Editing German orthography (section)

== Alphabet ==
{{See also|German alphabet}}
{{Listen
 |filename = German_alphabet-2.ogg
 |title = German alphabet
 |description = (Listen to a German speaker recite the alphabet in German)
}}
[[File:Oesterreichische Schulschrift 1995, 2 - Schraegschrift.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Austria's standardized [[cursive]]]]
[[File:Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift.png|right|thumb|250px|[[Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift]]]]

The modern German [[alphabet]] consists of the twenty-six [[letter (alphabet)|letters]] of the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet]] plus four special letters.

=== Basic alphabet ===
{|class=wikitable style="text-align: center"
! colspan="2" |Letter
!Name<ref>[[DIN 5009]]:2022-06, section 4.2 „Buchstaben“ (letters), table 1</ref>
!Name<br>([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]])
!Spelling<br>Alphabet
|-
|A
|a
|{{lang|de|A}}
|{{IPA|/aː/}}
|Anton
|-
|B
|b
|{{lang|de|Be}}
|{{IPA|/beː/}}
|Berta
|-
|C
|c
|{{lang|de|Ce}}
|{{IPA|/t͡seː/}}
|Cäsar
|-
|D
|d
|{{lang|de|De}}
|{{IPA|/deː/}}
|Dora
|-
|E
|e
|{{lang|de|E}}
|{{IPA|/eː/}}
|Emil
|-
|F
|f
|{{lang|de|Ef}}
|{{IPA|/ɛf/}}
|Friedrich
|-
|G
|g
|{{lang|de|Ge}}
|{{IPA|/ɡeː/}}
|Gustav
|-
|H
|h
|{{lang|de|Ha}}
|{{IPA|/haː/}}
|Heinrich
|-
|I
|i
|{{lang|de|I}}
|{{IPA|/iː/}}
|Ida
|-
|J
|j
|{{lang|de|Jott}},{{efn|In Germany|name=d}}<br>{{lang|de|Je}}{{efn|In Austria|name=a}}
|{{IPA|/jɔt/}}{{efn|name=d}}<br>{{IPA|/jeː/}}{{efn|name=a}}
|Julius
|-
|K
|k
|{{lang|de|Ka}}
|{{IPA|/kaː/}}
|Kaufmann,{{efn|name=d}}<br>Konrad{{efn|name=a}}
|-
|L
|l
|{{lang|de|El}}
|{{IPA|/ɛl/}}
|Ludwig
|-
|M
|m
|{{lang|de|Em}}
|{{IPA|/ɛm/}}
|Martha
|-
|N
|n
|{{lang|de|En}}
|{{IPA|/ɛn/}}
|Nordpol
|-
|O
|o
|{{lang|de|O}}
|{{IPA|/oː/}}
|Otto
|-
|P
|p
|{{lang|de|Pe}}
|{{IPA|/peː/}}
|Paula
|-
|Q
|q
|{{lang|de|Qu}},{{efn|name=d}}<br>{{lang|de|Que}}{{efn|name=a}}
|{{IPA|/kuː/}}{{efn|name=d}}<br>{{IPA|/kveː/}}{{efn|name=a}}
|Quelle
|-
|R
|r
|{{lang|de|Er}}
|{{IPA|/ɛʁ/}}
|Richard
|-
|S
|s
|{{lang|de|Es}}
|{{IPA|/ɛs/}}
|Samuel,{{efn|name=d}}<br>Siegfried{{efn|name=a}}
|-
|T
|t
|{{lang|de|Te}}
|{{IPA|/teː/}}
|Theodor
|-
|U
|u
|{{lang|de|U}}
|{{IPA|/uː/}}
|Ulrich
|-
|V
|v
|{{lang|de|Vau}}
|{{IPA|/faʊ̯/}}
|Viktor
|-
|W
|w
|{{lang|de|We}}
|{{IPA|/veː/}}
|Wilhelm
|-
|X
|x
|{{lang|de|Ix}}
|{{IPA|/ɪks/}}
|Xanthippe,{{efn|name=d}}<br>Xavier{{efn|name=a}}
|-
|Y
|y
|{{lang|de|Ypsilon}}
|{{IPA|/ˈʏpsilɔn/}}{{efn|name=d}}<br>{{IPA|/ʏˈpsiːlɔn/}}{{efn|name=a}}
|Ypsilon
|-
|Z
|z
|{{lang|de|Zett}}
|{{IPA|/t͡sɛt/}}
|Zacharias,{{efn|In Germany|name=d}}<br>Zürich{{efn|In Austria|name=a}}
|}
{{Notelist}}

=== Special letters ===
German has four special letters; three are [[vowel]]s [[diacritic|accented]] with an [[Umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut sign]] ({{Angbr|[[ä]], [[ö]], [[ü]]}}) and one is derived from a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] of {{Angbr|ſ}} ([[long s]]) and {{Angbr|z}} ({{Angbr|[[ß]]}}; called {{lang|de|Eszett}} "ess-zed/zee" or {{lang|de|scharfes S}} "sharp s"). They have their own names separate from the letters they are based on.

{{Listen|filename=German extra letters.ogg|title=German extra letters|description=(Listen to a German speaker naming these letters)|format=[[Ogg]]}}

{|class=wikitable style="text-align: center"
! colspan="2" |Letter
!Name
!Name<br>([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]])
!Spelling<br>Alphabet
|-
|Ä
|ä
|Ä
|{{IPA|/ɛː/}}
|Ärger
|-
|Ö
|ö
|Ö
|{{IPA|/øː/}}
|Ökonom,{{efn|In Germany|name=j}}<br>Österreich{{efn|In Austria|name=k}}
|-
|Ü
|ü
|Ü
|{{IPA|/yː/}}
|Übermut,{{efn|name=j}}<br>Übel{{efn|name=k}}
|-
|ẞ
|ß
|{{lang|de|Eszett}},<br>{{lang|de|scharfes S}}
|{{IPA|/ɛsˈt͡sɛt/}}<br>{{IPA|/ˈʃaʁfəs ɛs/}}
|Eszett,{{efn|name=j}}<br>scharfes S{{efn|name=k}}
|}
{{Notelist}}
* [[Capital ẞ]] was declared an official letter of the German alphabet on 29 June 2017.<ref>[http://www.rechtschreibrat.com/DOX/rfdr_PM_2017-06-29_Aktualisierung_Regelwerk.pdf Official rules of German spelling updated], [[Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung]], 29 June 2017, retrieved 29 June 2017.</ref> Previously represented as {{Angbr|SS/SZ}}.
* Historically, [[long s|long s (ſ)]] was used as well, as in English and many other European languages.<ref>[[Andrew West (linguist)|Andrew West]] (2006): [https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Blog/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html "The Rules for Long S"].</ref>

While the Council for German Orthography considers {{Angbr|ä, ö, ü, ß}} distinct letters,{{sfn|Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung|2018|ref=abcRfdR|p=15|postscript=, section&nbsp;0&nbsp;[Vorbemerkungen]&nbsp;(1): "Die Umlautbuchstaben ä, ö, ü"; p.&nbsp;29, §&nbsp;25&nbsp;E2: "der Buchstabe ß"; et passim.}} disagreement on how to categorize and count them has led to a dispute over the exact number of letters the German alphabet has, the number ranging between 26 (considering special letters as variants of {{Angbr|a, o, u, s}}) and 30 (counting all special letters separately).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.buchstabieralphabet.org/cms/wie-viele-buchstaben.php |title=Das deutsche Alphabet – Wie viele Buchstaben hat das ABC?|publisher=www.buchstabieralphabet.org |language=de|access-date=2018-09-24}}</ref>