The German language

The German language (German: or ) is one of the West Germanic languages, which in turn are a branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spread in Central Europe and is an official language of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, the Principality of Liechtenstein, one of the four national languages of Switzerland, one of the three official languages of Luxembourg, and one of the three official languages of Belgium (the German-speaking community), as well as a formal language in the South Tyrolean region in Italy, and an officially recognized minority language in the Danish province of Southern Jutland.

Other West Germanic languages such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Frisian, Low German/Saxon, Yiddish, and Luxembourgish are more similar to German. It is also noted that there is a significant similarity in vocabulary between German and the North Germanic languages of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

German is one of the largest languages in the world, with over 100 million native speakers worldwide, making it the most widely spoken language in the European Union. In the European Union, German ranks second as the most common foreign language after English, making it the second-largest language in the EU by the total number of native speakers and those who have learned it. German is also the second-most taught foreign language in primary education in the EU after English, but third in secondary education after English and French.

In the United States, German is the fourth most commonly taught language (after Spanish, French, and American Sign Language) and is considered one of the most important languages for science, being the second most used language in academic publications and research, and the second most used language on the web after English. The countries where German is spoken rank fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with 10% of all books published worldwide (including e-books) being in German.

German is an inflected language with four grammatical cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and a distinction between singular and plural. Verbs are divided into strong and weak verbs.

The majority of German vocabulary is derived from the Proto-Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, with some words borrowed from Latin and Greek. There are also fewer loanwords from French and Modern English.

Geographical distribution

Europe
German is primarily used in Germany (the first language for over 95% of the population), Austria (89%), and Switzerland (65%). The majority of the population in Liechtenstein speaks German.

German is found in northern Italy (in the provinces of Bolzano and others) and in the eastern provinces of Belgium, as well as in the French region of Alsace and some border villages in the former Danish province of Southern Jutland (written as Nordschleswig in German and Sønderjylland in Danish).