{"id":13820,"date":"2022-03-02T19:00:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13820"},"modified":"2022-03-02T21:25:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T21:25:29","slug":"german-punctuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-punctuation\/","title":{"rendered":"German Punctuation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re going to look at punctuation in German. This will include the names of different punctuation marks, as well as a few punctuation rules in German and how these differ to the English rules (or not).<\/p>\n

German Punctuation<\/h2>\n

Firstly, we need to know what we\u2019re dealing with; the word punctuation in German is die Interpunktion<\/strong>, or die Zeichensetzung.<\/strong> Punctuation marks are collectively known as die Satzzeichen<\/strong> (literally \u2018sentence signs\u2019). So what are the names of some common Satzzeichen<\/strong><\/em> in German?<\/p>\n

\"punctuation\"

Photo by Bekky Bekks<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Die Satzzeichen \u2013 punctuation marks<\/h3>\n

Full stop . Der Punkt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comma , Das Komma<\/strong><\/p>\n

Semi-colon ; Das Semikolon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colon : Der Doppelpunkt<\/strong> (not to be confused with the anatomical colon, der Dickdarm!)<\/p>\n

Question mark ? Das Fragezeichen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exclamation mark ! Das Ausrufezeichen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quotation marks \u201c\u201d Die Anf\u00fchrungszeichen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apostrophe \u2018 Der Apostroph<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellipsis \u2026 Die Auslassungspunkte<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hyphen \u2013 Der Viertelgeviertstrich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brackets\/parentheses () Die runde Klammern<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"punctuation\"

Photo by Emily Morter<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Use<\/h3>\n

Now let\u2019s look at a few of the above, including how they are used in German, and how this differs to English usage.<\/p>\n

Das Komma – Comma use<\/h3>\n

One way the German comma is used is to separate a main clause (der Hauptsatz<\/strong>) from a subordinate clause (der Nebensatz<\/strong>):<\/p>\n

Er hat gesagt,<\/strong> er will nicht mitkommen.
\nHe said he didn\u2019t want to come with us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Commas are also used in place of full-stops in prices; 29.95 becomes 29,95<\/strong> in German.<\/p>\n

Here is a great post from the archives on the German comma, if you\u2019d like to read more! Comma rules: How to link main clauses in German | German Language Blog\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Der \u00a0Viertelgeviertstrich \u2013 Hyphen use<\/h3>\n

The Viertelgeviertstrich<\/strong> has different names, depending on how it is used:<\/p>\n