Umlauts and the Eszett: Ä, Ö, Ü, ß and When to Use ss

Four special letters set German apart: ä, ö, ü and ß. They look exotic, but their rules are simple.

The umlauts

An umlaut is a pair of dots above a vowel. They change the sound and often the meaning.

• ä sounds like the e in "bed" (or a longer "ay" sound): Mädchen, Bär.
• ö is a rounded e sound, like the French eu or the vowel in the English "bird" without the r: schön, Öl. Try saying "ay" with rounded lips.
• ü is a rounded ee sound, like French u: über, Tür. Say "ee" and round your lips.

Umlauts change meaning

Umlauts aren't decorative. They can turn one word into another:

• schon (already) / schön (beautiful)
• Mutter (mother) / Mütter (mothers)
• Bruder (brother) / Brüder (brothers)
• Ofen (oven) / Öfen (ovens)
• Ton (sound) / Töne (sounds)
• wurde (became) / würde (would)

Many plurals use umlauts: der Vater / die Väter, das Haus / die Häuser, die Tochter / die Töchter, der Apfel / die Äpfel.

Also in verb forms

Some verbs change the vowel in the du and er/sie/es forms: fahren → du fährst, er fährt; schlafen → du schläfst; laufen → du läufst.

When you can't type them

If your keyboard has no umlauts, the accepted substitute is ae, oe and ue:

• Müller → Mueller
• Köln → Koeln
• schön → schoen
• Bücher → Buecher

Never simply drop the dots (schon isn't schön). On phones, hold down the letter to see the umlaut versions.

Sorting

In dictionaries and phone books, ä, ö and ü are usually sorted as a, o and u, so Bär comes near Bar. Some traditions sort ä as ae.

The Eszett (ß)

The ß (called Eszett or scharfes S, "sharp s") represents a voiceless s sound. It exists only in lower case in traditional spelling, though a capital ẞ was officially added to the rules in 2017.

The rules for ß versus ss

After the spelling reform of 1996 (with later adjustments), the rule is straightforward:

• ß after a long vowel or a diphthong: Straße, groß, Fuß, heiß, weiß, draußen.
• ss after a short vowel: Fluss, muss, Kuss, Wasser, essen, dass (the conjunction).

Compare Maße (measures) and Masse (mass), or Buße and Busse. The spelling shows how long the vowel is.

Capital letters

In all-capital text, ß traditionally becomes SS: STRASSE. Since 2017, the capital ẞ is also allowed: STRAẞE. In practice, you'll see both.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Swiss Standard German doesn't use ß at all: Strasse, gross, Fuss. If you see ss where you expect ß, it may be Swiss spelling.

Alphabet and names

Names may keep old spellings (Weiß, Voß), so don't change a name you're given. On documents, the machine-readable line replaces umlauts and ß with AE, OE, UE and SS.

Typing tips

• Windows: use the German keyboard layout or the Alt codes.
• macOS: hold Option + u, then the letter for umlauts; Option + s for ß.
• Phones: long-press a, o, u and s.

Common mistakes

• Omitting umlauts.
• Writing ss after a long vowel.
• Using ß in Swiss contexts.

Practice

Write ten words with each of the special letters, and say them aloud. Then check spelling in a dictionary.

Look up German words with umlauts and ß using English German Dictionary →