German language

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Places where German is spoken.
Places where German is spoken.
This language has its own Wikipedia Project.


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

People speak it in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. There are minorities in Belgium and in the Netherlands, as well as in France and Northern Italy. There are minority (small groups) speakers in many countries, including the United States and Canada, where many migrants emigrated from Germany.

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, although English has a much larger vocabulary, 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.

Contents

[edit] Dialects

[edit] Examples

[edit] 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
ja yes
nein no
ich I
du you
er he
sie she
es it
wir we
ihr you (plural)
sie they
Deutschland Germany
wer who
wie how
was what
der the (masculine)
die the (feminine)
das the (neuter)

[edit] 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? How are you?
Mir geht's gut, danke! I´m fine, thank you!
bitte please (can also mean "you are welcome" in reponse 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 Excuse me
Woher kommst du?/ Woher kommen Sie? Where are you from?
Ich komme aus Deutschland I´m from Germany
Wo wohnst du?/ Wo wohnen Sie? Where do you live?
Ich wohne in Hamburg. In der Marienstraße im Norden Hamburgs. I´m living in Hamburg. In the Marienstreet 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 kosten diese Jeans? How much are these jeans?
Fräulein Miss
Frau Mrs.
Herr Mr.