handschuh?

A. a hand shoe: a gloveB. a shoe shopC. a sandal

Hint

Hand + Schuh (shoe).

Solution

A Handschuh is a glove: a shoe for the hand.

Question

On a Mac, how do you type ü?

A. Option+u, then uB. Option+üC. Shift+u

Hint

One shortcut gives all three umlauts.

Solution

Option+u, then the vowel: ü. The same for ä and ö.

Listen, then build the question

What is your name? (polite)

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Put the words in order: What is your name?

Click the items in the correct order. Click an item in your answer to move it back.

Available items

Your order

Note.

Next: stress and reading aloud: where the beat of a German word falls, and your first paragraph.