{"id":7966,"date":"2016-11-30T00:45:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T00:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=7966"},"modified":"2021-02-22T08:00:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T08:00:56","slug":"how-to-use-the-umlaut-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/how-to-use-the-umlaut-right\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use The Umlaut RIGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Umlaut\u00a0<\/em>is \u00a0used a lot in German. The\u00a0a<\/em>,\u00a0o<\/em>, and\u00a0u\u00a0<\/em>become\u00a0\u00e4<\/em>,\u00a0\u00f6<\/em>, and\u00a0\u00fc<\/em>. They sound different, and give words a different meaning. When do you use it though? And how? How do you pronounce them? Any exceptions? You read it all here!<\/p>\n

Why Umlaut?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Umlaut\"<\/a>

Image public domain, from Commons.wikimedia.org<\/p><\/div>\n

First of all to avoid confusion: In German,\u00a0Umlaut\u00a0<\/em>has two meanings: it refers to the letters\u00a0\u00e4<\/em>,\u00a0\u00f6<\/em>, and\u00a0\u00fc<\/em>. It also refers to vowel mutation.\u00a0<\/i>In short, vowel mutation refers to the process of a vowel changing the way it sounds through the history of a language. This is why the letters are also called Umlautbuchstaben\u00a0<\/em>(Umlaut letters) sometimes. In this article, whenever I mention the\u00a0Umlaut<\/em>, I mean the three letters with two dots on top!<\/p>\n

So why are these letters there? The way that the\u00a0a<\/em>,\u00a0o\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0u\u00a0<\/em>were pronounced in some cases changed at the end of the Middle Ages. In the 16th century, a solution was found to write such different sounds down, instead of just having a u\u00a0<\/em>that can mean\u00a0u<\/em> and\u00a0\u00fc\u00a0<\/em>at the same time. The way to write it: by putting a little\u00a0e\u00a0<\/em>above the letter. As you can see in the handwriting from 1806 above. In the word\u00a0K\u00f6nig <\/em>(king), the\u00a0\u00f6\u00a0<\/em>is written as an\u00a0o\u00a0<\/em>with\u00a0small\u00a0e\u00a0<\/em>on top. This later morphed into the two dots on top of the letter.<\/p>\n

In some writings, the Punkte\u00a0<\/em>(dots) are\u00a0Schr\u00e4gstriche<\/em>\u00a0(slashes). The meaning is exactly the same! These three, together with the\u00a0\u00df\u00a0<\/em>are the only\u00a0Sonderzeichen\u00a0<\/em>(special\u00a0<\/em>characters) in German. So no worries!<\/p>\n

A, B, C, D, E, F…<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"

The German Alphabet in writing. This is a version from the DDR (GDR) of 1958. As you can see, the Umlauts are at the end of the alphabet. (Image by Perhelion at Commons.wikimedia.org, public domain)<\/p><\/div>\n

We all know he alphabet and how it goes. But where do we put the\u00a0Umlautbuchstaben<\/em>? In most cases, they go at the end, so after\u00a0z<\/em> in the order\u00a0\u00e4<\/em>,\u00a0\u00f6<\/em>,\u00a0\u00fc<\/em>. Pretty straightforward.<\/p>\n

ae, oe, ue – <\/strong><\/em>good alternatives?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In some situations, you will see the combinations\u00a0ae<\/em>,\u00a0oe<\/em>, and\u00a0ue<\/em>. Such combinations are necessary, because just writing the Umlaut\u00a0<\/em>without the dots\u00a0is no option, as\u00a0Sandra pointed out \u00a0in this post<\/a> in 2013. These combinations are used mostly if the\u00a0Umlautbuchstaben\u00a0<\/em>are not accepted, which is the case for some digital applications, such as website URLs. For example, the URL for the website B\u00fccher.de\u00a0<\/em>is\u00a0buecher<\/em>.de.<\/em><\/p>\n

These combinations are also useful if you do not have the Umlautbuchstaben <\/em>on your keyboard. The standard US layout misses them, for example.<\/p>\n

Still, using the combinations also creates problems:<\/p>\n