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
hah
eff
koo
tset
bay
yot
enn
oopsillon
pay oh
ah
vay
tay
gay
air
emm
ooh
ell
tsay
ay
ess tset
ess
ee
ix
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-eeteh-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-ehupsilon
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
Zahn – tooth
Arzt – doctor
Haus – house
Tier – animal
Blei – lead
Stift = pen
glove
Zahnarzt
Haustier
Bleistift
Blindenschrift
Glühbirne
Blumenkohl
Brieffreund
Eigelb
Kühlschrank
Erdbeben
Federball
Fingerhut
Gänsehaut
Hexenkessel
Regenschirm
Jahrhundert
Kaufhaus
Kinderwagen
Kopfkissen
Klebstoff
Krankenwagen
Kugelschreiber
Leseratte
Blind – blind
Schrift – writing
Glüh – glowing
Birne – pear
Blume – flower
Kohl – cabbage
Brief – letter
Freund – friend
Ei – egg
Gelb – yellow
Kühl – cool
Schrank – cupboard
Erde – earth
Beben – to shake
Feder – feather
Ball – ball
Finger – finger
Hut – hat
Gans – goose
Haut - skin
Hexe – witch
Kessel – kettle
Regen – rain
Schirm – protection
Jahr – year
Hundert – hundred
Kaufen – to buy
Haus – house
Kind – child
Wagen – car, vehicle
Kopf – head
Kissen – cushion
Kleben – to stick
Stoff – stuff
Krank – sick
Wagen –car
Kugel – ball
Schreiber – writer
Lesen – to read
Ratte – rat
Luftkissenboot
Milchstraße
Schlaflied
Gartenzwerg
Luft – air
Kissen – cushion
Boot-boat
Milch – milk
Straße - street
Schlaf – sleep
Lied - song
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.......
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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.
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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!
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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.