8

When I hear Germans speak - but sometimes in writing too - I observe that the trailing "-e" from verbs in 1st singular person is often omitted:

"Ich geh mal schnell zur Tanke."
"Ich krieg noch einen Kaffee, bitte."
"Das hab ich doch schon immer gesagt."
"Ich freu mich schon auf Morgen".

Is these merely a dialect variation or are there general rules on when we can omit the "e" in spoken German? Is this colloquial only or are there occasions when we also do this in written standard German?

Takkat
  • 70,407
  • 29
  • 165
  • 411
  • somewhat related: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/3106/was-ist-der-unterschied-zwischen-singular-imperativ-mit-und-ohne-e-am-ende – balpha Apr 13 '12 at 07:38

1 Answers1

7

It's not a mere dialect variation. It's done in the standard language and it is not limited to the 1st person plural.

Omitting unstressed syllables/vowels is called Elision. It is done, because people are lazy. The official term for being lazy while speaking is "Sprachökonomie" (language economy).

If you can omit a syllable without changing the meaning of the word and without risking that other people will not understand you, then most people will omit it. You save breath/time and get the same result.

In your examples you can indicate the missing vowel by adding an apostrophe:

"Ich geh' mal schnell zur Tanke."

But this is not necessary in this case. This is more common if you omit stressed vowels, what is also done from time to time:

's ist schon spät. (Es ist schon spät.)

Here "'s" is combined with "ist" while speaking, sounding like "sist".

John Smithers
  • 9,814
  • 44
  • 61
  • 2
    Or, economizing even further: sis or sischo spät. ;) – musiKk Feb 16 '12 at 15:15
  • 3
    Being drunk is optimizing economy on all levels, @musiKk ;) – John Smithers Feb 16 '12 at 15:21
  • 1
    You... you are funney. Iseewatchadidthere. I love you! cries :P – musiKk Feb 16 '12 at 20:33
  • 1
    I think in spoken German "ich hab'" rather than "ich habe" is way more common. It is not acceptable in formal written language and in informal written text the apostrophe should be used, simply to show that the author is aware of the vowel omission. – Jules Feb 17 '12 at 09:27
  • @Jules: It is acceptable and the apostrophe need not be used. Follow my "apostrophe" link. – John Smithers Feb 17 '12 at 09:45
  • 1
    In fact, the Duden link doesn't say anything about omitted letters in formal(!) writing. I'm certain, that it would be marked as wrong by a German teacher in a "Klausur" or "Diktat". – Jules Feb 17 '12 at 15:49
  • @Jules: Are you kidding me? It's the frigging Duden. It's defining "formal". – John Smithers Feb 17 '12 at 15:52
  • "Solche Formen treten oft in dichterischen Texten auf." The Duden is descriptive, not prescriptive.

    Ask any native if he/she feels, that these omissions would be appropriate in formal texts and they'd disagree.

     – Jules Feb 20 '12 at 12:28
  • WTF, @Jules? "Solche Formen treten oft in dichterischen Texten auf." That section does not belong to the words where you can omit it. It belongs to the "'s ist schon spät." part. And I have no idea what "prescriptive" has to do with this. You do not have to omit it. Besides that: I am a native speaker. – John Smithers Feb 20 '12 at 13:35
  • 2
    No need to escalate. The section you are citing deals with apostrophes and its usage in the German language. It doesn't comment on whether the given examples are appropriate in a formal context. I rest my case. I'd say, that using these omissions is inappropriate in texts like uni coursework/thesis ("Ich hab mal eben drei Experimente durchgefuehrt") or official correspondence. Just as you wouldn't use English contractions ("don't") in these scenarios. So I challenge your claim, that it is acceptable in a formal context. It is correct in colloquial and in informal, written standard German. – Jules Feb 20 '12 at 17:21
  • And about the Duden being descriptive. The Duden is not defining the use of language, it is describing and it and recommending certain spellings/forms.

    P.S. I would appreciate if you could respond without resorting to swearing this time.

     – Jules Feb 20 '12 at 17:25
  • -1 as the "apostrophe link" in this answer is broken and according to the link in R.MIller's answer is the apostrophe in "Ich geh' mal schnell zur Tanke." wrong. – Iris Jun 10 '16 at 09:50
  • 1
    According to this Duden link, the use of the apostrophe to indicate the missing vowel on the shortened verb is not required or optional, it is incorrect: "Ein solches nicht vorhandenes e wird nicht durch einen Apostroph ersetzt." –  Jun 10 '16 at 08:36