Older Spellings

Level 6

Luxembourgish spelling has changed several times: 1946, 1975, 1999 and 2019. An older text may write Ausnahm where today you write Ausnam.

How It Works

1. A short history

  • 1946: the first official system. It wrote words as they sounded, did not capitalize nouns and did not use ä, e.g. shwèzt for today's schwätzt. It was not widely accepted.
  • 1975: a new standard based on the Luxembourgish dictionary of the time. Most books from the late 20th century use it.
  • 1999: a reform of the 1975 rules.
  • 2019: the current official spelling of the Zenter fir d'Lëtzebuerger Sprooch.

2. Changes from 2019
A few examples:

  • No lengthening h: Ausnahm → Ausnam
  • A long e is written ee: Regel → Reegel, Pegel → Peegel
  • A suffix such as -chen counts as a separate part of the word: Mäerchen → Märchen
  • One n in -néieren and -(i)onell, even when French has two: abonéieren, traditionell

3. What to do
When you copy a word from an old book, check it in the LOD before you use it.

Examples (5)

  1. Ech iessen alles, mat Ausnam vu Fësch.

    I eat everything except fish.

    Older texts write Ausnahm.

  2. Ech verstinn dës grammatesch Reegel net.

    I do not understand this grammar rule.

    Older texts write Regel.

  3. D'Bomi liest de Kanner e Märche vir.

    Grandma reads the children a fairy tale.

    Older texts write Mäerchen.

  4. Mir hunn doheem zwou Zeitungen abonéiert.

    We subscribe to two newspapers at home.

    Current spelling with one n.

  5. shwèzt → schwätzt

    speaks: the 1946 spelling and today's spelling

Common Mistakes

  • Copying a spelling that the 2019 rules replaced.

    Ech iessen alles, mat Ausnahm vu Fësch.
    Ech iessen alles, mat Ausnam vu Fësch.

    Since 2019 the lengthening h is no longer written. The LOD shows the current form Ausnam.

  • Writing a long e with a single letter as in older texts.

    Ech verstinn dës grammatesch Regel net.
    Ech verstinn dës grammatesch Reegel net.

    The current rules write a long e as ee in this word: Reegel.

How It Connects

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

Older SpellingsLevel 6

Learn This First

Before Older Spellings, learn Accepted Spelling Variants.