Ok, I have a question about how to spell "Ugly" in German. I always thought that it was spelled "Häβlich"... But recently I was told by my brother that it's "Hässlich"... Then, I also saw this letter "ß" and was wondering... Just WHAT is the correct spelling of "Ugly" in German?
No online translators, please! Thanks!
Also, I'm trying to learn German, is anyone here who speaks German willing to help me out? Thanks everyone!
2007-08-26 08:22:33 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
But there are two different looking "B"s ... "β" and "ß"... So, if either "ss" or an odd "B"... Which is the correct weird looking "B"?
"ß" or "β"?
2007-08-26 08:32:12 · update #1
Your brother is right.
Since the spelling reform "häßlich" is spelled "hässlich".
Words with short vowels now have "ss" instead of "ß" (e.g. muss instead of muß, dass instead of daß), words with long vowels still have "ß" (e.g. Straße).
The other two answers are wrong. You cannot just substitute "ß" for "ss". If you wrote "Strasse", this would be wrong.
The substitution of "ß" with "ss" is only possible for capital letters, as there is no capital version of "ß". So it is "STRASSE".
2007-08-26 08:29:05 · answer #1 · answered by Masterswot 4 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Masterswot is right with the spelling, and:
B is B and not ß and
ß is ß and not β
β is the greek letter for Beta which is the equivalent for B in english and B in German.
ß is pronounced like a snake would say S (okay... snakes don´t speak 8-) ). It is derived from SZ where the Z sharpens the S.
2007-08-27 02:47:14 · answer #2 · answered by Waschzuber 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The correct current spelling is hässlich. It used to be spelled häßlich, but the "new"--ten years or so ago ;-)--spelling reforms changed it because the first syllable has a short vowel. (BTW, it has a capital only if it happens to be the first word in a sentence.)
The letter called an "ess-tset" is ß; the other one you wrote is a Greek beta. It's used in Germany but not in Switzerland.
I'm old enough to have learned my German long before anyone thought of spelling reforms, so if I'm not sure whether a word has changed or not, I check here: http://dict.leo.org/?lang=de&lp=ende If you click on the little i after the German word, you will get information about new and old forms.
As for your last question, there are a lot of people here who are willing to help you out--I'm one of them!
Viel Glück und viel Spaß!
PS The form häßlich is now officially obsolete and incorrect--i.e., it would be marked wrong if you wrote it in school. Outside of schools, there's no spelling police, of course, and you still see a lot of the "old" spelling especially among older people!
2007-08-26 18:46:53 · answer #3 · answered by hoptoad 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Both are correct, but after the spelling reform (Die neue Rechtschreibung) they changed some words that were originally written with the "ß" and replaced it with "ss"
Like "müßen" (to must) is now written "müssen".
2007-08-26 09:33:30 · answer #4 · answered by N.S 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
β stands for both ss and sz, however, the Germans no longer use the β too often; spliting the the β into "ss" and "sz" also allows non Germans to type words containing β on any computer. Same with the letters with umlaut (ä), you can also write them as: ae,oe,ue.
So to answer your question, both are correct.
2007-08-26 08:34:08 · answer #5 · answered by artsy 2 · 2⤊ 5⤋
ß is a short way to write "ss", so they are the same.
2007-08-26 08:27:29 · answer #6 · answered by plainjane 2 · 2⤊ 6⤋
yes i speak german very well because i just got back from there and hasslich is the correct way but that symbol is the same thing thing it stands for two S's so you can spell it anyway between those two and if you need any german help ask me
2007-08-26 08:29:02 · answer #7 · answered by ng18 5 · 2⤊ 6⤋
GERMAN IS THE UGLYEST LANGUAGE EVER
2007-08-26 08:56:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 9⤋
Dunno, in Switzerland we don't have the beta-thing at all.
2007-08-26 08:37:25 · answer #9 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋