12.3 The use of capital letters
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schools in the German-speaking countries. However, the spelling reform was extremely controversial, and many people are still opposed to it. Moreover, all books printed since 1902 are in the old spelling, so you are likely to see both spellings for some time. In practice, the changes are slight. The main areas affected by the spelling reform are:
The use of ß and ss: in the old spelling, ß is used at the end of all words and syllables (e.g. daß, mußte). In the new spelling, ß is always used after long vowels and all dipthongs while ss is always used after short vowels, e.g. heißen, Fuß, dass, Fluss, musste.
Capitalization: the general rule that all nouns are capitalized has been retained, but in areas where difficulties arise over whether a word is really a noun, some rules have been modified.
The use of the comma: the rules have been simplified. In this book we have followed the new spelling consistently, and this chapter introduces the main features of German spelling according to the revised rules.
12.3 The use of capital letters The basic rules are:
The first word in a sentence has an initial capital letter. All nouns are written with an initial capital letter. The ‘formal’ second person pronoun Sie and all its forms (Ihnen, Ihr, etc.) are written with an initial capital letter.
All parts of proper names and titles have an initial capital letter: das Schwarze Meer, das Rote Kreuz, der Schiefe Turm von Pisa, Iwan der Schreckliche, Elisabeth die Zweite.
All other words start with a small letter. The rule that nouns are spelled with an initial capital letter is a characteristic feature of German. Difficulties arise when there are doubts about whether a particular word is really a NOUN. The following table gives the most important of these cases; a number have been altered in the reformed spelling: capital letter
adjectives used as nouns
der Alte, der Vorsitzende, nichts Gutes, alles Gute, auf Deutsch, im Klaren sein, im Allgemeinen, das Weiß, ins Schwarze treffen, im Großen und Ganzen
ordinals and indefinite adjectives used as nouns
der Letzte, der Erste, der Nächste, das Ganze, jeder Einzelne, das Übrige
verbs used as nouns
das Essen, beim Lesen, das Inkrafttreten, das Fensterputzen, das Wegsehen, das Soll
other parts of speech used as nouns
ein Etwas, das Nichts, das Du, eine Drei, ein großes Durcheinander, das Für und Wider
nouns which are part of fixed phrases and idioms
Rad fahren, Eis laufen, Recht haben, Angst haben, heute Abend, außer Acht lassen, auf Grund, in Bezug
