German language

German
Deutsch
Pronunciation	[dɔʏtʃ] ⓘ
Native to	Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium, Namibia
Speakers	L1: 95 million[1] L2: 80–85 million (2014)[2]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Elbe Germanic High German German
Early forms	Old High German Middle High German Early New High German
Standard forms	Standard German (German, Swiss, Austrian)
Writing system	Since Old High German: Latin script (German alphabet) German Braille Until the mid-20th century: Hebrew alphabet[3][4][5][6][7]
Signed forms	Signed German
Official status
Official language in	6 countries Austria Belgium Germany Liechtenstein Luxembourg Switzerland 1 subdivision South Tyrol (Italy)
Recognised minority language in	9 countries Brazil (6 municipalities)[8] Czech Republic (select localities) Denmark (Syddanmark) Hungary (Sopron) Namibia Poland (Upper Silesia) Romania (select localities) Russia (Azovo German National District) Slovakia (Krahule)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	de
ISO 639-2	ger (B) deu (T)
ISO 639-3	Variously: deu – German gmh – Middle High German goh – Old High German gct – Colonia Tovar German bar – Bavarian cim – Cimbrian geh – Hutterite German ksh – Kölsch nds – Low German[note 1] sli – Lower Silesian ltz – Luxembourgish[note 2] vmf – Mainfränkisch mhn – Mòcheno pfl – Palatinate German pdc – Pennsylvania Dutch pdt – Plautdietsch[note 3] swg – Swabian German gsw – Swiss German uln – Unserdeutsch sxu – Upper Saxon wae – Walser German wep – Westphalian hrx – Riograndenser Hunsrückisch yec – Yenish yid – Yiddish
Glottolog	stan1295
Linguasphere	52-ACB–dl (Standard German) 52-AC (Continental West Germanic) 52-ACB (Deutsch & Dutch) 52-ACB-d (Central German) 52-ACB-e & -f (Upper and Swiss German) 52-ACB-h (Émigré German varieties, including 52-ACB-hc (Hutterite German) & 52-ACB-he (Pennsylvania Dutch)) 52-ACB-i (Yenish) Totalling 285 varieties: 52-ACB-daa to 52-ACB-i
Sole official language   Co-official language   National or recognized minority language   Minority language
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German (Deutsch, pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ^ⓘ)^[10] is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is also an official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol, as well as a recognized national language in Namibia. There are also notable German-speaking communities in other parts of Europe, including: France (Alsace), the Czech Republic (North Bohemia), Poland (Upper Silesia), Slovakia (Košice Region, Spiš, and Hauerland), Denmark (North Schleswig), Romania, and Hungary (Sopron). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in the Americas.

German is one of the major languages of the world, with nearly 80 million native speakers and over 130 million total speakers as of 2024.^[11] It is the most spoken native language within the European Union. German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language, after English, both as a first and as a second language. German is also widely taught as a foreign language, especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French) and in the United States (where it is the third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education and among the most studied foreign languages in higher education after Spanish and French).^[12] Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language globally.^[13] The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science^[14] and the third most widely used language on websites.^[14][15] The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world being published in German.^[16]

German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, and Scots. It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group, such as Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Modern German gradually developed from Old High German, which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during the Early Middle Ages.

German is an inflected language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs. The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share is partly derived from Latin and Greek, along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English. English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords.

German is a pluricentric language; the three standardized variants are German, Austrian, and Swiss Standard German. Standard German is sometimes called High German, which refers to its regional origin. German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments.^[17]

Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year,^[18] and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography.

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