German language

German is a member of the Indo-European language family and is mostly spoken in Central Europe. It is a West Germanic language. It is an official or co-official language in the countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, as well as the Italian region of South Tyrol, where it is the most frequently spoken language. In addition, Luxembourg and Belgium also recognise it as a co-official language, and Namibia recognises it as the national language. The other languages that belong to the West Germanic linguistic branch are the ones that are most comparable to German. Additionally, it has a great deal of vocabulary with other languages belonging to the North Germanic group, such as Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. These are some of the languages. After English, which is also considered a West Germanic language, German is the Germanic language that has the second highest number of native speakers.

The German language is considered to be one of the most important languages in the world. Within the borders of the European Union, it is the native tongue that is used the most. As a foreign language, German is also frequently taught, particularly in continental Europe, where it is the third most taught foreign language (after English and French), as well as in the United States. The language has had an impact on a number of different disciplines, including philosophy, religion, science, and technology. It is the language that is used the second most often in the scientific community and is among the languages that are used the most on websites. The German-speaking nations are rated fifth in terms of the yearly release of new books, and one tenth of all books (including e-books) in the world are produced in German. This places the German-speaking countries in the top five.

An inflected language, German has two numerals, three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative) (singular, plural). There are powerful and ineffective verbs in it. A smaller share is partly derived from Latin and Greek, along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English. The vast majority of its vocabulary originates from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. However, a small number of its words are also borrowed from French and Modern English.

The three standardised varieties of German are German, Austrian Standard High German, and Swiss Standard High German. German is a pluricentric language. Across addition to this, it is renowned for its extensive variety of dialects, of which there are numerous variants spoken in Europe as well as in other regions of the globe. Some of these non-standard kinds have recently gained official recognition and protection from local, regional, and national governments.