German has one spelling habit no other major language keeps, and one letter no other language has. Neither is difficult, and both are noticed instantly when they go wrong — a lowercase noun reads the way a missing apostrophe reads in English.
Every noun gets a capital
Not just names, and not just at the start of a sentence — every noun, everywhere. Der Hund, das Haus, die Freiheit, mitten im Satz.
Der Hund läuft durch den Garten zum Haus.
The dog runs through the garden to the house.
three nouns, three capitals
Das Lesen macht mir Freude.
Reading gives me pleasure.
a verb used as a noun is capitalised too
Ich wünsche Ihnen alles Gute.
I wish you all the best.
Ihnen — the formal you is capitalised; du and ihr are not
- Capitalised: all nouns, and anything used as one — das Essen, das Schöne, beim Lesen.
- Capitalised: the formal Sie, Ihnen, Ihr. Since the 1996 reform, du and ihr are lowercase even in letters.
- Capitalised: languages and nationalities as nouns — Ich lerne Deutsch.
- NOT capitalised: adjectives, even from country names — ein deutsches Auto, das englische Wort.
- NOT capitalised: verbs, pronouns, and every other part of speech.
ss or ß — listen to the vowel
There is one rule and it is entirely reliable: a short vowel takes ss, a long vowel or a diphthong takes ß. Say the word out loud and the answer is in the sound, not the spelling.
| Vowel | Take | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| short | ss | der Fluss, muss, dass, essen, der Kuss |
| long | ß | die Straße, der Fuß, groß, das Maß |
| diphthong (ei, au…) | ß | heiß, weiß, außen |
The clearest proof of the rule is a pair that differs only in vowel length: “in Maßen” means in moderation, with a long a; “in Massen” means in huge quantities, with a short one. Same consonants in speech, opposite meanings, and only the vowel — recorded in the spelling — tells them apart.
- ß never starts a word, and it never appears after a short vowel.
- Writing in capitals, ß traditionally becomes SS: STRASSE. A capital ẞ now exists but is rarely used.
- Switzerland does not use ß at all and writes ss everywhere. Not an error there — just a different standard.
- The 1996 reform changed muß to muss and daß to dass, because both vowels are short. Older books still show the old spellings.
Common mistakes
✗der hund läuft durch den garten
✓Der Hund läuft durch den Garten
Every noun takes a capital, not only the first word. This is the single most visible marker of non-native German writing.
✗Ich gehe nach Hause und Esse.
✓Ich gehe nach Hause und esse.
Overcorrection. essen here is a verb, so it stays lowercase — only nouns and nominalised forms are capitalised.
✗Ich muß gehen.
✓Ich muss gehen.
The u in muss is short, so it takes ss. muß was correct before the 1996 reform and is now simply out of date.
✗die Strasse
✓die Straße
Long a, so ß. Correct in Switzerland, wrong in Germany and Austria.
✗Ich weiss, das er kommt.
✓Ich weiß, dass er kommt.
Two errors that travel together: weiß has a diphthong so takes ß, and dass with a short a is the conjunction — das is the article or relative pronoun.
✗Wie geht es Dir?
✓Wie geht es dir?
du and its forms are lowercase since 1996, even in a letter. Only the formal Sie and Ihnen keep their capital.