Translate German to English

Free German to English translator with a formal or informal register and names kept exactly as you wrote them.

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Type, paste or upload a document. The source language is detected automatically. Select a name or term and tap Keep to leave it untranslated.

Your translation will appear hereChoose the target language, add your text, then press Translate. Click any sentence in the translation for alternatives.

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German to English translator

German to English translation with the register set first

Paste German and get English back with the tone of the original intact. English has no Sie and du, so the difference has to be carried by phrasing; the register selector tells the translator which way to lean, and the names and terms you mark as kept come through exactly as you wrote them.

How to translate German to English

Three steps. The second is the one most translators skip.

Paste or upload the German

Type, paste or drop in a document. German is already selected as the source on this page; if the text turns out to be something else, the detector says so above the editor and you can change it.

Set the register and mark the names to keep

Pick Formal or Informal from the register selector beside the language names, or leave it on Match source tone to follow the German original. Select any name, brand or product term and press Keep so it is passed through as written.

Translate, then check it

Read the English if you can. If you cannot, back-translate it: run the result through English to German and compare the meaning, sentence by sentence, with what you started from.

What changes between German and English

The differences that decide whether a translation reads as written by a person.

Script and directionGerman is written in Latin; English in Latin.
Word orderGerman is verb-second in main clauses, verb-final in subordinate clauses; English is subject-verb-object. Sentences are rebuilt, not mapped word for word, and long sentences are where a weak translator loses the thread.
How politeness is markedEnglish has no separate polite and familiar 'you'. Register lives in vocabulary and sentence shape instead: 'Could you let me know' against 'Tell me', 'purchase' against 'buy'.
Formality in GermanGerman separates 'du' (familiar, singular), 'ihr' (familiar, plural) and 'Sie' (polite, always capitalised, singular and plural). Business and official writing uses 'Sie' unless someone has offered 'du'.

Where translation into English goes wrong

Three things English readers notice at once, and a machine has to be told about.

One 'you' for every register

Every language with a polite and familiar 'you' collapses to one word in English, so the tone of the original has to be carried by phrasing or it is lost.

US or UK spelling

US and UK spelling differ (color and colour, organize and organise); a translation should stay consistent with whichever the reader expects.

Articles have to be added

Articles ('a', 'the') have to be added where the source language has none, and choosing the wrong one reads as foreign.

What has to be read correctly in the German first

Errors that start on the source side, before a single English word is chosen.

The verb comes last

Subordinate clauses put the verb at the very end, so the meaning of a long German sentence is not settled until its last word; machines that translate too early get the verb wrong.

Separable verbs

Separable verbs split across the sentence ('macht… auf'); the prefix at the end changes the meaning entirely.

Modal particles

Modal particles ('doch', 'mal', 'ja') carry tone rather than meaning and have no direct English word.

Who translates German to English here

Replies to English-speaking customers and colleagues.

Coursework, applications and CVs for English-language institutions.

Reading English documentation, contracts and news.

Going the other way? Translate English to German.

German to English translator FAQs

Is the German to English translator free?

Yes. Translate German to English without an account, within the per-run word allowance shown beside the editor. Signing in raises it, and Pro removes the guest limits and the ads. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.

What happens to Sie and du when I translate into English?

English has one 'you', so the distinction between Sie and du disappears at the pronoun. The translator carries the tone through phrasing instead — a Sie original comes out as English a stranger would expect, a du one as English between people who know each other. If the result reads too stiff or too casual, change the register selector and run it again.

Will it translate names, brands and product terms?

Not unless you want it to. Select a name or a term in the editor and press Keep, and it is passed through exactly as written. This matters for German to English because a brand name can look like an ordinary word and get 'translated' into one.

How accurate is machine translation from German to English?

Good enough to understand a document, answer an email or draft a reply, and it improves when you set the register and mark the names as kept first. It is not a substitute for a human translator on a contract, a medical document or anything with legal weight. The reliable way to check a translation you cannot read is to back-translate it: paste the English result into a new run set to German and see whether the meaning survived.

Can I translate a whole document from German to English?

Yes. Drop in a .docx, .pdf or .txt file, or paste the text; the output keeps the paragraph structure and can be copied, edited in place or exported.

Can I translate English to German as well?

Yes. Use the English to German translator, or press the swap button between the two language names on this page. Either way the register and the kept terms come with you.

After the translation

Check the German before you translate it, or shift the register of the result once it is in English. One plan covers every tool.

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Popular language translations

Each pair opens the translator with both languages already set. The register and the Keep button work the same on every one.