German language

German
Deutsch, Deutsche Sprache
Pronunciation	[ˈdɔʏtʃ]
Native to	Primarily in German-speaking Europe, as a minority language and amongst the German diaspora worldwide
Native speakers	Standard German: 90–100 million  (2005–2010) all German: 120 million (1990–2005) L2 speakers: 80 million (2006)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German German
Early forms:	Old High German Middle High German Early New High German German
Writing system	Latin (German alphabet) German Braille
Official status
Official language in	European Union (official and working language) Germany Austria Switzerland South Tyrol (Italy) Liechtenstein Luxembourg Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium)
Recognised minority language in	Czech Republic Denmark Hungary Kazakhstan Italy (Trentino) Namibia (National language; official language 1984–90) Poland (Auxiliary language) Romania Russia Slovakia (Official municipal language of Krahule/Blaufuß) Brazil (Co-official municipal language in Pomerode and other municipalities) Vatican City (Administrative and commanding language of the Swiss Guard) Venezuela ( Colonia Tovar)
Regulated by	No official regulation (German orthography regulated by the Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung)).
Language codes
ISO 639-1	de
ISO 639-2	ger (B) deu (T)
ISO 639-3	Variously: deu – New High German gmh – Middle High German goh – Old High German gct – Alemán Coloniero bar – Austro-Bavarian cim – Cimbrian geh – Hutterite German ksh – Kölsch nds – Low German sli – Lower Silesian ltz – Luxembourgish vmf – Main-Franconian mhn – Mócheno pfl – Palatinate German pdc – Pennsylvania German pdt – Plautdietsch swg – Swabian German gsw – Swiss German uln – Unserdeutsch sxu – Upper Saxon wae – Walser German wep – Westphalian
Linguasphere	52-AC (Continental West Germanic) > 52-ACB (Deutsch & Dutch) > 52-ACB-d (Central German incl. 52-ACB–dl & -dm Standard/Generalised High German) + 52-ACB-e & -f (Upper German & Swiss German) + 52-ACB-g (Yiddish) + 52-ACB-h (émigré German varieties incl. 52-ACB-hc Hutterite German & 52-ACB-he Pennsylvania German etc.) + 52-ACB-i (Yenish); totalling 285 varieties: 52-ACB-daa to 52-ACB-i

The German language (German: Deutsch or (die) deutsche Sprache) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family.

It is spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg; natively by around 100 million people. It is the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. There are some people who speak German in Belgium and in the Netherlands, as well as in France and Northern Italy. There are people who speak German in many countries, including the United States and Canada, where many people emigrated from Germany. In East Europe, too, in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, etc.

German is a part of the West Germanic language family (a group of languages that are similar) and is much like English and Dutch. A lot of the vocabulary in German is related to English, but the grammar is more complicated. German has a system of cases, and when helping verbs are used, the main part of the verb must be moved to the end of the sentence. For example, "Someone has stolen my car" is Jemand hat mein Auto gestohlen (Someone has my car stolen) or, "Someone called me last night" is Jemand hat mich letzte Nacht angerufen (Someone has me last night called).

Dialects

• Alsatian
• Bavarian dialect
• Franconian Dialect
• Kölsch
• Mannheimerisch dialect
• Palatinate German

Examples

Some German words with English translations

null	zero, nil
eins	one
zwei	two
drei	three
vier	four
fünf	five
sechs	six
sieben	seven
acht	eight
neun	nine
zehn	ten
elf	eleven
zwölf	twelve
dreizehn	thirteen
vierzehn	fourteen
fünfzehn	fifteen
sechzehn	sixteen
siebzehn	seventeen
achtzehn	eighteen
neunzehn	nineteen
zwanzig	twenty
ja	yes
nein	no
ich	I
du	you (friendly)
er	he
sie	she
es	it
wir	we
ihr	you (plural, friendly)
Sie	you (polite)
sie	they
Schweiz	Switzerland
Österreich	Austria
Deutschland	Germany
wer	who
wie	how
wo	where
was	what
der	the (masculine)
die	the (feminine)
das	the (neuter (neutral))

Basic German expressions

Guten Morgen	Good morning
Guten Abend	Good evening
Guten Tag	"Hello" (meaning 'Good day', used between morning and evening)
Gute Nacht	Good night
Wie geht es dir/Ihnen/euch?	How are you?
Mir geht's gut, danke!	I'm fine, thank you!
bitte	please (can also mean "you are welcome" in response to some form of danke, but not literally)
danke	Thank you
Auf Wiedersehen	Goodbye
Ich heiße ...	My name is ...
Wie heißt du/Wie heißen Sie	What's your name?
Entschuldigung/Entschuldigen Sie	Excuse me
Woher kommst du?/Woher kommen Sie?	Where are you from?
Ich komme aus Deutschland/Österreich	I'm from Germany/Austria
Wo wohnst du?/Wo wohnen Sie?	Where do you live?
Was ist los?	What is wrong?
Ich wohne in Hamburg, in der Marienstraße im Norden Hamburgs.	I'm living in Hamburg, in the Marienstraße (Mary's street) in the north of Hamburg.
Hast du Lust auf Pizza? Ich mache gerade eine.	Do you want to have a pizza? I'm preparing one.
Entschuldigen Sie. Wo ist der Bahnhof?	Excuse me. Where is the train station?
Wie viel kostet dieser Pullover?	How much is this pullover (sweater)?
Wie viel kostet diese Jeans?	How much are these jeans?
Fräulein (generally obsolete German)	Miss
Frau	Mrs.
Herr	Mr.

Other websites

• Online German Language Course An online German language course that includes lessons covering pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
• German phrasebook at Wikivoyage
• Learn to Speak German Student Resource
• Free German Language Course
• German Thesaurus