German

Indo-European family · Germanic branch · Eurasia

WALS records no dominant basic order of subject, object and verb for German, a group that holds 189 of the 1,376 languages it codes for this feature.

On Uvular Consonants, WALS codes German as “Uvular continuants only”, a value held by 11 of the 567 languages coded, French and Armenian (Eastern) among them.

On Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives, WALS codes German as “No distance contrast”, a value held by 7 of the 234 languages coded, French and Supyire among them.

Of its word-order pairings, the one German shares with the fewest languages is Order of Object and Verb: “Both orders with neither order dominant”, the value of 101 of the 1,518 languages coded.

The least common value coded for German is “Interrogative word order” on Polar Questions, held by 13 of the 955 languages coded.

The order German uses in 9 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast German with Dutch or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with German, rarest first.

Coding of EvidentialityModal morpheme7 of 418
The PerfectFrom possessive7 of 222
Number of Cases4 case categories9 of 261
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsCoda consonant: closed syllables are heavy for stress18 of 500
Front Rounded VowelsHigh and mid23 of 562
Exponence of Selected Inflectional FormativesCase + number8 of 162
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites preclude predicate negation11 of 206
Weight-Sensitive StressRight-oriented: The antepenultimate is involved27 of 500

Inside the Indo-European family

German matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 98 of the 134 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (73%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks sixth from the top.

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with German; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

Dutch Indo-European50 of 59
French Indo-European98 of 132
Icelandic Indo-European45 of 58
English Indo-European98 of 134
Russian Indo-European95 of 132

Outside the Indo-European family, the best match is Finnish (Uralic), with 79 of 130 features alike.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes German for 134 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 121 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value German shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Low	58 of 564
The Velar Nasal	Velar nasal, but not initially	87 of 469
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Vowel Quality Inventories	Large vowel inventory (7-14)	184 of 564
Consonant Inventories	Average	201 of 563
Fixed Stress Locations	No fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)	220 of 502
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	/p t k b d g/	255 of 567
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Lateral Consonants	/l/, no obstruent laterals	388 of 567
Glottalized Consonants	No glottalized consonants	409 of 567
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567

Word structure 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Reduplication	No productive reduplication	55 of 368
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	2-3 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Consistently dependent-marking	46 of 236
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is dependent-marked	63 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is syncretic	60 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Predominantly suffixing	406 of 969
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	monoexponential TAM	127 of 160
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 25

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Indefinite Pronouns	Mixed indefinites	23 of 326
Asymmetrical Case-Marking	Syncretism in relevant NP-types	21 of 261
Distributive Numerals	Marked by preceding word	21 of 251
Number of Genders	Three	26 of 257
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related by gender markers	24 of 225
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	Gender distinctions in 3rd person singular only	61 of 378
The Associative Plural	Special non-bound associative plural marker	47 of 236
Indefinite Articles	Numeral for 'one' is used as indefinite article	112 of 534
Systems of Gender Assignment	Semantic and formal assignment	59 of 257
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Identity	76 of 322
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction	49 of 207
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	Sex-based gender system	84 of 257
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
Definite Articles	Definite word distinct from demonstrative	216 of 620
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	79 of 200
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem	114 of 261
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally differentiated	74 of 168
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Same forms	143 of 201

Noun phrases 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Ergative-Possessive	21 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 15

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
The Morphological Imperative	Second singular	43 of 548
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for both possibility and necessity	36 of 207
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion according to tense	36 of 193
The Prohibitive	Normal imperative + normal negative	113 of 496
Epistemic Possibility	Verbal constructions	65 of 240
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Only indirect evidentials	166 of 418
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
The Future Tense	No inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	112 of 222
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system	201 of 375
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	No grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	121 of 222
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material)	153 of 193
Verbal Number and Suppletion	No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples	159 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative absent	271 of 319

Word order 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases obligatorily initial	264 of 902
Order of Object, Oblique, and Verb	More than one order with none dominant	167 of 500
Order of Genitive and Noun	Noun-genitive (NGen)	468 of 1,249
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Prepositions	511 of 1,184
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
Order of Degree Word and Adjective	Degree word precedes adjective (DegAdj)	227 of 481
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 19

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Reciprocal Constructions	Mixed	16 of 175
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Obligatory pronouns in subject position	82 of 711
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of only the A argument	73 of 378
Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases	Nominative - accusative (standard)	46 of 190
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Sequential type but no purposive type	35 of 118
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Nominative - accusative (standard)	61 of 172
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	A and P do not or do not both occur on the verb	187 of 379
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Applicative Constructions	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Other Roles of Applied Objects	No applicative construction	100 of 183
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310

Complex sentences 6

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Subjects	Relative pronoun	12 of 166
Relativization on Obliques	Relative Pronoun Strategy	13 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Balanced/deranked	30 of 170
'When' Clauses	Balanced/deranked	39 of 174
'Want' Complement Subjects	The complement subject is left implicit	144 of 283
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169

Vocabulary 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Number of Basic Colour Categories	More than 10 categories	11 of 119
M-T Pronouns	M-T pronouns, paradigmatic	27 of 230
M in First Person Singular	m in first person singular	53 of 230
Number of Non-Derived Basic Colour Categories	6 categories	29 of 119
Green and Blue	Green and blue	30 of 120
Tea	Words derived from Min Nan Chinese te	84 of 230
Hand and Arm	Different	389 of 617
Numeral Bases	Decimal	125 of 196
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
Red and Yellow	Red and yellow	98 of 120
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express affective but not logical meanings	71 of 143