German
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Fact corner
- Language: German
- Alternate names: Deutsch, Tedesco
- SIL-code: Ethnologue:deu
- Language family: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German
- Number of speakers: 95,392,978
- Script: Latin script
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Introduction
German Language Periods
- Old High German is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 500 to 1050 CE.
- Middle High German is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350.
- Modern German is the language spoken today.
The German language is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. German is closely related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. Around the world, German is spoken by ~100 million native speakers and also ~30 million non-native speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools and universities in Europe.
The verb
Standard German verbs inflect into:
- one of two conjugation classes, weak and strong (like English).
- three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
- two numbers: singular and plural
- three moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative
- two genera verbus: active and passive; the passive being composed and dividable into static and dynamic.
- two non-composed tenses (Present, Preterite) and four composed tenses (Perfect, Pluperfect, Future I, Future II)
Spelling Reform
The German Spelling Reform in 1999 had the following impact on the verbs:
- Many verbs formerly compound are now separate
- 'ß' is replaced by 'ss' after short vowels.
| Traditional German | Revised German |
|---|---|
| kennenlernen | kennen lernen |
| schwerfallen | schwer fallen |
| ich esse, du ißt, er/sie/es ißt | ich esse, du isst, er/sie/es isst |
| ich aß, du aßest, er/sie/es aß | ich aß, du aßest, er/sie/es aß |
Verbix German verb conjugation supports both ways of spelling the verbs.
References
- Bescherelle Allemand les verbes.
Librairie Hatier. Paris. 2008.
- Briod & Stadler. Les Verbes Allemands conjugués.
Payot. Lausanne. 1998.
- Engelien. Grammatik der neuhochdeutschen Sprache.
Verlag von Wilhelm Schultze. Berlin. 1892.
- Esterle. 8000 verbes allemands.
Hatier. Paris. 1997.
- Griesbach et al. 4000 deutsche Verben.
Max Hueber Verlag. Donauwörth. 1991.
- Helbig -- Buscha. Deutsche Grammatik.
Leipzig. 1986.