Pennsylvania Dutch English - Features of Pennsylvania German Influence

Features of Pennsylvania German Influence

Pennsylvania Dutch English differs from standard American English in various ways. Some of its hallmark features include the following:

  • Widespread devoicing of obstruents.
  • The use of certain vowel variants in specific phonological contexts.
  • The use of Pennsylvania German verb and noun stems in word construction.
  • Specific intonation patterns for questions.
  • Special placement of prepositional phrases in sentences (so that "Throw the horse some hay over the fence" might be rendered "Throw the horse over the fence some hay").
  • The use of "ain't" and "not" or "say" as question tags.
  • The use of "still" as a habitual verbal marker.
  • Use of the word "yet" to mean "still," such as "do you work at the store yet?" to mean "do you still work at the store?"
  • Use of terms such as "doncha know" and "so I do" or "so he does" at the end of declaratory sentences.
  • Use of the word "awhile" at the end of sentences proposing simultaneous actions (e.g. "Go get the tea out of the pantry; I'll start boiling the water awhile.").
  • The use of "tree" instead of "three" to describe the number "3".

Other calques and idioms include:

Pennsylvania Dutch English Standard English Modern German
Make wet? Is it going to rain? Wird es regen?
Outen the lights. Turn off the lights. Mach das Licht aus.
The candy is all. There is no more candy. Die Süßigkeiten sind alle.
Don't eat yourself full. Don't fill yourself up. Iss dich nicht voll.
There's cake back yet. There is cake to come. Es gibt da noch Kuchen.
Red up the room. Clean the room. Räum das Zimmer auf.
It wonders me. It makes me wonder. Das wundert mich.
Hurrieder Faster Schneller
Spritzing Lightly raining nieseln
Rutsching Squirming auf dem Bauch rutschen
Schusslich Clumsy with things usually due to hurrying schusselig
Doplich Clumsy with self Tollpatschig sein.
Yah, well. Whatever, or It makes no difference Ja, wohl.
Wutz Pig (when someone eats a lot) die Wutz
Kutz / kutzing Vomit / vomiting die Kotze / kotzen
Wonnernaus A polite way of saying "None of your business"
Schtriwwelich Uncombed or stringy strubbelig
Brutzing, Gretzing Whining/complaining Jammern, Klagen
Wuntz (Once) for a second/real quick Ein Moment / mal
Dippy ecks over easy, soft-boiled eggs Spiegeleier
Mox nix irrelevant Das macht nichts OR Macht nichts.
Nix nootz/Nix nootzie Misbehaving(usually referring to a little kid) Nichtsnutz
Schnickelfritz troublemaker(usually referring to a little kid) Störenfried
All None left/All gone alle / leer
Right like exactly the same as Genau wie

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