Das deutsche Alphabet The German alphabet has 30 letters in its alphabet – the 26 letters of the English alphabet plus 4 extra letters:

ß is called scharfes S or eszet and it dates back to medieval times though it only became an official letter of the alphabet in 1901. It is nothing more than a double ss really.

ä, ö, ü 3 vowels have umlauts – 2 dots above the letter - ä, ö, ü.

Umlauts are like the Lederhosen of the German language. They are different and make everything look more interesting and attractive. The umlaut replaces a missing letter and that letter is e. Müller rice could just as easily be marketed as Mueller rice. The omission of the umlaut can have disastrous results, however. Düsseldorf, which is the capital of the region North Rhine Westfalia means the village on the River Düssel, the local river. Omit the umlaut and Dusseldorf means village of the idiots! Umlauts are so attractive and fashionable that they have made it into other languages. Have you ever listened to Motörhead while eating Häagen Dazs ice cream?

Though most of the letters in the German alphabet are the same as English, the pronunciation of some letters is different. Can you work out which ones? a = ah b =bay c = tsay

d = day e = ay f = eff

g = gay h = hah i = ee

j = yot k = kah l = ell

m = emm n = enn o = oh

p = pay q = koo r = air

s = ess t = tay u = ooh

v = fow w = vay x = ix

y = oopsillon z = tset ß = ess tset

The following song may help you learn the alphabet quickly and accurately.

A B C D E F G H I J K Wunderbar!

L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Das ist nett!

Now test yourself…or why not teach your parents some German?

Das Alphabet

a = b = c = d =

e = f = g = h =

i = j = k = l =

m = n = o = p =

q = r = s = t =

u = v = w = x =

y = z = β =

fow kah day yot enn ah vay tay gay tsay ess tset

hah eff koo oopsillon air emm ooh ell ay ess ee ix

tset bay pay oh

Now that you know the letters of the German Alphabet, see if you can work out the answers to the following quiz questions: Quiz

1. What do we call the car that the Germans call a fow-veh? Ans: ___________________________________________________

2. You might want to travel by a German high-speed train, an ee-tsay-eh; what German abbreviation will you look out for?

Ans: ___________________________________________________

3. Which German town do these letters spell: tseh-ha-eh-emm-enn-ee-teh-tsett?

Ans: ___________________________________________________

4. Which English name do these letters spell: yot-ooh-ell-ee-ah? Ans: ___________________________________________________

5. German also uses WC to indicate a toilet, but how is it pronounced? Ans: ___________________________________________________

6. Which English surname do these letters spell: ha-ah-err-fow-eh-upsilon

Ans: ___________________________________________________

You may know much more German than you think!

German and English are close cousins in the European family of languages. There are many words where you can guess the meaning, despite slight differences in spelling and pronunciation. Try guessing the meaning of the following words:  

  Mutter Vater Bruder Schwester Onkel Kusine Sohn Tochter Mann  

A lot of people think that German is a very difficult language because the words are very long. In fact, most long words in German are compound nouns ie two or more words connected into a single word.

For example, what do you think the following words might mean?

German word Components Meaning Handschuh Hand – hand

Schuh – shoe glove

Zahnarzt Zahn – tooth Arzt – doctor

Haustier Haus – house Tier – animal

Bleistift Blei – lead Stift = pen

Blindenschrift Blind – blind Schrift – writing

Glühbirne Glüh – glowing Birne – pear

Blumenkohl Blume – flower Kohl – cabbage

Brieffreund Brief – letter Freund – friend

Eigelb Ei – egg Gelb – yellow

Kühlschrank Kühl – cool Schrank – cupboard

Erdbeben Erde – earth Beben – to shake

Federball Feder – feather Ball – ball

Fingerhut Finger – finger Hut – hat

Gänsehaut Gans – goose Haut - skin

Hexenkessel Hexe – witch Kessel – kettle

Regenschirm Regen – rain Schirm – protection

Jahrhundert Jahr – year Hundert – hundred

Kaufhaus Kaufen – to buy Haus – house

Kinderwagen Kind – child Wagen – car, vehicle

Kopfkissen Kopf – head Kissen – cushion

Klebstoff Kleben – to stick Stoff – stuff

Krankenwagen Krank – sick Wagen –car

Kugelschreiber Kugel – ball Schreiber – writer

Leseratte Lesen – to read Ratte – rat

Luftkissenboot Luft – air Kissen – cushion Boot-boat

Milchstraße Milch – milk Straße - street

Schlaflied Schlaf – sleep Lied - song

Gartenzwerg Garten – garden Zwerg - dwarf

To count in German you really only need to know 12 numbers. The rest of the numbers are often compounds of these numbers or words which look similar to them. Here are the numbers from 1 – 12:

1 = eins 2 = zwei 3 = drei 4 = vier

5 = fünf 6 = sechs 7 = sieben 8 = acht

9 = neun 10 = zehn 11 = elf 12 = zwölf

What do you think these numbers might be?

fünfzehn =

dreiunddreißig =

vierundachtzig =

sechshundert =

siebenhunderteins =

neunhundertneunundneunzig =

viertausendvier =

elftausendvierhundertsiebenundachtzig =

Here is the longest word in the German language:

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

According to the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word published in the German language, and has 79 letters.

And if all this information has failed to convince you to learn German, here are a few other bits of information worth knowing and which might keep you thinking.......

• German has the largest number of native speakers in the European Union (far more than English, Spanish, or French).

• German is among the ten most commonly spoken languages in the world. It is also rapidly becoming the lingua franca of Central and Eastern Europe.

• 68% of all Japanese students study German. What do they know that you do not?

• German is the second most commonly used scientific language in the world.

• Many of the Western world’s most important works of philosophy, literature, music, art history, theology, psychology, chemistry, physics, engineering and medicine are written in German and continue to be produced in German.

• 22 Nobel Prizes in Physics, 30 in Chemistry, and 25 in Medicine have gone to scientists from the three major German-speaking countries, while many laureates from other countries received their training in German universities. Eleven Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded to German-language writers, and seven Germans and Austrians have received the Peace Prize.

• Germans are world leaders in engineering. • 18% of the world’s books are published in German. • Germany is the world’s largest exporter. • Germany’s gross domestic product is the world’s third largest. Its

economy is bigger than that of all the Spanish-speaking countries combined.

• Germany is home to numerous international corporations. • Direct investment by Germany in the United States is over ten billion

dollars. • University fees in Germany are around €500 per semester.

Opportunities to speak German in Methody

• Form 2 ski trip: Although the ski trip goes to Italy, it goes to Sappada in the province of Belluno, which has a German speaking minority. Many of the ski instructors are more comfortable speaking German than they are English. 

 

• The German exchange takes place every 2nd year and goes to Vaterstetten, 20 minutes east of Munich. The next exchange will hopefully take place in October 2013 and is open to all pupils studying German in Forms 3 and 4.

• 2010 saw the first combined German/History/Moving Image Arts trip to Berlin for pupils in forms 5, L6 and U6. It is hoped that this trip to one of the most intriguing European cities will take place every 2 years, in the year that the German exchange does not take place.

• Methody has been very successful in the post 16 NI German debating competition and we hope to continue to be able to enter a team in this very worthwhile competition. It takes place every year and allows pupils with an interest in German AND debating to combine their interests and debate against other schools … aber auf Deutsch natürlich!

• Should you study German to A level you will have one timetabled conversation period per week with a native German speaker. Not only will this allow you to become more confident in your spoke German, but will allow you to learn more about the culture, history and civilisation of the German speaking countries.