Capitalization in German

Groß- und Kleinschreibung

The topic of German spelling reform (Rechtschreibreform) has been a hot topic of debate in recent years. Even before the current rules, issued in 1996, went into effect for schools and government entities in all the German-speaking countries in August 1998, there had been court cases and official protests. Despite a generally negative attitude from most German-speakers, the German media in Austria, Germany and Switzerland almost uniformly adopted the reforms in August 1999. With rare exceptions (FAZ in 2000), the reforms remain in effect today. The "complete implementation" of the rules went into effect on August 1, 2005.

But in all the wrangling over how German should be properly spelled there has been one prominent sacred cow: the capitalization of all nouns. German is the only language in the world that requires the capitalization of ALL nouns. There are only a few fringe groups calling for German capitalization rules similar to those in most other languages. Headquartered in Zurich, the Bund für vereinfachte rechtschreibung (note the spelling of the BVR's name, "Federation for simplified spelling") dates back to 1924. While there are a few rebels who write their German email like e.e. cummings, most German-speakers still cling to their sacred Großschreibung (capitalization). Although Kleinschreibung had its advocates, the framers of the 1996 German spelling reforms felt it was simply not politically feasible to call for the elimination of noun capitalization. As it was, they had quite enough controversy without adding Groß- und Kleinschreibung to the list.

In a way, leaving the noun-capitalization rule largely untouched was a good thing for students of German. It certainly makes it easier to spot a noun (das Substantiv, das Hauptwort) in German, something that many students find difficult to do in their own language! The rules for capitalization in German are in fact no more complicated than those for English or most other languages, but there are some differences that a student of German should be aware of. These differences can be a source of interference problems for someone learning German.

First of all, consider what must be capitalized in English but not in German: I/ich, American car/amerikanisches Auto and German wine/deutscher Wein (adjectives of nationality). Yes, it's a very short list!

Going the other way, there is only one word (besides all nouns) that German capitalizes but English does not: Sie (the formal "you" and its variations, i.e., Ihnen, Ihr). Although many German speakers continue to capitalize the informal "you" forms (du, dich, ihr, euch, etc.) in a letter or email, under the new rules, the formal Sie is the only pronoun requiring capitalization. (A logical rule, since the capitalization of Sie expresses distance and formality versus the closeness and familiarity of du.)

With the exception of German's all-noun capitalization, English capitalizes most of the same things that German does: Henry/Heinrich, First Union Bank/Deutsche Bank, Ms. Smith/Frau Schmidt (proper names, titles); Friday/Freitag, Juni/June (days of the week and months; many other languages don't, including French, Spanish and Italian), and the first letter in a sentence.

German capitalization rules only become a bit tricky (even for Germans) when it comes to details like am besten (superlative) versus zum Besten (superlative phrase) and some changes resulting from spelling reform (heute Morgen, Rad fahren, auf Deutsch, etc.). Here is a closer look at the most important differences:

1. SUBSTANTIVE (Nouns)

All German nouns are capitalized. This simple rule was made even more consistent by the new spelling reforms. Whereas under the old rules there were exceptions in many common noun phrases and some verbs (radfahren, recht haben, heute abend), the 1996 reforms now require the nouns in such expressions to be capitalized (and set apart): Rad fahren (to ride a bike), Recht haben (to be right), heute Abend (this evening). Another example is a common phrase for languages, previously written without caps (auf englisch, in English) and now written with a capital letter: auf Englisch. The new rules make it easy. If it's a noun, capitalize it!

The reformers of German spelling have been criticized for a lack of consistency, and unfortunately nouns are no exception. Some nouns in phrases with the verbs bleiben, sein and werden are treated as uncapitalized predicate adjectives. Two examples: "Er ist schuld daran." (It's his fault.) and "Bin ich hier recht?" (Am I in the right place?). Technically, die Schuld (guilt, debt) and das Recht (law, right) are nouns (schuldig/richtig would be the adjectives), but in these idiomatic expressions with sein the noun is considered a predicate adjective and is not capitalized. The same is true of some stock phrases, such as "sie denkt deutsch." (She thinks [like a] German.) But it's "auf gut Deutsch" (in plain German) because that is a prepositional phrase. However, such cases are usually standard phrases that one can just learn as vocabulary.

2. PRONOMEN (Pronouns)

Only the German personal pronoun "Sie" must be capitalized. Spelling reform logically left the formal Sie and its related forms (Ihnen, Ihr) capitalized, but called for the informal, familiar forms of "you" (du, dich, ihr, euch, etc.) to be in lower case letters. Out of habit or preference, many German speakers still capitalize du in their letters and email. But they don't have to. In public proclamations or fliers, the familiar plural forms of "you" (ihr, euch) are often capitalized: "Wir bitten Euch, liebe Mitglieder..." ("We bid you, dear members...").

Like most other languages, German does not capitalize the first-person-singular pronoun ich (I) unless it is the first word in a sentence.

3. ADJEKTIVE 1 (Adjectives 1)

German adjectives — including those of nationality — are NOT capitalized. In English, it is correct to write "the American writer" or "a German car." In German, adjectives are not capitalized, even if they refer to nationality: der amerikanische Präsident (the American president), ein deutsches Bier (a German beer). The only exception to this rule is when an adjective is part of a species name, a legal, geographic or historical term; an official title, certain holidays, or common expression: der Zweite Weltkrieg (the Second World War), der Nahe Osten (the Middle East), die Schwarze Witwe (the black widow [spider]), Regierender Bürgermeister ("ruling" mayor), der Weiße Hai (the great white shark), der Heilige Abend (Christmas Eve).

Even in book, film or organizational titles, adjectives are usually not capitalized: Die amerikanische Herausforderung (The American Challenge), Die weiße Rose (The White Rose), Amt für öffentlichen Verkehr (Office of Public Transportation). In fact, for book and movie titles in German, only the first word and any nouns are capitalized. (See the article on German Punctuation for more about book and film titles in German.)

Farben (colors) in German can be either nouns or adjectives. In certain prepositional phrases they are nouns: in Rot (in red), bei Grün (at green, i.e., when the light turns green). In most other situations, colors are adjectives: "das rote Haus," "Das Auto ist blau."

4. ADJEKTIVE 2 (Adjectives 2)
Substantivierte Adjektive & Zahlen
Nominalized Adjectives & Numbers

Nominalized adjectives are usually capitalized like nouns. Again, spelling reform brought more order to this category. Under the former rules, you wrote phrases like "Die nächste, bitte!" ("[The] Next, please!") without caps. The new rules logically changed that to "Die Nächste, bitte!" — reflecting the use of the adjective nächste as a noun (short for "die nächste Person"). The same is true for these expressions: im Allgemeinen (in general), nicht im Geringsten (not in the slightest), ins Reine schreiben (to make a neat copy, write a final draft), im Voraus (in advance).

Nominalized cardinal and ordinal numbers are capitalized.
Ordnungszahlen and cardinal numbers (Kardinalzahlen) used as nouns are capitalized: "der Erste und der Letzte" (the first and last one), "jeder Dritte" (every third one). "In Mathe bekam er eine Fünf." (He got a five [D grade] in math.)

Superlatives with am are still not capitalized: am besten, am schnellsten, am meisten. The same is true for forms of ander (other), viel(e) (much, many) and wenig: "mit anderen teilen" (to share with others), "Es gibt viele, die das nicht können." (There are many who can't do that.)