Swiss German

Sound shifts from Standard German

Most differences between Standard German and Zürich German are predictable from a handful of historical sound correspondences. In several cases, Zürich German simply preserves a Middle High German form that Standard German has since monophthongized or diphthongized.^[de.wp]

A monophthong is a single vowel sound (like the ee in see); a diphthong is a vowel sound that glides from one position to another (like the oy in boy or the ow in now). To monophthongize is to collapse a diphthong into a single vowel; to diphthongize is the reverse.

The k → ch / kx shift

High Alemannic completed the second Germanic consonant shift further than Standard German did. Native /k/ became the velar fricative [x] (written ch) word-initially. Loanwords from Standard German that entered later get the affricate [kx] instead.^[de.wp]

The au → uu shift in detail

Words where Standard German au comes from MHG /uː/ shift to uu. Words where it comes from MHG /ou/ keep a diphthong (often au in Zürich, ou in other regions). It's worth memorizing as a word-by-word table.^[de.wp]

Definite article

* The longer forms (in parentheses) are used when a vowel follows, the shorter ones before a consonant. De Maa (the man) vs. der Esel (the donkey).^[Nthuleen]

Indefinite article

Short dative forms eme(n) (m/n) also occur; the longer forms are more typical of Zürich.

Negative article

The käi- vs kä- variation is regional: the city tends toward kä-, Winterthur / Oberland toward käi-.

Articles before personal names

In Zürich German, and most Swiss German dialects, personal names almost always take an article. De Hans, d Anna, s Lisi. Omitting the article sounds strangely formal, like reading from a passport. This is one of the easiest tells that someone is speaking Swiss German and not Standard German.

Expressing possession (no genitive)

Because there is no genitive, possession is expressed two ways:

• vo + dative: s Velo vom Peter (Peter's bike).
• Possessive-dative construction: em Peter sis Velo (lit. "to-the Peter his bike"). The possessor is in the dative and followed by a possessive pronoun agreeing with the possessed item.

Personal pronouns

Most pronouns track Standard German closely. The biggest differences: wir → mir, uns → öis / üs, euch → öi. Many forms have a strong (stressed) and a weak / clitic (unstressed) variant; both are listed below where they differ.^[Nthuleen]

The reflexive pronoun is mi / di / sich / sich / sich / öis / öi / sich, only third-person has a special form (the universal sich); other persons reuse the accusative.

Possessive pronouns (min, din, sin, ire)

Same gender / number / case logic as Standard German. The first-person singular paradigm shown below; din (your sg.), sin (his / its), ire (her / their), öise(r) (our), öie(r) (your pl.) follow the same pattern.

Core irregular verbs

The plural -nd ending fuses with a postposed pronoun: gönd + mir = gömer ("we go" / "shall we go"), händ + mir = händer / hämmer ("we have"), sind + mir = simer ("we are").

Sandhi: word-final -n resurfaces before a vowel-initial pronoun or particle, ich bi-n-en gsee ("I saw him"). ^[tal-mi-or]

Modal verbs

More irregular verbs

Note that for gsee ("to see") the past participle is identical to the infinitive: Ich han en gsee ("I saw him").

No preterite, use the Perfekt

Swiss German has no preterite / simple past tense. Whatever past tense you want to express, you build the Perfekt with haa or sii + past participle. This is true of all spoken Swiss German.

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II)

Even though the preterite is gone, the Konjunktiv II built from it survives and is in daily use for hypotheticals, polite requests, and counterfactuals. It's typically formed with the suffix -ti on the verb stem, often clipped to -t in the singular. Würde + infinitive is unusual; the synthetic form is preferred.^[Nübling]

Polite ordering, Ich hätti gärn …, is the equivalent of "I'd like …" in restaurants and shops, and is one of the most useful Konjunktiv II forms to drill.

Doubled verbs (go, cho, la)

A small set of motion / causative verbs, gah, choo, laa, aafaa, spawn a "doubled" particle when chained with another verb. The doubled form is a clitic-like marker that sits in front of the main verb.

The tue-periphrasis

Alemannic dialects (Swiss German among them) use tue + infinitive much more readily than Standard German. The construction marks durative or progressive aspect (Mir tüend grad es Bild ufhänke, "We're [in the middle of] hanging a picture"), and also serves as a Konjunktiv II auxiliary for verbs that lack their own synthetic subjunctive form.^{[Erb 2009]}

Verbs that differ from Standard German

Some verbs are not just phonetically shifted but use a different root altogether. A handful of "false friends" to know:

• sprechen → rede   (Ich rede Änglisch.)
• gehen (to walk) → laufe
• laufen (to run) → renne or springe (Swiss springe means both "jump" and "run")

Relative clauses

Zürich German has exactly one relative pronoun: wo (or won before a vowel). Whatever case relationship the relative would mark in Standard German is instead carried by a resumptive pronoun elsewhere in the clause.^[Salzmann]

Resumptive pronouns are obligatory for dative, oblique, and possessive relations, but not used for subjects or direct objects in standard Zürich usage.

• wo + ich contracts to woni
• wo + mer (1pl) contracts to womer

Subject relative, no resumptive

Direct object relative, no resumptive

Dative relative, resumptive pronoun

Oblique (with preposition), resumptive pronoun

Negation

The default marker of negation in the city dialect is nöd (in Winterthur and the eastern part of the canton, often nid).

When the sentence contains an indefinite noun phrase, negation is marked by the negative article in front of that noun phrase rather than by nöd:

Negative pronouns and particles

Diminutive -li

Swiss German is famously fond of the diminutive suffix -li. It corresponds roughly to Standard German -chen / -lein, but is far more productive: almost any noun can take it. The plural is invariant (no extra ending).

Note the typical umlaut: Hund → Hündli, Maa → Männli, Kafi → Käffeli. Many extremely common Swiss nouns are only used in diminutive form: es Müesli, es Bizli, es Briefli.

Hello and goodbye

Grüezi is the workhorse greeting and is expected when entering most shops, restaurants, lifts, and waiting rooms. Not saying it can read as rude.

Politeness and pleasantries

Survival phrases

Numbers

Composite numbers follow the German pattern (ones before tens): eis-e-zwänzg (21), zwöi-e-drissg (32). Larger units: hundert (100), tuusig (1,000), e Milion (1,000,000).

Days, months, and time of day

am Mäntig = "on Monday". Months are close to Standard German with shifted vowels: Januar, Februar, März, April, Mai, Juni, Juli, Augscht, Septämber, Oktober, Novämber, Dezämber. Hornig is an older traditional name for February.

Time of day and meals

French and English loanwords

Swiss German has borrowed extensively from French (particularly from Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland) and more recently from English. Many of these words mark Swiss vocabulary as distinct from Standard German.

Particles and flavor words

Discourse particles are short, often untranslatable words that carry tone, register, or attitude. Using them is what makes Swiss German sound like Swiss German rather than Standard German with shifted vowels.

False friends and pitfalls

Words that exist in Standard German but mean something different in Swiss German, or that differ enough in form to trip up a learner who knows German.

Dictionaries

• Schweizerisches Idiotikon  the historical-philological reference dictionary of Swiss German. Free online, exhaustive, somewhat heavy reading.
• LEO  general German-English dictionary, useful for looking up the Standard German form of a word.

Books

• Albert Weber, Zürichdeutsche Grammatik. Ein Wegweiser zur guten Mundart. Schweizer Spiegel, Zürich. The classic descriptive grammar of the Zürich dialect.
• Sergio J. Lievano & Nicole Egger, Hoi: Your New Swiss German Survival Guide. Bergli Books. An illustrated phrasebook based on the Zürich dialect, aimed at expats. (Bergli)
• Arthur Baur, Schwyzertüütsch: Praktische Sprachlehre des Schweizerdeutschen. "Grüezi mitenand". Older but still widely cited self-study book.

Audio and video

• SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen)  Swiss public broadcasting. Most informal programming is in dialect; news is in Standard German.
• SRF Dini Mundart  a podcast series exploring Swiss German words, idioms, and regional differences.
• Forvo (Swiss German)  crowdsourced pronunciation recordings for individual words.