Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

ss is written after a short vowel, e.g. Fluss [flus] ‘river’, Flüsse [flüse] ‘rivers’,

Misserfolg [miserfolk] ‘failure’

ß is written after a long vowel and after the diphthongs [au], [oi] and [ai], e.g. Fuß

[fu:s] ‘foot’, Füße [fü:se] ‘feet’, außer [au:ser] ‘outside, except for’, äußerlich

[oi:serlich] ‘external’, heiß [hai:s] ‘hot’, dreißig [drai:sig] ‘thirty’ (see 2 )

These spelling conventions are observed when words combine to form complex words

(see 52.1). Thus: Hass [has] ‘hatred’, hasserfüllt [haserfült] ‘full of hatred’, hässlich

[heslich] ‘ugly’; but Maß [ma:s] ‘measure’, maßgebend [ma:sge:bend] ‘standard,

authoritative’, mäßigen [me:sigen] ‘to moderate, reduce’.

Note that umlauted vowels can be pronounced long or short: lässig [lesig] ‘casual,

nonchalant’, but mäßig [me:sig] ‘moderate’ (adj.) (see 1.5).

Note that ß is not used in Switzerland, and is rarely used when writing capitals.

59.4 One word or two?

Sometimes whether one writes one word or two depends on a difference in meaning:

so lange

for such a long time

solange

as long as (conjunction: see 8.3)

so bald

so soon

sobald

as soon as (conjunction: see 8.3)

wo möglich

if possible

womöglich

perhaps/possibly

wie weit

how far (away)

wieweit

to what extent

59.5 Use of commas, colons and apostrophes

(a) The main use of the comma in German is to mark clause boundaries. It is used to

separate a main clause from a subordinate clause (see 5 and 8 ):

Dass sie so gut singt, hat mich überrascht.

That she can sing so well surprised me.

Ich glaube nicht, dass sie kommt.

I don’t think that she’ll come.

A comma separates items in a list, except for the last two:

Ich habe Rindfleisch, Kartoffeln, Gemüse und Rotwein gekauft.

I bought beef, potatoes, vegetables and red wine.

59

Spelling and punctuation