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 glove
Schuh – shoe
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.