German (Deutsch) Typing Tests
Practice typing in German (Deutsch) with timed tests from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Real native vocabulary, instant results. No sign-up required.
About German (Deutsch)
German (Deutsch) is spoken by approximately 130 million people, making it the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. It is the official language of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and a co-official language in several other countries. German is known for its compound words — it can combine multiple words into a single long word, such as Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft (Danube Steamship Company).
Special Characters
German uses the standard 26-letter Latin alphabet plus four special characters: Ä ä (a-umlaut), Ö ö (o-umlaut), Ü ü (u-umlaut), and ß (eszett/sharp s). The umlauts modify vowel sounds and cannot be omitted in formal writing. The ß (used after long vowels and diphthongs) can be replaced with 'ss' in informal contexts or when the character is unavailable. All nouns in German are capitalised.
How to Type German Characters
On a German QWERTZ keyboard layout, Ä, Ö, Ü, and ß have dedicated keys. If you are on a QWERTY keyboard, you can type them using Alt codes on Windows (Alt+132 for ä, Alt+148 for ö, Alt+129 for ü, Alt+225 for ß) or by enabling the US International layout which uses dead keys. On Mac, hold Option+U then the vowel for umlauts. The QWERTZ layout swaps Z and Y compared to QWERTY.
Typing Tips for German
The most frequent German words are: und (and), in, der/die/das (the), ist (is), zu (to/too), von (from/of), mit (with), auf (on), für (for). Compound nouns are common — when you see a long word, try to spot the component parts. All nouns start with a capital letter, which is a major source of errors for non-native typists. Practice the umlaut keys early.