Swiss-German phrasebook

Swiss-German (Schweizerdeutsch in standard German; some endonyms are Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch or Schwizertitsch) is a broad category of Germanic dialects spoken in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

These dialects are considerably different from standard German, especially in regard to those very phrases which a traveler needs: niceties, greetings, asking for things, getting directions, etc. For example, "Fine, thank you" is Guet, merci; with guet being the German word for good/fine, while merci is from the French "thank you". In addition, there are many pronunciation differences which separate Swiss-German from either language. For example, the diphthong in Swiss-German "guet" versus the monophthong in High-German "gut".

You are unlikely to have to learn Swiss-German, as all German-speaking Swiss educated in modern-day schools are also able to speak standard German. Nevertheless, saying a few words in Swiss-German will undoubtedly impress the locals.

Swiss German is different from Swiss Standard German (Schweizer Hochdeutsch), which is a variant of standard German for formal speech and writing in Switzerland, with some vocabulary differences, such as das Tram ("streetcar", Straßenbahn or die Tram in standard German) and Billett ("ticket", Fahrkarte, Fahrschein or Ticket in standard German).

Neither Swiss German nor Swiss Standard German use the Eszett (ß), and typically use a double s (ss) instead in its place.