{"id":12857,"date":"2021-04-14T23:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12857"},"modified":"2021-04-14T12:20:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T12:20:46","slug":"how-the-umlaut-changes-german-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/how-the-umlaut-changes-german-words\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Umlaut Changes German Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at the Umlaut<\/strong> \u2013 specifically, German words whose meanings change depending on whether an Umlaut is present in the word, or not! Hopefully this will help you to recognise and avoid some common errors when it comes to using the Umlaut.<\/p>\n

Firstly, what is the Umlaut?<\/strong> If you\u2019re not familiar with the German Umlaut yet, I would advise that you read this post<\/a> first. Once you\u2019ve done that, come back to this post and read on!<\/p>\n

\"Umlaut\"

Photo by Annika Gordon<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The Umlaut in Plurals<\/h3>\n

There are many words in German that take an Umlaut in the plural<\/strong>, but not in the singular. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

die Mutter (mother) \/ die M\u00fctter (mothers)
\nder Apfel (apple) \/ die \u00c4pfel (apples)
\nder Vogel (bird) \/ die V\u00f6gel (birds)
\nder Wurm (worm) \/ die W\u00fcrmer (worms)
\ndas Haus (house) \/ die H\u00e4user (houses)
\nder Baum (tree) \/ die B\u00e4ume (trees)
\nder Gast (guest) \/ die G\u00e4ste (guests)<\/p>\n

In each of these cases, the words retain the same meaning,<\/strong> only one is plural and the other is singular.<\/p>\n

Same or similar spelling, but different meanings!<\/h3>\n

However, there are some words in German that are spelt the same, or very similarly, except one has an Umlaut and the other doesn\u2019t. In the case of these words, the word meanings themselves are also different<\/strong><\/em>– which is where things can become confusing! Here are some examples of such words:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

schw\u00fcl<\/strong> (humid)
\nschwul<\/strong> (gay)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

der Mohr<\/strong> (moor)
\ndie M\u00f6hre<\/strong> (carrot)
\nSee this post about the controversial Mohrenstra\u00dfe in Berlin, and how activists have been putting an Umlaut over the O in the street name to change it to \u2018Carrot Street\u2019.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Umlaut\"

der Kuchen – cake. Photo by Jacob Thomas<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

der Kuchen<\/strong> (cake)
\ndie K\u00fcchen<\/strong> (kitchens; plural of die K\u00fcche- the kitchen)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

schon<\/strong> (already)
\nsch\u00f6n<\/strong> (beautiful)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

nah<\/strong> (near)
\nn\u00e4hen<\/strong> (to sew)
\nThese words become more similar when the verb n\u00e4hen<\/strong> is shortened to n\u00e4h<\/strong>, for example in the word die N\u00e4hmaschine<\/strong> \u2013 the sewing machine.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

die Schranke<\/strong> (barrier)
\ndie Schr\u00e4nke<\/strong> (cabinets; plural of der Schrank- the cabinet)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Umlaut\"

die Schr\u00e4nke – cabinets. Photo by Francesca Tosolini<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Several verb conjugations<\/strong> also vary in meaning depending on whether an Umlaut is present or not. The Umlaut is commonly used in the conditional tense (‘I would like’, ‘I could have’ etc.). Some examples are:<\/p>\n

haben \u2013 to have<\/strong><\/p>\n

ich hatte: I had (past tense)
\nich h\u00e4tte: I would have (conditional tense)<\/p>\n

k\u00f6nnen \u2013 to be able to\/can<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich konnte: I could (past tense)
\nIch k\u00f6nnte: I could (conditional tense)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope this has been useful. Let me know in the comment box if there are any more words you can think of that fall into this category, so that other learners can see them, too. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Bis bald! (See you soon!)
\nConstanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Umlaut\"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at the Umlaut \u2013 specifically, German words whose meanings change depending on whether an Umlaut is present in the word, or not! Hopefully this will help you to recognise and avoid some common errors when it comes to using the Umlaut. Firstly, what is the Umlaut? If you\u2019re not familiar…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":12859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8244,238339,12133,95131,376023,980,12457,1401],"class_list":["post-12857","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-alphabet","tag-different-meanings","tag-german-grammar","tag-german-language","tag-language","tag-same-words","tag-umlaut","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t