Das deutsche Alphabet

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

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.

, , 3 vowels have umlauts 2 dots above the letter - , , .

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. Mller rice could just as easily be
marketed as Mueller rice. The omission of the umlaut can
have disastrous results, however. Dsseldorf, which is the
capital of the region North Rhine Westfalia means the
village on the River Dssel, 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 Motrhead while eating
Hagen 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

= ess tset

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

Wunderbar!

Das ist nett!

Now test yourselfor 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=

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
Glhbirne
Blumenkohl
Brieffreund
Eigelb
Khlschrank
Erdbeben
Federball
Fingerhut
Gnsehaut
Hexenkessel
Regenschirm
Jahrhundert
Kaufhaus
Kinderwagen
Kopfkissen
Klebstoff
Krankenwagen
Kugelschreiber

Leseratte

Blind blind
Schrift writing
Glh glowing
Birne pear
Blume flower
Kohl cabbage
Brief letter
Freund friend
Ei egg
Gelb yellow
Khl 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

Milchstrae
Schlaflied
Gartenzwerg

Luft air
Kissen cushion
Boot-boat
Milch milk
Strae - 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 = fnf

6 = sechs

7 = sieben

8 = acht

9 = neun

10 = zehn

11 = elf

12 = zwlf

What do you think these numbers might be?

fnfzehn

dreiunddreiig

vierundachtzig

sechshundert

siebenhunderteins

neunhundertneunundneunzig

viertausendvier

elftausendvierhundertsiebenundachtzig

Here is the longest word in the German language:

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizittenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

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 worlds 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 worlds books are published in German.
Germany is the worlds largest exporter.
Germanys gross domestic product is the worlds 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 natrlich!

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.