9
votes
3answers
197 views

What caused “ss” to gain popularity over “ß” in the 19th century?

From Google Books' Ngram Viewer: Notice that the "hasst" form gained popularity towards the end of the 19th century, only to drop again in favor of "haßt" later on. I noticed the same pattern on ...
5
votes
3answers
188 views

Why is it nummerieren but numerisch?

Neue Rechtschreibung changed numerieren to nummerieren. This is not optional, so numerieren is incorrect now. How come numerisch did not change?
17
votes
6answers
1k views

Is it acceptable to omit umlauts and put an extra 'e' instead?

It's a pain when you haven't got a German keyboard to figure these characters out. Is it acceptable from a style perspective?
12
votes
2answers
320 views

Zusammen oder getrennt? Gibt es eine Regel?

Es gibt viele Wörter im Deutschen, deren exakte Schreibweise sich meiner Kenntnis schon immer entzogen haben. Das größte Problem ist dabei die Frage: zusammen oder getrennt? Ich nenne mal ein paar ...
16
votes
4answers
469 views

Is there a rule that dictates whether to use the eszett (scharfes S) or double s?

It's clear in the case of compound nouns, double s should be used e.g. Bundesstraße, but with other words I cannot see a pattern. To me it appears to be used somewhat randomly, e.g.: besser ...