About Swiss German
Swiss German are dialects spoken only in Switzerland but not in Germany. The Swiss dialects differ in grammar and pronunciation from High German. They are written only in private context but never in official documents, newspapers or business context. There are no official writing rules for Swiss German.
About this dictionary
This dictionary covers Swiss German as it is spoken today in the greater Zurich area.
Audio
Push the 
icon at the top right or in the list to hear the word in Swiss German.
Tips and Tricks
As Swiss German has no official writing rules, people are free to adopt their own rules. Recent research shows however that people normally adapt the standard German writing. The more a Swiss German word differs from the standard, the more the writing follows the Swiss German pronunciation. We follow this principle to provide you a dictionary written the way people really write today.
Here you find some common alternative writing-rules.
Vowels
Sometimes a vowel is doubled or followed by an «h», indicating that the pronunciation is stretched. We write «fahre» (to drive), but you might also find «faare» or even «fare». These alternatives exist for all vowels a, e, i, o, u and all Umlauts ä, ö, ü. Here an example for «e».
| ee - eh | lehre - leere (to learn) |
| e - ä | mache - machä (to do) |
| eu - öi | Freud - Fröid (joy) |
| ei - ai | Meinig - Mainig (opinion) |
Consonants
«St» is exchangeable with «scht» and «sp» with «schp» - no matter whether they stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word.
| st - scht | Gascht - Gast |
| sp - schp | Spiil - Schpiil |
Android
This dictionary is also available on Google Play.
About Verena Schorn
I was born and raised in Zurich and have been offering Swiss German courses since 2015. The lessons are aimed at everyone who wants to understand or speak the dialect better.
More information about lessons and updates of the dictionary can be found on Verena's homepage.
I am also the author of the grammar book (in German) «Schweizerdeutsch leicht gemacht - S Schwiizerdüütsch vo Züri» which is available on Apple Book, Google Play or directly from the publisher.