all / alles

All and Everything: All and Alles

Level 3

All goes before a noun: all Dag (every day), all d'Kanner (all the children). Alles stands alone and means everything: Alles ass an der Rei.

How It Works

1. All + noun: every
With a singular noun and no article, all means every or each. It does not change for gender:

  • all Dag (every day), all Woch (every week), all Joer (every year)
  • all Kand (every child), all zweeten Dag (every other day)

2. All + article or possessive: all the
Put all in front of d', de, a possessive or a demonstrative:

  • all d'Kanner (all the children), all meng Frënn (all my friends)
  • all de Schockela (all the chocolate), all säi Geld (all his money)

3. All after the verb
All can also refer back to the subject or object, like English we are all ...:

  • Mir sinn all do. (We are all here.)
  • Si hunn et all gewosst. (They all knew it.)

Alleguer means the same and is very common: Mir waren alleguer do. It can also go before the noun: alleguer d'Kanner.

4. The form allen
In two places all takes an ending. Like other -en words, it follows the n-rule:

  • In the dative plural without an article: mat alle Leit (with everyone), vun allen Iddien (of all the ideas).
  • Before a number: allen zwee (both of them), alle véier (all four).

5. Alles: everything
Alles stands on its own, never before a noun. It takes a singular verb:

  • Alles ass an der Rei. (Everything is fine.)
  • Dat ass alles. (That is all.)
  • Merci fir alles! (Thanks for everything!)

After a dative preposition, alles becomes allem: mat allem (with everything), virun allem (above all). A fixed wish you will hear often is Alles Gutts! (All the best!). Here Gutts is an adjective used as a noun, which is why it has a capital letter.

6. Spelling
All, alles and allem are written with a small letter, even when they stand for a noun. Only at the start of a sentence do they get a capital.

For people, everyone is jiddereen, and the opposite of alles is näischt.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech fueren all Dag mam Bus.

    I take the bus every day.

    All with a singular noun and no article means every.

  2. All d'Kanner spillen am Gaart.

    All the children are playing in the garden.

    All goes in front of the article d'.

  3. Mir sinn all do.

    We are all here.

    All after the verb refers back to mir.

  4. Alles ass an der Rei.

    Everything is fine.

    Alles stands alone and takes the singular verb ass.

  5. Merci fir alles!

    Thanks for everything!

  6. Ech hu mat alle Leit geschwat.

    I talked to everyone.

    After mat, in the dative plural without an article, all becomes allen. It loses its n before L by the n-rule.

Common Mistakes

  • Using alles before a noun.

    Alles Kanner spillen am Gaart.
    All d'Kanner spillen am Gaart.

    Alles means everything and stands on its own. Before a noun, use all.

  • Using all on its own to mean everything.

    All ass an der Rei.
    Alles ass an der Rei.

    On its own, everything is alles. All needs a noun after it, or it refers back to a subject such as mir.

  • Using a plural verb with alles.

    Alles sinn an der Rei.
    Alles ass an der Rei.

    Alles is singular, like English everything is, so the verb is ass.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

all / allesLevel 3All and Everything: All and Alles

Learn This First

Before All and Everything: All and Alles, learn Everyone and No One: Jiddereen and Keen and Something and Nothing: Eppes and Näischt.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

allalles