German/Alphabet

The German Alphabet is based on Latin letters and has 26 letters.

The alphabet

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

Other Letters

Umlaute

German has also three Umlaute:

	Majuscule forms	Minuscule forms
1	Ä	ä
2	Ö	ö
3	Ü	ü

They are not part of the alphabet. If you cannot write them, it is also possible to write AE/ae, OE/oe and UE/ue. In dictionaries they are often treated like A, O and U, for example Österreich -> between OS and OT.

Sharp S - ß

In German: scharfes S or Eszett
This letter is used in many German-speaking countries, but not in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is an unvoiced s, some people say it sounds like sz.
If you cannot write an ß, you can also write ss, but be aware that there is sometimes a risk of confusion, because this may change the meaning of the word.
In dictionaries it is treated like ss or s.