24 Writing in German: the first few things you should be aware of
Here are the most important things about writing in German that you should be aware of as they work differently than in English:
1) All nouns are always capitalized in German (e.g. Maus im Haus). FYI, they were capitalized in English too up until mid-19th century. When time you see a newspaper page from the 1800′, look for it. You will be surprised.
2) The German word ‘ich’ which means ‘I’, is not capitalized unless it starts a sentence.
3) On the other hand, the word for polite You (Sie) is always capitalized:
e.g. Verstehe ich Sie richtig? (Do I understand You correctly?)
4) In English, if the first element of a sentence is not a subject, it is separated by a comma. In German, this rule does not exist.
e.g. Am Dienstag gibt es keinen Deutschkurs. (On Tuesday, there is no German class)