How to Say German in German? A Quick Guide on Deutsch, Deutsche, Deutscher and more.

Some countries use names for their people and language which are similar to their counterparts in English. For example, français for French, italiano for Italian, or español for Spanish. What about Germany? No such luck.

In today’s article, you will learn all about how to translate German into German. You might have already looked it up in a dictionary. Is it deutch or Deutsch? Or even Deutche or Deutscher? Don’t worry we have covered all the tricky parts!

 

Learning words by frequency is the fastest way to fluency. Our revolutionary German Frequency Dictionaries are a must if you want to learn German fast and effectively. We have carefully selected 10,000 most common words in German and translated them into English. Each entry also has a pronunciation transcription and basic grammar information. Moreover, you will get 10,000 example sentences to show you word usage in context.

How to Say German in German

Let’s start easy. German in English can be

 

1. The language of Germany, Austria, and part of Switzerland
2. A person from Germany
3. An adjective describing anything of German origin.

 

How to Translate German (Language) into German

Germans call their own language (das) Deutsch or (das) Deutsche. The difference between them can be tricky. (Das) Deutsche refers to the language itself in general.

As in

 

• Das Deutsche ist eine indoeuropäische Sprache. – German is an Indo-European language.
• Etwas aus dem Deutschen ins Französische übersetzen – to translate something from German into French

 

(Das) Deutsch is used when you talk about an individual or a group and their knowledge of the language.

As in

 

• Ihr Deutsch ist beeindruckend. – Your German is impressive.
• Er spricht recht gutes Deutsch. – He speaks German very well.

 

They are pronounced [dɔʏ̯tʃ] or [dɔʏ̯tʃe] in the IPA transcription. Listen to the pronunciation.

How to Translate “In German”

All language students often find themselves asking “How do you say something in the respective language?” In German, you would say Wie sagt man es auf Deutsch? (Please note that man is used when the person carrying out the action is not important. You can translate it as one, you, we, and suchlike.)

Remember that the preposition in this case is auf. It can be followed by other languages as well. Wie heißt dieses Wort auf Englisch. – What is the word for it in English?

 

If you talk about speaking the language, you don’t need an article. Ich spreche Deutsch. – I speak German. If you add an adjective, you can use an indefinite article or no article.

 

• Er spricht gut Französisch. – He speaks French well. (Gut is an adverb in this case. It modifies the verb.)
• Er spricht gutes Französisch. – He has a good command of French. (Gut is an adjective here modifying the noun.)
• Wie ist es dazu gekommen, dass du so ein gutes Französisch sprichst? – How come you speak such good French?

 

How Do Germans Call Themselves?

They call themselves Deutsche (people living in Deutschland). This is the plural form. For a male, you would use der Deutsche or ein Deutcher. When talking about a female, you would say die Deutsche or eine Deutsche.

Don’t say Bist du Deutsch? if you want to know if the person is from Germany. The correct form is Bist du Deutscher? Or Bist du Deutsche?

An example of the plural form is Viele Deutsche sagen das in diesen Zeiten. – A lot of Germans say that these days.

Deutsch As an Adjective

We have mentioned at the beginning of our article, that German can also be a simple adjective describing anything of German origin. It is not capitalized in this case!

 

• Berlin ist eine wunderschöne deutsche Stadt. – Berlin is a beautiful German city.
• Ich habe ein deutsches Auto. – I have a German car.
• Viele Studenten haben Probleme mit der deutschen Grammatik. – A lot of students have problems with German grammar.

 

How to Say Germany in German

The simplest translation of Germany into German is (das) Deutschland. It is pronounced [ˈdɔytʃlant]. It is mostly used without an article as in Ihre Produktion wird vorwiegend nach Deutschland exportiert. – Most of their production is exported to Germany.

The official name is Bundesrepublik Deutschland or “Federal Republic of Germany” in English. Its unofficial abbreviation is BRD. It was mostly used when referring to so-called West Germany before 1990. Its East German counterpart was called Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) or the German Democratic Republic.

Nowadays, you don’t have to worry about the abbreviations. Just stick to the simple Deutschland.

 

How to Say German in German – A Quick Summary

Let’s take a look at a quick overview of the most important information in this article.

 

1. The name of the language itself is (das) Deutsch(e). Use Deutsche when referring to the language in general and Deutsch when talking about someone speaking the language.
2. “In German” is translated as “auf Deutsch.”
3. People from Germany are called Deutsche (or die Deutschen) in the plural. The male form is (ein) Deutscher (or der Deutsche). The female form is (eine) Deutsche or (die) Deutsche.
4. Deutsch can be an adjective, and it is not capitalized in this case (e.g. Ich mag deutsche Autos. – I like German cars.)
5. If you talk about the country, use Deutschland.

 

Don't forget to take a look at our unique German Frequency Dictionary series. In four books, you will find 10,000 most common words in German listed by frequency and alphabet. It will help you expand your vocabulary and feel for the language fast. 10,000 example sentences translated into English are a fantastic reading practice as well!

German Names for Other Countries

Having discussed how Germans call their own language, people, and country, let’s take a look at a quick overview of how they call other countries, their people, and languages.

 

• France – (das) Frankreich (language – das Französisch(e), people – der Franzose, die Französin)
• Great Britain – (das) Großbritannien (language – das Englisch(e), people – der Engländer, die Engländerin)
• Spain – (das) Spanien (language – das Spanisch(e), people – der Spanier, die Spanierin)
• Italy – (das) Italien (language – das Italienisch(e), people – der Italiener, die Italienerin)
• Austria – (das) Österreich (people – der Österreicher, die Österreicherin)
• Switzerland – (die) Schweiz, (people – der Schweizer, die Schweizerin)
• USA – (die) Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika (people – Der Amerikaner, die Amerikanerin)

 

Here you can find a comprehensive list of the names of all countries in English and German.

Below are several example sentences to practice the new vocabulary in context.

 

1. Ich übersetzte den Text in Französische. – I translated the text into French.
2. Viele Deutsche fahren in den Ferien nach Spanien. – A lot of Germans go on holiday to Spain.
3. In Österreich spricht man Deutsch. – They speak German in Austria.
4. Welche Sprache wird in der Schweiz gesprochen? – What language do they speak in Switzerland. (Please note that you must use a definite article when you talk about countries, such as die Schweiz, die Ukraine, die Türkei, die Niederlande, or der Iran).

 

We hope you have found our article on how to say German in German helpful. If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments below. We will be more than happy to answer!