German Lorem Ipsum Generator
Generate placeholder text in German (Deutsch) for design mockups, font testing, and layout verification — written in real German characters, not corrupted Latin.
About German (Deutsch)
Speakers: 100 million native speakers.
Where it's spoken: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, parts of Belgium, Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg.
Script: Latin alphabet with umlauts and eszett.
Direction: left-to-right (LTR).
Text expansion vs English:
substantially longer (~30% expansion).
Unique characters to verify: ä, ö, ü (umlauts); ß (eszett, sharp s); some long compound words can exceed 30 characters.
A short history of the Latin alphabet with umlauts and eszett
Standard German emerged from Martin Luther's 1522 Bible translation, which unified the language across previously fragmented German states. The Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung) coordinates spelling reform across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and other German-speaking regions. The 1996 reform introduced major changes — most notably, the rules for when to use ß vs ss.
Switzerland uses a distinct variant — Swiss Standard German — that historically does not use ß at all (replacing it with ss). Designers localising to Swiss audiences should adopt the Swiss orthography to avoid looking foreign.
German typography for designers
German typography has two unique features. First, umlauts — ä, ö, ü — and the eszett (ß), a ligature for "ss" in specific contexts. Both are essential; substituting "ae", "oe", "ue", "ss" is acceptable in URLs and ASCII-only contexts but looks wrong in body copy.
Second, German is famous for extremely long compound words: Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän (Danube steamship company captain) is one valid word. Designs that don't account for compound words break: buttons overflow, navigation wraps awkwardly, and column-justified text can produce huge gaps. Use hyphens: auto in CSS and supply lang="de" on the parent so the browser hyphenates correctly.
Fonts that render German well
For web designs targeting German-language audiences, these fonts have proven German support:
- Inter
- Roboto
- Source Sans Pro
- Open Sans
- Noto Sans
Always provide an explicit German-supporting font in your CSS font-family stack — relying on browser fallbacks produces inconsistent rendering across operating systems.
Common pitfalls in German design
- Substituting ae/oe/ue for ä/ö/ü in body content (looks like an ASCII workaround)
- Using ß in Swiss-localised content (Swiss German uses ss)
- Failing to enable CSS hyphenation — German compound words break layouts without it
- Underestimating expansion — German runs 25–35% longer than English
- Forgetting that all German nouns are capitalised (Tisch, Stuhl, Computer)
- Using a font without proper ß and umlaut design (some have weak ß glyphs)
Localization tips for German
- German nouns are always capitalised — adjust copy editing rules accordingly
- Decide on Germany (de-DE), Austria (de-AT), or Switzerland (de-CH); orthography differs
- German is ~30% longer than English; design with significant text-expansion slack
- Currency: € (Germany, Austria) or CHF (Switzerland)
- Date format: 15.03.2024 (day.month.year) with periods as separators
- Decimal separator is comma (3,14); thousands separator is period (1.000.000)
Why classic Latin Lorem Ipsum doesn't work for German
The classic Lorem Ipsum is a corrupted Latin passage from Cicero. It's perfect for Latin-script designs because it produces letter and word lengths that look like real text. But for German designs, classic Latin lorem ipsum is the wrong choice:
- It uses slightly different letter frequencies and lacks German-specific characters.
- It doesn't reflect how much longer German text actually runs in your layout (~30% expansion vs English).
- Designers shown Latin placeholder cannot evaluate the visual rhythm of German on the page.
- Stakeholder reviews on Latin lorem ipsum miss layout problems that only surface with native script.
The German placeholder above uses real German words and characters, so what you see in the mockup is what you'll see in production.
Lorem Ipsum in other languages
Designing for multiple locales? We have placeholder generators for 19 other languages:
Chinese
中文
Japanese
日本語
Korean
한국어
Arabic
العربية
Hebrew
עברית
Russian
Русский
Spanish
Español
French
Français
Italian
Italiano
Portuguese
Português
Dutch
Nederlands
Polish
Polski
Turkish
Türkçe
Greek
Ελληνικά
Hindi
हिन्दी
Vietnamese
Tiếng Việt
Thai
ภาษาไทย
Indonesian
Bahasa Indonesia
Swedish
Svenska
Classic Latin
Lorem ipsum
Frequently asked questions
Can I substitute ae, oe, ue for ä, ö, ü?
In ASCII-only contexts (URLs, system identifiers, strict 7-bit channels), yes — German has a long-standing convention. In body copy and modern UIs, no — it looks like a 1990s ASCII workaround. Always render the umlaut characters when the encoding allows it.
Should I use ß or ss?
Germany and Austria: ß is required after long vowels and diphthongs (Straße, weiß). After short vowels, use ss (Pass, müssen). The 1996 reform clarified the rules. Switzerland: always use ss, never ß. Modern fonts include a capital ß (ẞ, U+1E9E) introduced in 2017.
How much longer is German vs English?
About 30% longer on average — the highest of any major European language. Compound words drive this. UI buttons, headers, and table columns frequently overflow without explicit width planning.
How do I handle long German compound words in CSS?
Add
hyphens: auto to the parent element and set lang="de" on the document so the browser uses German hyphenation rules. Optionally use word-wrap: break-word as a last resort for unbreakable compounds in tight columns.Are German nouns really always capitalised?
Yes. Every noun in German is capitalised (Tisch = table, Computer = computer, Liebe = love), regardless of position in the sentence. This isn't a stylistic choice — it's grammatical. Spell-checkers and content systems must handle this for German content.
Which fonts have a good ß design?
Inter, Source Sans Pro, Roboto, and Noto Sans all have well-designed ß glyphs. The 2017 capital ß (ẞ, U+1E9E) is supported by most modern fonts but check before using it in display type.