German Deutsch
Spoken in	Germany Austria Switzerland Luxembourg Liechtenstein Belgium Namibia
Number of speakers	125 million
Typology	V2 and SOV inflectional accentual
Classification by family
- Indo-European - Germanic languages - West Germanic languages - Germano-Dutch group - High German - German
Official status
Official language of	Austria Belgium Germany Liechtenstein Luxembourg Voivodeship Opole , Poland Sopron , Hungary Switzerland Krahule / Blaufu , Slovakia Trentino-Alto Adige , Italy Namibia (co-official regional) Vatican (official language of the Papal Swiss Guard )
Language codes
ISO 639-1	of
ISO 639-2	ger deu
ISO 639-3	deu
IETF	of
Sample
Article I of the Declaration of Human Rights ( see text in French ) Artikel 1 Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich Wrde und Rechten geboren year. Sie sind mit Vernunft und sollen einander Gewissen begabt und im Geist der Brderlichkeit begegnen.
change

The German in German) is a language Indo-European belonging to the western branch of the Germanic languages. With over 100 million speakers, German is one of the most widely spoken languages in Europe and most widely spoken within the EU. Because of its many dialects of German is to some extent a language-roof.

Summary 1 Geographical distribution 1.1 Language derived 2 History 2.1 First sound shift 2.2 Second sound shift 2.3 Average Age 2.4 Influence of the Reformation 2.5 The German Central Europe 2.6 Standardization of the spelling and grammar 3 Classification 3.1 Languages Regional 3.1.1 Low German 3.1.2 High German 4 Writing 4.1 Spelling 5 Pronunciation 5.1 Letters 5.2 Sons compounds 6 Grammar 6.1 Conjugation 6.2 Declension 6.3 Syntax 6.3.1 Agglutination 7 Glossary 7.1 Names of German 7.2 Borrowings 8 Examples 9 Quickness language 9.1 Specifics of the Austrian and Swiss German 9.2 Specificity of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) 10 Notes and references 11 See also 11.1 Related Articles 2.11 External Links

Geographic distribution

• in Europe :
  • The German language in Germany , in Austria , in Liechtenstein , in Switzerland , in Luxembourg , in Belgium and in the region Italy 's South Tyrol ;
  • It is also spoken, but do not have official language status in Denmark , in the Czech Republic ( Czech Germans and Germans of the Sudetenland ), Slovakia ( the Carpathian Germans ), France ( Alsace and Lorraine ), Hungary , Poland , Russia ( Volga Germans ), Romania ( Transylvania / Banat , Saxons of Transylvania , Bukovina Germans and Germans of Banat );
• in Africa : Namibia , Togo , South Africa , Tanzania ;
• in America : North America (often of dialects from the medium or Low German , having archaic features, such as dialect called "Pennsylvanian" in use by the community Amish ), South America ( Paraguay , Chile , Argentina , Brazil ).

It should be noted that German is the official language of any state government of the United States despite an assertion based on a recurrent historical confusion

Russia 850 000 Kazakhstan 350 000 Italy 300 000 regional language Argentina 300 000 Luxembourg 300 000 co-official language Canada 250 000 Chile 200 000 Poland 190 000 Czech Republic and Slovakia 150 000 Australia 150 000 Paraguay 150 000 Hungary 145 000 Kyrgyzstan 100 000 Belgium 71 000 co-official language Romania 70 000 Bolivia 50 000 South Africa 45 000 Uzbekistan 40 000 Netherlands 40 000 Mexico 40 000 Ukraine 38 000 Ecuador 32 000 Liechtenstein 30 000 official language Namibia 30 000 Regional co-official language Uruguay 28 000 Denmark 20 000 Slovenia 20 000 Croatia 11 000 Belize 10 000 Moldova 7 000 Latvia 4 000 Lithuania 2 000 Togo 1 500

Source: German and Spanish s (in disagreement between them). To check for a more secure source.

Derived languages

• The Yiddish is a language derived from Middle High German Middle Ages, which were introduced words from Slavic or Hebrew.
• The unserdeutsch is a creole formed from a German lexicon.
• The Swiss German Swiss speak many Germanic dialects, sometimes quite different from one another. However, official documents, press, publishing and education primarily use standard German.

History

First sound shift

With the first sound shift (erste Germanische Lautverschiebung) around the ^fifth century BC. BC , was born the common Germanic from a dialect of Indo-European. This transformation explains the differences between Germanic languages (plus Armenian ) and other Indo-European languages. One can, for simplicity, the facts as follows:

• k h: horn in Latin - Herz in German, English heart, hart in Dutch
• p f: pater in Latin - German Vater, father in English, Dutch vader
• t th: tres in Latin - German drei, Three in English, Dutch drie

• d t: decem in Latin - German zehn, ten in English, Dutch yours
• g k in Latin gula - Kehle German, Dutch keel

• bh b: bhrt in Sanskrit (Latin frater) - German Bruder, brother in English, Dutch Broeder
• dh d: adham in Sanskrit - Tat in German, English deed, daad Dutch
• g gh: * Ghost Indo-European (hostis in Latin) - Gast German and Dutch, English guest

Second sound shift

We started talking about German (or, in linguistics " High German ") when the dialects spoken in the southwest of Germany suffered the second consonant shift (zweite Germanische Lautverschiebung or Hochdeutsch Lautverschiebung, which is located roughly speaking to the ^sixth century ), in which the language began to differentiate northern dialects (Niederdeutsch, Low German ).

This phonetic change explains a number of differences between the current German and, for example, the Dutch or English :

• k PS: ik - ich (I) ook - auch (also) make / maken - machen (make)
• d t: dag / day - Tag (day); bed / bed - Bett (bed) do / doen - tun (to do)
• t s: what / wat - was (what); street / straat - Strae (street); eat / eet - essen (eat)
• t (t) z: sit / zitten - setzen (sitting); two / twee - zwei
• p f: sleep / Slapen - schlafen (sleep); ship / schip - Schiff (ship); help / helpen - helfen (help)
• p pf beginning of a word: pepper / peper - Pfeffer (pepper); paard - Pferd (horse)
• v, w, f b: beloven / believe - belauben (promise, belief); avond / evening - Abend (evening)

to summarize, k * / * p / * t hp / mp (or f) / ts (or s)

The northern dialects that have undergone little or no} This second mutation is phonetically described as Low German. This designation is considered abusive by some linguists, notably the Dutch (who are not "German"). But the term "German" here is a linguistic term, like "novel", "slave" or "Scandinavian".

Middle Ages

Between the ^tenth century and the ^fifteenth century was a place diphthongization dialects in the Southwest for the structure in two phonemes ei, and had. This again explains some differences between standard German and, for example, the Netherlands (the letters in parentheses explain the pronunciation using the French language):

• (or) at (aug): hus - Haus (house); mus - Maus (mouse)
• i, (i) e i (go): wise - Weise (way); zit - Zeit (time)
• iu () was ( oy): liute - Leute (people); hiute - heute (today)

Unlike the states neighboring the Germanic countries have remained fragmented (Kleinstaaterei) during the entire Middle Ages contributed to the development of dialects very different and sometimes mutually unintelligible. A first step towards a language is the interregional Mittelhochdeutsch poetics of court poets to the ^thirteenth century , although the influence on the vernacular was virtually nil, due to low literacy. Also Germanic regions they remained long halved linguistic regions:

• In the North, particularly the time of the Hanseatic League , Low German was used as a lingua franca of the North Sea to the Baltic Sea.
• The South was developing small to small, mostly written since the ^fourteenth century a "compromise language" between the different dialects of High German became the standard German (Standarddeutsch). This process is quite different from that of neighboring states who adopted the language of their capital.

Influence of the Reformation

In 1521 , Martin Luther translated the New Testament in the German standard in developing and 1534 , the Old Testament. Although Luther was not, as it was once considered the pioneer in establishing an interregional language - in development since the ^fourteenth century - the fact remains that the Protestant Reformation helped to establish German standard in government and schools, including in northern Germany, who eventually adopt it.

But until the early ^nineteenth century , the language remained Hochdeutsch often written that many Germans, particularly in the South, learned as a foreign language.

German in Central Europe

With the domination of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Central Europe , including German became the lingua franca. In particular, until the mid- ^nineteenth century , the merchants and, more generally, the townspeople were speaking German, regardless of their nationality: Prague , Budapest , Bratislava , Zagreb and Ljubljana were germanophones islet in the midst of campaigns retained their vernacular.

Standardization of the spelling and grammar

Johann Christoph Adelung published in 1781 the first comprehensive German dictionary, an initiative followed by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1852. The dictionary of the Brothers Grimm, in sixteen volumes published between 1852 and 1960 , remains the most comprehensive guide of the German vocabulary. The gradual normalization of the spelling dictionary was completed with the spelling of the German language of Konrad Duden in 1880 , which was, to minor modifications, as stated in the official reference spelling reform of 1901.

Classification

It is a Germanic language of the western branch, close, including the Netherlands.

Regional Languages

Low German

• Low Franconian
• Low Saxon
  • Westphalian
  • ostphalien
  • Northern Low Saxon
• East Low German
  • Mecklenburg-Pomerania
  • Brandenburg
  • Low Prussian
  • Middle Pomeranian
  • East Pomeranian

High German

• Middle German
  • West Middle German
    • Middle Franconian
      • Moselle Franconian
      • Luxembourg
      • Frankish Ripuarian
    • Rhine Franconian
    • Hessian East
    • Middle Hesse
    • nordhessisch
  • East Middle German
    • Thuringen
    • High-Saxon
    • North High Saxon
    • Lausitzisch-Neumrkisch
    • Silesian
    • High Prussian
    • Yiddish
• German Higher
  • Frankish
    • East Franconian
    • Southern Franconian
      • Frankish Main
  • Pennsylvania German
  • Bavarian
    • North Bavarian
    • Middle Bavarian
    • South Bavarian
  • Alemannic
    • Alsatian
    • Swabian
    • Low Alemannic
    • Mittelalemannisch
    • High Alemannic
    • speaking higher
    • Swiss German

Writing

The German is spelled with 26 letters of the Latin alphabet , topped with three vowels Umlaut (sort of umlaut ) , and , and a special graphic symbol , eszett ( ligature of "s" and "z") or scharfes S, used in lieu of ss in some cases (especially after a long vowel or a diphthong ). The Swiss no longer uses the beta since the 1930s. Until the 1940s , German was printed in Gothic script ( Fraktur ) and written in Stterlin , which are different versions of the Latin alphabet.

Spelling

The German spelling is generally inferred pronunciation and a basic understanding. But regional disparities in pronunciation can make the task difficult. The main difficulty spelling of German resident in:

• the Fremdwrter / I> (foreign words): they are often written in accordance with the original word (eg. Mili had, Mayon I will) but the recent spelling reform (see below) allows the Germanization of the terms imported such as writing in a word Jointventure;
• the letters A and E (e open or closed), in some cases homophones and other neighboring pronunciations (eg e derivative a where the reformed spelling can also write ;
• the distinction between simple and consonant consonant double that in a limited number of words, and contrary to normal practice, did not influence the length of the vowel (eg. Ti p but ti PP, Pla tz Pronunciation
  Main article: German pronunciation.

  Unlike languages such as the English , German classical (Hochdeutsch) is pronounced fairly consistent with the text written and contains very few exceptions (often the sounds are pronounced the same way) except for words Loan. Almost all the vowels are pronounced clearly, even at length, even without being followed by silent letter serves to emphasize the previous letter.

  However, francophones who learn German usually encounter some problems, listed below.

  All sounds are not mentioned there is always pronounced the same way as in French (a, b, d, f, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, ph, q, r, t, x). The sound Letters

  • E e is the Sons compounds
    • ch is pronounced three ways: " is often transcribed as Grammar
      Main article: German Grammar.

      German is an inflected language containing conjugations and declensions.

      Conjugation

      Main article: Conjugation of German.

      The principle of conjugation is fairly close to the German principle of French conjugation. The differences are:

      • The existence of the subjunctive , mainly intended to relate the words of others for the subjunctive I, and to express the hypothesis, the desire, or an ideal location for the subjunctive II.
      • The difference between passive -action (Das Haus wird gebaut, the house is Declension
        Main article: Variations German.

        The declination German has four cases , the nominative , the accusative , the dative and genitive , which will combine three grammatical genders , the masculine , the feminine and neutral and two numbers , singular and plural.

        The key importance of the brand declination is the determinant , assisted by the attributive adjective.

        The variations are used:

        • To indicate the syntactic function of a noun : subject , object , complement award , or addition to the name.
        • After certain prepositions (Wechselprpositionen) to indicate whether or not change
        • Depending on the case required by the prepositions as well as verbs, adjectives or names followed by a supplement.

        Syntax

        Main article: German Syntax.

        See also German grammar

        The German main syntactic feature for placing important elements, is first in the sentence or the last position. The inversion of verb and subject complement takes place when a phrase comes to mind; "heute geht es ihm gut == today he's fine", the rejection is the reference at the end of the verb phrase in the subordinate " ... wenn er Wein trinkt = while drinking wine "

        Another example:

        Er Nahm gestern diese trotz Schwierigkeiten go Maschine in Betrieb.
        He put the machine into operation yesterday, despite all difficulties.

        Are highlighted

        • The first issue (it)
        • The action in Betrieb Agglutination

          The German language can do without review genitive by putting together two words (determined determinants +) - or even much more. German is well known for its ability to form compounds of greater length than the Germans themselves called derisively Bandwrmer (tapeworms) ...

          Examples:

          • Rindfleischetikettierungsberwachungsaufgabenbertragungsgesetz : Act on the transfer of responsibility for overseeing the labeling of beef. This word is the longest officially recognized.
          • Rindfleischetikettierungsberwachungsaufgabenbertragungsgesetzesgegnerstammtischaschenbecher: the ashtray from the table of regulars opponents of the law on the transfer of supervision requirements for labeling of beef Glossary

            Names of German

            The German language (and the people) has the distinction of having names very different from one language to another (eg German, Deutsch, alemn, Nemet, etc..). Indeed, six roots different come into play:

            • the Proto-Germanic * Teut-for "people" (sometimes suffixed ) :
              • German: Deutsch;
              • Low Latin thiosticus (cf. Council of Tours );
              • Danish : Tyska;
              • Faroese : tskt;
              • Frisian : dtsk;
              • French : Teutonic (old term);
              • Icelandic : ska
              • Italian : tedesco;
              • Latin : lingua Theodisca;
              • Luxembourg : ditsch;
              • Dutch : Duits (the names of all languages are capitalized);
              • Swedish : Tyska;
              • Yiddish : (dayytsh);
            • the name of the Germanic people in Latin (Germanus; German> ger = the spear, man = man):
              • Albanian : gjermanishte;
              • English : German;
              • Scottish : gearmailtis;
              • Esperanto : Germana lingvo
              • Georgia : (germanuli);
              • Modern Greek : (germaniks);
              • Irish : gearminis;
              • Romanian : german;
              • Hebrew modern (germanyt);
              • Macedonian : (grmanski)
            • the name of the tribe Saxon , Latin sax, Saxons (etymology unclear):
              • Estonian / Finnish Saks;
            • the old Slavic for " silent "(originally this word meant someone who speaks a language considered incomprehensible, just as it was also the original meaning of" barbarian ") :
              • Belarus : (niametskaia);
              • Bulgarian : (nemski);
              • Croatian : njemaki;
              • Hungarian : Nmet;
              • Polish : niemiecki;
              • Russian : (nemetski);
              • Serbian : nemaka;
              • Slovak : Nemecko;
              • Slovenian : nemina;
              • Czech : nmina;
              • Ukrainian : (nimets'ky)
            • the German name of the tribe, probably from Old High German ala Mann, "all men" (cf. German Mann and German) via the late Latin Alamanus or Alemanus for Romance :
              • Arabic : (almniya);
              • Breton : alamaneg;
              • Catalan : Alemany;
              • Cornish : almaynek
              • French : German;
              • Spanish : alemn;
              • Welsh : almaeneg;
              • Icelandic : almennr;
              • Portuguese : Alemo;
              • Turkish : almanca
            • Perhaps a word "West" in the Baltic languages :
              • Latvian : vacu;
              • Lithuanian : Vokiei

            In classical Hebrew, German countries are known as the Ashkenazi (), by popular genealogy after Gen. 10:3. In modern Hebrew, see above.

            Loans

            A significant number of words were borrowed by the Germanic dialects novel and the Old French (eg. helmet, spurs, target, chair) and only the words of more recent origin are still discernible as' loanwords (frichti , ersatz).

            Main article: French words of German origin.

            Examples

            Word	Translation	Standard pronunciation ***
            earth	Erde	Vivid Language The German daily creates new words by agglutination. This feature of the language is not the subject of this article. Like the French created the verb of PACS / PACS is an abbreviation from administrative civil status ( PACS ), German can adapt in everyday language the terms obdurate. Example: The word apprentice was told for centuries Lehrling tense lehren (teach) means therefore that we who teaches something, followed by the diminutive ling. His teacher was the Meister. Administrative reform in the early 1970's has replaced the term by two terms Meister clarifying that actually teaches (der Ausbildende, gerund of ausbilden, train) and the other has the right and responsibility for training (der Ausbilder the trainer). The apprentice became logically der Auszubildende (that is to say that to be formed), abbreviated AZUBI (pronounced ATSOUBI). The genius of the language added to the female form in the usual termination and it gave the whole ATSOUBINE. However, the term Biene (bee) is also "pretty girl that turned the dry abbreviation a pretty name. Another version less politically correct recalls that apprentices should also fetch the beer for their older colleagues: "A Bi erholen RSCH zu m! Specifics of the Austrian and Swiss German Main articles: German Swiss and Austrian German. Swiss German (fr) Austrian German (fr) Pronunciation, some letters are pronounced differently in Austria. The "R" tends to be rolled, like in Southern Germany (Bavaria). This section is empty, insufficiently detailed or incomplete. Your help is welcome! Specifics of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) In general, language was enriched official terms specific to the political system as under the National Socialist. In everyday language, many words were turning them in derision. For example, the abbreviation VEB (for factory OWNED of the people) became (the old mill Dad) ... Scores of abbreviations from the communist ideology had the course, students should take courses in all ML ( Marxist-Leninist ), are found neologisms or new expressions in a number of areas including: Industry and technology: In the technical language, the plastic (or west, die Plaste east). Great influence of Russian (Kombinat, etc.). Gastronomy: enameled the neologisms daily creations "delicious," for example, a roast chicken being said (from English to broil, grill), a then of course ... rabbit (Broi + Ka, Kaninchen, rabbit). The dish called "Bismarck herring" was renamed Delihering (Deli, rep. Of "delicacy" and Hering, herring) because of the questionable role (in the eyes of the communist leaders) of the former chancellor of the Emperor William II. Russian soup "Solianka" has become part of the culinary heritage of the East discovered that with forty-year lag Mediterranean cuisine is well established in the West. The real Coca-Cola (drink the capitalist enemy) have no place, an ersatz vaguely resembling it was created, called Club-Cola. A "blue jeans" (called eine Jeans West) became a "pants with rivets (Nietenhose). Army: In languages of specification, such as that of Aeronautics (which West Germany is full of Anglo-American terms), the East Germans, under the tutelage of Moscow , by contrast, were influenced by the Russian or continued use of technical terms German which caused some difficulties in understanding the integration into the Luftwaffe remnants of the Air Force of the NVA. References cf. Bastian Sick. Dative dem ist der Tod Genitivi breast. Spiegel Online, 2004. (Deutsch als der Amtsprache USA, page 131). speaking : 1,050,000 (61% of the population of Alsace) and Frankish (extreme north of Alsace and Lorraine): 350 000 See also Fausto Cercignani , The Consonant of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979. Ludwig Erich Schmitt (Hrsg.): Germanischer Dialektologie. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968, p. 143 http://www.lexiophiles.com/francais/le-mot-le-plus-long-% E2% 80% 93-international-version - the longest German word is the same root that gives Dutch in English ( Dutch ), Teutonic in French. Down comes from the Latin thiosticus Old High German diutisc; close another etymology of this root name of the river Niemen , beyond which the tribes Germanic lived before Ostsiedlung. Moreover, there was also a Germanic tribe called the Nmet , whose name is of Celtic origin. See also German . 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