German writing has its own fixed abbreviations, and using the English ones (e.g., i.e., etc.) marks your text as written by a non-native. Where English borrowed Latin abbreviations, German built native ones: z. B. (zum Beispiel), d. h. (das heißt), usw. (und so weiter). This page is a reference: the high-frequency abbreviations, how to punctuate them, how to read them aloud, and the conventions for dates, times, currency, and measurements.
The native abbreviations English speakers must learn
English carries Latin into its abbreviations — e.g. (exempli gratia), i.e. (id est), etc. (et cetera). German almost always uses a native abbreviation instead, and there is rarely a Latin fallback in everyday writing.
| German | Full form | Meaning (English) |
|---|---|---|
| z. B. | zum Beispiel | e.g. (for example) |
| d. h. | das heißt | i.e. (that is) |
| usw. | und so weiter | etc. (and so on) |
| bzw. | beziehungsweise | respectively / or rather (no English single word) |
| u. a. | unter anderem | among other things |
| u. Ä. | und Ähnliches | and the like |
| z. T. | zum Teil | in part / partly |
| i. d. R. | in der Regel | as a rule / usually |
| u. U. | unter Umständen | possibly / under certain circumstances |
| ggf. | gegebenenfalls | if applicable / if need be |
| evtl. | eventuell | possibly (NOT "eventually") |
| ca. | circa | approx. (about) |
| vgl. | vergleiche | cf. (compare) |
| etc. | et cetera | etc. (used, but usw. is more native) |
Wir verkaufen Obst, z. B. Äpfel, Birnen usw.
We sell fruit, e.g. apples, pears, etc.
Der Laden ist sonntags geschlossen, d. h. du musst vorher einkaufen.
The shop is closed on Sundays, i.e. you have to shop beforehand.
The trickiest one for English speakers is bzw. (beziehungsweise), because English has no single word for it. It means "or rather / and respectively," pairing two things to their two contexts: "Berlin bzw. München" can mean "Berlin or, alternatively, Munich," or "Berlin and Munich respectively," depending on context.
Die Kinder bzw. ihre Eltern müssen unterschreiben.
The children or rather their parents must sign.
Capitalized abbreviations: titles, nouns, units
Abbreviations that stand for nouns or titles keep their capital letter, because the full word is capitalized.
| Abbreviation | Full form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Nr. | Nummer | number (No.) |
| Str. | Straße | street (St.) |
| Hr. / Fr. | Herr / Frau | Mr. / Ms. |
| Dr. | Doktor | Dr. |
| Prof. | Professor | Prof. |
| MwSt. | Mehrwertsteuer | VAT (value-added tax) |
| Mio. | Million | million |
| Mrd. | Milliarde | billion (10⁹) |
| Tel. | Telefon | tel. |
| Abb. | Abbildung | figure (fig.) |
Frau Dr. Weber wohnt in der Hauptstr. 12.
Dr. Weber (f.) lives at 12 Main Street.
Der Preis beträgt 119 Euro inkl. MwSt.
The price is 119 euros including VAT.
Watch Mrd.: German Milliarde is 10⁹, i.e. the English billion. The German word Billion is 10¹², the English trillion — a genuine false friend in financial writing.
The period and the (thin) space
The orthographically correct form of a multi-word abbreviation puts a period after each abbreviated word and a thin space between the parts: z. B., d. h., u. a., i. d. R. A period also closes single-word abbreviations: usw., ca., Nr., Str.
A few abbreviations are written without periods because they are read as full letter-words or are standardized symbols: usw. has one (it's "und so weiter"), but units and standardized codes do not — kg, km, m, EUR, USD, EU, PKW.
In real-world typing, the thin space is awkward to produce, so people very commonly write z.B., d.h., u.a. with no space (or a normal space). This is tolerated in informal writing, but the Duden-correct form keeps the (thin) space. (informal) z.B. — (formal/correct) z. B.
How to read abbreviations aloud
This trips up learners constantly: you do not spell out the letters — you say the full words. z. B. aloud is "zum Beispiel," not "zett bee." The abbreviation is a writing convention only.
| Written | Spoken aloud |
|---|---|
| z. B. | zum Beispiel |
| d. h. | das heißt |
| usw. | und so weiter |
| bzw. | beziehungsweise |
| u. a. | unter anderem |
| ca. | circa / zirka |
Im Text steht z. B., aber man sagt zum Beispiel.
The text shows 'z. B.', but you say 'zum Beispiel'.
Exceptions are the few abbreviations that have become spoken initialisms: die EU ("eh-uh"), der PKW (also said in full as "Personenkraftwagen"), die AG, GmbH, WG. These you say as letters or as the established short form.
This split — written-only abbreviations versus spoken initialisms — mirrors English (e.g. is read "for example," but NASA is read as a word). The difference is which items fall into which bucket. A safe default for the abbreviations on this page: if it stands for a multi-word phrase (z. B., d. h., usw., bzw., u. a.), read the full phrase; if it is an organization or company-form code (EU, GmbH, AG, WG, DB), read the letters.
Sie arbeitet bei einer großen AG in der Stadt.
She works at a big corporation (AG, read as letters) in the city.
Frozen abbreviation phrases
A handful of abbreviations have hardened into fixed phrases that you will meet constantly in formal and bureaucratic German. Worth recognizing on sight:
| Abbreviation | Full form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| u. v. m. | und vieles mehr | and much more |
| s. o. / s. u. | siehe oben / siehe unten | see above / see below |
| n. Chr. / v. Chr. | nach / vor Christus | AD / BC |
| Pkt. | Punkt | point / item |
| inkl. / exkl. | inklusive / exklusive | incl. / excl. |
| einschl. | einschließlich | including |
Im Eintrittspreis sind Getränke inkl., Essen exkl.
Drinks are included in the entry price, food is not.
Die Stadt wurde 15 v. Chr. gegründet.
The town was founded in 15 BC.
Dates, times, currency, measurements
Dates
German writes the date day-first with periods, and the period after a numeral is the ordinal marker (1. = erste). So 1.5.2026 = "der erste Mai zweitausendsechsundzwanzig," not "January 5th."
Die Sitzung ist am 1.5.2026.
The meeting is on 1 May 2026 (day.month.year).
Heute ist der 3. Juni.
Today is the 3rd of June (3. = dritte).
Times
German uses the 24-hour clock in writing, with a colon (or, traditionally, a period) and the word Uhr. 14:30 Uhr = "vierzehn Uhr dreißig" / "halb drei (nachmittags)."
Der Zug fährt um 14:30 Uhr ab.
The train departs at 2:30 p.m. (14:30).
Currency
The decimal separator is a comma, and the currency symbol or code usually follows the number: 5,99 € or 5,99 EUR. The thousands separator is a period (or a thin space): 1.000 EUR = one thousand euros. This is the exact reverse of English, and it is the single most dangerous convention to ignore.
Das Buch kostet 12,50 EUR.
The book costs 12.50 euros (comma = decimal point).
Das Auto kostet 25.000 €.
The car costs 25,000 euros (period = thousands separator).
Measurements
Units follow the number with a space and no period (they are international symbols, not German abbreviations): 10 km, 5 kg, 100 g, 2 l, 30 °C. The number and unit are read in full: 10 km = "zehn Kilometer."
Bis zum Strand sind es noch 10 km.
It's another 10 km to the beach.
The reason units take no period is conceptual, and worth internalizing: a period marks an abbreviation of a German word (Str. is short for Straße), whereas a unit symbol like km or kg is an international standardized symbol, not a shortened German word, so it gets no period. The same logic explains why currency codes (EUR, USD) and country/organization codes (EU, DE) are periodless. When in doubt, ask yourself: "Am I shortening a German word, or using a fixed international symbol?" Words get a period; symbols do not.
Bei 30 °C im Schatten bleibe ich lieber drinnen.
At 30 °C in the shade I'd rather stay indoors.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wir verkaufen Obst, e.g. Äpfel, etc.
Incorrect — German uses z. B. and usw., not the English/Latin e.g. and etc.
✅ Wir verkaufen Obst, z. B. Äpfel, usw.
We sell fruit, e.g. apples, etc.
❌ Das Buch kostet 12.50 EUR.
Incorrect — German uses a comma for decimals: 12,50.
✅ Das Buch kostet 12,50 EUR.
The book costs 12.50 euros.
❌ Ich komme evtl. später — eventually.
Incorrect — evtl. (eventuell) means 'possibly', not 'eventually'.
✅ Ich komme evtl. später.
I'll possibly come later.
❌ Die Firma macht 3 Billionen Euro Umsatz.
Incorrect if you mean English 'billion' — German Billion is 10¹² (a trillion); use Milliarde/Mrd. for a billion.
✅ Die Firma macht 3 Milliarden Euro Umsatz.
The company has 3 billion euros in revenue.
❌ Treffen wir uns am 5/1?
Incorrect format — German writes the date day-first with periods: 1.5. for 1 May.
✅ Treffen wir uns am 1.5.?
Shall we meet on 1 May?
Key Takeaways
- Use the native German abbreviations: z. B. (e.g.), d. h. (i.e.), usw. (etc.), bzw. (respectively/or rather) — not the English ones.
- Multi-word abbreviations take a period after each word + a (thin) space: z. B., d. h. The spaceless z.B. is informal.
- Noun/title abbreviations stay capitalized: Nr., Str., Hr./Fr., Dr., MwSt., Mio./Mrd.
- Read abbreviations aloud as the full words (z. B. → "zum Beispiel").
- German numerals reverse English: comma = decimal, period = thousands; dates are day.month.year; times use the 24-hour clock + Uhr.
- False friends: evtl. = "possibly," Billion = a trillion.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- Punctuation and the CommaB1 — German punctuation is more rule-governed than English: a comma is obligatory before every subordinate and relative clause, plus the German low-high quotation marks and the colon.
- Spelling Foreign Words and AnglicismsB2 — How German spells loanwords and English borrowings: every borrowed noun is capitalized, the -s plural and y→ys, germanized variants (Foto/Photo, Delfin/Delphin), and how English verbs get German conjugation.
- Dates, Days, and YearsA2 — German dates use an ordinal day in day-month-year order (1.5.2026), days and months are masculine and take am/im, and years are read as plain numbers or in hundreds — with no preposition before a bare year (never in 1990).
- Quantities, Measurements, and CountingA2 — Why German says zwei Glas Bier (not Gläser) and eine Tasse Kaffee (no 'of') — the singular-unit rule, feminine exceptions, and ein paar vs ein Paar.
- Approximation and Quantity WordsB1 — How to express rough quantities in German — etwa, ungefähr, ca., gegen, an die — and the key knapp ('just under') vs gut ('just over') contrast, plus vague quantifiers.