NUMBERS

The hand-written number 1 has a long first upward and to the right stroke and then a downward stroke. The number 7 is crossed. The other numbers are written similarly to those that you already know. Take care not to confuse the 1 and 7. Look for the crossed 7. If you do not cross your 7, then a German may read it as a 1. The modified 1 & 7 prevent confusion between the number 1 and the letters I(i) or l(L).

The use of commas and points are interchanged in German. A point is used to separate thousands and a comma is used to show where the decimal point normally goes. Twelve Euro and thirty four Cents is written € 12,34. (Not € 12.34) Twelve thousand, three hundred and fourty five Euro and sixty seven Cents is written € 12.345,67. (Not € 12,345.67) If the Cent value is zero, it is common to leave out the trailing zeros or substitute a hyphen (ie: € 12,00 = € 12 = € 12,-).

As with most of Europe, Germany uses the Metric measurement system. Distances are in Metres (m) or Kilometres (km), area in square metres (m²), volume in Litres (l), weight in Grammes (g) or Kilogrammes (kg).

The 24 hour clock system is used much more commonly than the 12 hour am/pm system. Most Germans would say 15 Uhr rather than 3 Uhr nachmittag.

ALPHABET

The German alphabet uses the same 26 characters as English, but has 4 more. These are ä, ö, ü, ß. The two dots on top of the a, o or u are called an Umlaut. It changes the sound of the letter. The letter 'ß' is called an "EsZet" or "Scharfes S" (sharp-s) and it makes an 'S' sound. ä, ö and ü have a corresponding upper case version (Ä, Ö, Ü), ß doesn't.

Because English keyboards & typesetting machines don't have these special German characters, they are often indicated by substituting a combination of two normal English style characters. These are ä = ae, ö = oe, ü = ue, ß = ss.