The Amish of America speak a hybrid dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German. It is a Germanic language with a good amount of English mixed in.
If you sit and listen to two Amish speaking, you may be surprised that what seems like every fifth or tenth or twentieth word is actually English. Occasionally you find you can sort of follow along as they speak.
PA Dutch is a largely unwritten language. When the Amish write notes and letters to one another, they usually use English.
But the typical Amish child will not speak much or any English until he or she reaches school age. PA Dutch is the first language they learn as toddlers, and the language that most Amish are most comfortable conversing in. Once in school, the teacher, who is almost always Amish, teaches the children English, and all lessons are held using English as a base language.
In fact, many if not most Amish are actually trilingual, because in addition to English and ‘Dutch’, they speak and understand High German, which is the language their Bibles are written in and the language typically used in their church services.
The Amish are not the only ones who have been known to speak PA German, though they are the largest group. Speakers of the dialect, including Mennonites and non-Amish, have been found historically in the southeastern region of Pennsylvania, as well as in the Shenandoah valley region stretching south through Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.
External linguistic Amish resources
- Erik Wesner is an expert on the Amish. In fact he even wrote this post. Please go to his site Amish America he even has a great post called,
- Answer about Amish language and culture. Erik even has a real live Amish man sometimes answering questions, I think he has a computer hidden in his barn or something, really.
- The following this Amish language , to listen to a sample recording of Pennsylvania Dutch.
83 responses to Language of the Amish – Pennsylvania Dutch language
The Amish definitely speak the language differently that the non-Anabaptist Pennsylvania Dutch, but I do understand it. It is interesting to see how English words enter the tongue and get “dutchified.”
I will be doing a paper on how the English “happen” replaced its Teutonic equivalents, “gschehna” and “bassiera” in Pennsylvania German.
A study of the Pennsylvania Dutch is not complete without mentioning the role of religion. I have yet to meet kinder, gentler folks than the Amish and Mennonites.
Their method of maintaining the language, that is, talking nothing but it to the kids till first grade, is very wise and successful. Thus it becomes the beloved Muttersprache that they will never forget.
Amish language learn
I would like to learn the Amish language, Do you have any suggestions on this? I have a dear Amish friend but she lives about 5 hours away so that is really not an option. Any other ideas? Thank you so much for any help you can give. Moni
Learning PA Dutch
Hi Moni,
My grandparents were Pennsylvania Dutch speaking, although not Amish. In the past a lot of non-Amish people spoke the language too. I am learning it myself, and I’ll admit that since I speak “standard” German it isn’t that hard. I’d say the differences between PA Dutch and standard German are about like those between standard English and Scottish English, although like any regional language, PA Dutch has a lot of English words esp. for things uniquely American and many everyday expressions like “of course”, “for sure”, etc. are used as well. A good source might be the PA Dutch newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe. If you google it, you’ll find it. It has a section called “Alle saade Waade” which tells stories line by line in PA Dutch and English and that can be a good way to start. I guess you’d more correctly call PA Dutch a dialect (of German) rather than an actual language because it is intelligible to speakers of standard German (if they speak slowly) esp. those from Rhineland-Pfalz and it even has similarities with other southern German dialects. Hiwwe wie Driwwe on its online site also has mini-lessons in the dialect as well. Hiwwe wie Driwwe translates to “over here like over there” and recalls the close ties between the PA Dutch and Rhineland-Pfalz dialects. Most of the ancestors of the PA Dutch came from Rhineland-Pfalz.
Thank you Moni for telling of that newspaper, I have very good Amish friends in Middlebury In. And they really like me taking an interest in their culture. My dream is to move out there soon.
I can tell you a book to get to speak the language
The book costs $2.95 and it’s called the Amish language for the English.
"dutchified" English words
I’ve also learned “guudguckich” (good-looking) and “Siessherz” (sweetheart), both “dutchified” English expressions. And perhaps the most famous of all, “Grundsow” or “Grundsau”, groundhog. The PA Dutch apparently invented Groundhog Day, although I think that back in Rheinland-Pfalz it was a badger rather than a groundhog. We don’t have badgers in PA but there are tons of groundhogs, so a groundhog was a logical choice. They do have groundhogs (Murmeltiere) in other German-speaking regions, though, but perhaps not in Rheinland-Pfalz. I’ve heard the expression “ich hab wie ein Murmeltier gepennt” (I slept like a log, literally “like a groundhog”), so I guess groundhogs are known more for sleeping than for seeing their shadows and predicting spring in the parts of the German-speaking world where they do have them.
How similar is the language of the Amish to Afrikaans? are they mutually understandable?
I will ask my resident Amish expert today, but I think they are like English and Dutch. Close but no cigar.
what are Amish Words
for Dad
Children
Marriage
Date of Death
Date of Marriage
Parents
Grandparents
thank you
Thank you in the Amish language
Danki means thank you.
This is how to say ? in Amish/PA Dutch or German
1. Dad in PA Dutch = Dawdie however most Amish reserve Dawdie for Grandfather and just say Datt for Dad
2. Children in PA Dutch = Kinnah (a child is a kind)
3. Marriage in PA Dutch = hochtzich
4. Date of Death in PA Dutch = we wouldn’t say this, we would say day in place of date as follows: dawk vunn doht, avvah sei starvah dawk for his death date/day
5. Date of Marriage = here again German would be used for recording this date, however if translating into PA Dutch one may say it as follows: die hochtzich dawk which means the marriage day
6. Parents in PA Dutch = Eldra
7. Grandparents in PA Dutch = Gross Eldra but the Amish use the term Dawdiss for grandparents
8. thank you in PA Dutch depends on the usage of the person, family, region Etc. however most Amish except for the Swiss Amish will say something that sounds like Dengyay (deng-yay)
Swiss Amish
What is the difference in the Swiss Amish language. You indicate a difference, so I am curious. My decendants are from Switzerland and settled in the Bainbridge, PA area.
Please don’t make the mistake to call the language “Dutch” as it is not: Dutch means: from the Netherlands or the language, spoken in the Netherlands.
It is “Deutsch” which mean: from Deutschland (or Germany) or the language, spoken in Germany.
It is Dutch to the Native Speaker
The language is known by the Amish & all who speak it on the North American Continent as Dutch. To say that this is incorrect indicates little first hand knowledge or contact with the actual native speakers of the language. The educated technical term is however Pennsylvania Dutch or German depending on who you are speaking to. In Dutch this would be said as: Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch.
You are correct that it is not the same as the Dutch language spoken in the Netherlands “Holland”, the reason for this is that their tongue is from what is considered low German while our Dutch comes from High German.
The web-links page at www.plainnewlife.org has many good links that deal with the languages spoken by the Amish
To mention Afrikaans in relation to Amish:
Afrikaans is from origine a language from the Dutch (from The Netherlands) and not from the Germans (Deutsch) so it has some similar or almost similar words but is different again just as the language in the Netherlands is different from the language in Germany.
I know how it is to be Amish i live around them. my grandma drives them around.
I am becoming amish in one year and I need to learn that language fast.
It is really a spoken language more than a written language and that is the problem with learning the Amish language. That is the bad news, the good news is it is no harder than German. It has nice grammatical structure and logic. It is similar to English in that both English and Amish are Germanic languages so it will not be hard to learn. Maybe a year or two in the community.
Languages German English Amish and French
While English and German are both Germanic, about 60 % of English words today are actually French. But not the same with German. And older English is made up of very simple words which German is not. English became a very sophisticated Germanic language with the French influence. Amish don’t use these Latin words as we do in English. Our English language lost a lot of its originality and is not like German much at all today either. German is much more sophisticated than older English.
Learn the Amish language with a pocket guide
It is called The Amish language for the English. I mailed for it, It has over 500 of the most commonly used words in the Amish language,also phrases,counting and telling time. I don’t know if I can post it leagaly, but u can contact me.
I am so sorry, just found your blog/forum last week. So I am sorry for the late response to this issue.
As I am originally german, I read about the Pennsylvennia people or Amish-People. What I could find out is, the german part of their language sounds like that slang which is spoken in an area called “Phälzer Wald”. Here is the wikipedia explication about this very beautiful area:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatinate_Forest
If you hobby is wandering in lots of woods with lonesome little sources (hand in hand with a lovely girl) or if you want to see some relicts from the WWII deep in the woods, this is your place. It is situated in the South-West of Germany, the french border is next to it and bigger cities are Ludwigshafen.
I think, I would understand the Amish without any problem. But if you learned german in the school, you might have a problem to talk to them if they don’t talk in english. Like I said, they are using a slang, not the proper German we do speak.
I don’t agree so much with the Amish’s way of life, which seems to be very traditional and sticking on a level we lived in the 19th century. But ok, everyone should become happy with its own cup of tea…
@Soon To Be Amish
>>>PA German – Nouns
PA German – Verbs
PA German – Verbs (with conjugations)
I see this set of cards that you did up. Is there any way to get audio with them?
iflipr.com/deck/menu/206236
iflipr.com/deck/menu/206237
Is there are way to have them sound the words.
I love Amish women
They’re the nicest, period. Softspoken, well mannered and very proud people they are. God bless these ladies.
Peculiar - The PA Dutch language?
There’s nothing thats really “peculiar” about the Amish language, it’s simply an old dialect that was spoken in Germany in the 1800s and was brought with the Amish when they settled here. It’s also interesting to note that even though Dutch settlers were mixed among them (among Swiss and others), the term “Pennsylvania Dutch” over the years became a corruption of the original term which was “Pennsylvania Deutsch”.
Indeed Pennsylvania Dutch is German and not Dutch (Netherlands). I would say by way of comparison that Dutch and German are about as similar to one another as Spanish and Portuguese are to each other. In other words if you know one you will probably be able to read a lot of things in the other but not understand the spoken language. Someone who knows it please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Afrikaans evolved in South Africa from the Dutch colonists (Boers, Voortrekkers) and by isolation from the Netherlands over time became standardized as a separate language. I think someone from the Netherlands and someone from South Africa who speaks Afrikaans can communicate, but probably have to speak slowly. And if you know German you can figure out a lot of written words and phrases in Afrikaans like you can in Dutch.
Looking for an expression
In one of the many Amish-related books I’ve read, in the past 4+ years, I came across a lovely expression meaning, “So willingly done.” If I could remember which book that was in, or which author wrote it, I would be talking to my Kindle, right now. Are you familiar with such an expression?
Also, while many of the books include a glossary, none includes any clues as to pronunciation. Is “Daed” pronounced like our “Dad”? There are many expressions I would like to know, for sure, how to pronounce, so I could stop getting hung up on them, while I’m reading!
Vicki, I will have the answers to your question, but if you can not believe it for a few months, when I go to Amishland. So if you can be patient I will have the answer.
Ach--
Mark, thank you, but I’m sure I can find it sooner than that, if I really want to find it badly enough!
I remember enough of the story that I’ll know it, when I find it. Thank you, though, and enjoy your trip to Amishland.
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