German language is the official language of Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein, and one of the official languages of Switzerland and Luxembourg. Estimates of the number of German speakers worldwide range from 100 million to 120 million. German is the fourth most widely used European language, following English, Spanish, and Russian.
German and English are related languages. Both developed from an ancient language called Proto-Germanic. Language scholars believe this language was spoken by the people of northern and central Europe long before recorded history. The similarity between many basic German and English vocabulary words shows that the two languages share a common origin. Examples of similar German and English words include light and Licht, house and Haus, and cat and Katze. A number of English words have come directly from German, such as flak, hinterland, and kindergarten. Some German words have come directly from English, including fair, Filmstar, Manager, and Toast.
German grammar
Nouns.
In German, all nouns are capitalized. Nouns may be masculine, feminine, or neuter, but the grammatical gender generally does not indicate the sexual nature of the thing named. For example, pencil (der Bleistift) is masculine, pen (die Feder) is feminine, and paper (das Papier) is neuter.
In German, articles and adjectives have a variety of forms. A noun’s grammatical gender and function determine which form of the adjective or article is used. For example, compare the following two sentences: (1) Die Frau gibt dem Mann einen Hut (The woman gives the man a hat) and (2) Der Mann gibt der Frau einen Hut (The man gives the woman a hat). These two sentences show how the German word meaning the changes to show the gender and function of the noun described. Die Frau in the first sentence becomes der Frau in the second sentence to show that Frau is a subject in the first sentence but an indirect object in the second. Also, die before Frau in the first sentence changes to der at the beginning of the second sentence to show that the noun it now describes, Mann, is masculine, not feminine.
Verbs.
German verbs also have a variety of forms. The subject of the sentence determines, in part, which form of the verb is used. For example, the verb kaufen (to buy) would have the following forms in the present tense: ich kaufe (I buy), du kaufst (you [singular] buy), er kauft (he buys), wir kaufen (we buy), ihr kauft (you [plural] buy), and sie kaufen (they buy). The form for the verb used with singular you is also determined by how well the speaker knows the person addressed as you. For example, to a close friend one would say Du kaufst ein schones Haus (You are buying a fine house), but to an acquaintance one would say Sie kaufen ein schones Haus (You are buying a fine house).
Word order.
The rules for German word order are particularly difficult for English speakers to master. The sentence At two o’clock we came home in a taxicab would have this word order in German: Um zwei Uhr fahren wir mit dem Taxi nach Hause (At two o’clock came we in a taxicab home). Word placement follows fairly definite rules. The verb normally comes in the second position in the sentence. If the subject does not begin the sentence, it immediately follows the verb. But in a dependent clause, the verb comes at the very end, as in: Unsere Eltern waren nicht ärgerlich, obwohl wir um zwei Uhr mit dem Taxi zurück kamen (Our parents were not angry, though we at two o’clock in a taxicab returned).
Pronunciation.
German pronunciation follows German spelling more closely than English pronunciation follows English spelling. German has few letters pronounced in more than one way and has almost no silent letters. The language contains a number of sounds that do not exist in English, such as the ch in Nacht (night), the o in Konig (king), and u in Hute (hats). Other sounds, such as the German r and l, are pronounced differently, and English speakers who use the English sounds for the German r and l will have a noticeable accent.
German dialects
As a spoken language, German includes a large number of dialects. In general, spoken German consists of two principal forms—High German and Low German.
High German.
High German developed through four stages. They are (1) Old High German, used from about A.D. 750 to 1050; (2) Middle High German, used from about 1050 to 1350; (3) Early New High German, used from about 1350 to 1600; and (4) New High German, used after 1600. New High German was greatly influenced by Martin Luther, a leader of the Reformation in Germany. In the early 1500’s, he translated the Bible into German, using the dialect of east-central Germany, particularly the region called Saxony. This dialect thus became important in the development of New High German. See Luther, Martin .
Today, High German or Hochdeutsch is spoken in the “high,” mountainous regions of central and southern Germany. High German also serves as the base for Standard German. Standard German is spoken in schools and on radio and television. Standard German is also the written language of Germany.
Low German.
Low German or Plattdeutsch is spoken in the lowlands of northern Germany. Low German differs from High German chiefly in the sounds of its vowels and consonants. It sounds more like English and Dutch than High German does. For example, the Low German eten and twe are closer to the English eat and two than to the High German essen and zwei. Low German served as both the spoken and written language of northern Germany until the 1550’s, when it lost its importance as a written language.
See also German literature ; Language (Indo-European) .
