The German alphabet has 26 letters, plus three umlauts ä, ö, ü. There is also another character that often causes confusion: the ß. This is also known as the “sharp S” or “Eszett” and looks like a mixture of a capital B and a lowercase s. But when do you use this character and when do you just write ss? In this article, we explain the most important rules and give you some examples to help you understand the difference.
What is the ß and where does it come from?
The ß is a letter that only exists in German and represents a long or stressed s sound. It originally comes from the Middle Ages, when there were still two different forms of the letter s: the long s (ſ), which looked like a small f, and the round s (s), which looked like today’s s.
Often a long s was written at the beginning or in the middle of a word and a round s at the end or after a short vowel. Sometimes two long s’s were written one after the other to make a long s sound.
Later, this developed into the ß, which looks like a long s with a small round s underneath.
Today, the ß is only written after long or stressed vowels, such as in Straße (Straſſe), Fuß (Fuſſ) or heißen (heiſſen).
When to write ß and when to write ss?
The most important rule for deciding whether to write ß or ss is the pronunciation of the vowel before it. If the vowel is long or stressed, you write ß. If the vowel is short or unstressed, you write ss. This applies to both single and double vowels. Here are some examples:
- Maß (Maſſ) – the s is pronounced after a long a, so it is written ß
- Masse (Maſſe) – the s is pronounced after a short a, so you write ss
- reißen (reiſſen) – the s is pronounced after a long ei, so you write ß
- reisen (reiſen) – the s is pronounced after a short ei, so you write ss
- groß (groſſ) – the s is pronounced after a long o, so you write ß
- Gros (groſſ) – the s is pronounced after a short o, so you write ss
However, there are also some exceptions where you write ss despite a long or stressed vowel. These are mainly words that have been adopted from other languages, such as:
- Bus (Buſ) – the s is pronounced after a long u, but is written ss because the word comes from Latin
- Kuss (Kuſ) – the s is pronounced after a long u, but you write ss because the word comes from French
- Fass (Faſ) – the s is pronounced after a long a, but is written ss because the word comes from Dutch
How can you recognize the pronunciation of vowels?
To know whether a vowel is long or short, stressed or unstressed, you often have to listen to the whole word or sentence. However, there are also some tips that can help you guess the pronunciation. Here are some of them:
- When a vowel is followed by a double consonant or a consonant cluster, it is usually short and unstressed. For example: dass, Klassenzimmer, Milch, etc.
- When a vowel is followed by a single consonant or a silent h, it is usually long or stressed. For example: Rad, Weg, nahm, Klassenlehrer, etc.
- When a vowel is formed by an umlaut (ä, ö, ü) or a diphthong (ai, au, ei, eu, etc.), it is usually long or stressed. For example: Bär, schön, Tür, Mais, Haus, Ei, Leute, etc.
How do you spell the ß on the keyboard?
The ß is a special character that is not found on every keyboard. If you have a German keyboard, you can simply write the ß using the key to the right of the zero character. If you have a different keyboard, you may need to use a key combination to write the ß. Here are some ways you can write the ß on different keyboards:
- On a Windows keyboard, you can hold down the Alt key and type the numbers 0223 on the number pad. Then release the Alt key and the ß will appear.
- On a Mac keyboard, you can hold down the Option key and press the s key. Then release the Option key and the ß will appear.
- On a smartphone keyboard, you can hold down the s key and select the ß from the options displayed.
Conclusion
The ß is a special letter that only occurs in German and represents a long or accented s sound. To decide whether to write ß or ss, you have to consider the pronunciation of the vowel before it. However, there are also some exceptions where you write ss despite a long or stressed vowel.
We hope that this article has helped you to understand the difference between “ß” and “ss” and to learn when you should use which character.
***********************
Would you like to improve your German quickly?
If you would like to learn or perfect your German in Germany or Austria, we have a wide selection of language schools for every need and size on offer.
Here you can find all our programs in Germany and Austria:
German courses for children and teenagers
If you’re not yet sure which city or language school is right for you, just get in touch with us and together we’ll find the best solution for you!
Keywords:
Spelling
