Swiss-German is considerably different from German, especially as it happens in regards to those very phrases which a traveler needs: niceties, greetings, asking for stuff, getting directions, etc. One of the key differences to getting by with Swiss German. For example, "Fine, thank you" is Guet, merci; with guet being the German word for good/fine, while merci is from the French "thank you". In addition, there are many pronunciation differences which separate Swiss-German from either language. For example, the diphthong in Swiss-German "guet" versus the monophthong in High-German "gut".
Note that most of the following Swiss-German phrases and words are written as they would be pronounced by people living in the area around Bern, Basel, Zürich (i.e. in the canton of Bern, etc.). Whilst bernese dialect is widely understood in the Swiss-German part of Switzerland, it's by no means "official" Swiss-German (despite of the fact that Bern is the Swiss capital). There is no standardized Swiss-German ("Schwyzerdüütsch"). Remarkably, the native dialects spoken in the many Swiss-German cantons are clearly distinguishable by locals (i.e. they can tell apart from the dialect in which canton somebody grew up). Speaking Swiss-German is common for all people living in the Swiss-German part of Switzerland, independent of age or education. For writing, standard German is mostly used, though Swiss-German dialect is particularly popular among the youths (e.g. in e-mail messages, SMS messages etc.). With the ongoing globalization and immigration, mixing Swiss-German dialects with English (quite often even with pseudo English) or speaking so called "Jugo-Deutsch" (German pronounced as immigrants coming from the former Yugoslavia region tend to pronounce it) has also become trendy for youngsters.
For official documents, standard German is used.
Vowels
Consonants
Common diphthongs
Phrase list
Basics
Hoi!
hello/hi (informal)
Hoi zäme!
hi everyone (informal)
Saluti! [salooti!] Saletti!
hi (very informal)
Grüezi! [Grea-atsie]
hello (formal)
Grüezi Frau/Herr ...!
hello Ms/Mr ... (formal)
Grüezi mitenand! [Grea-tsi metta-nònd]
hello everyone (formal)
Problems
ich ha(n) mi(s) Portmonnaie verlore!
I lost my wallet! (n, s = variants, depending on the dialect)
ich fühl mi(ch) schlächt
I feel sick/not well/upset (ch = variant)
wo isch de Polizei Poschte?
where is the police station?
ich mues öppis mälde
I have to/must report something
Spital
Hospital
Hät's da es Spital i de Nöchi?
is there a hospital nearby?
ich bi(n) velore/mir sind verlore
I/we am/are lost!! (n = variant)
bitte säged sie mir wo.....isch?
Can you please tell me where.....is?
Bahnhof
train station
Taxi Stand
taxi station
Bank
Bank
Post
post office (prononced="pay-tay-tay")
Hotel " "
the " " hotel
Chile
church
ich bi(n) verliebt!
I'm in love
ich lib dech!
I love you!
Numbers
1 eis, äis, ais, eins
2 zwei, zwöi, zwai
3 drü, drai
4 vier
5 foif, fföif, füüf, fünf
6 sächs
7 sibe, sebe
8 acht
9 nün
10 zäh, zehn
Zit (time)
Was esch för zit? (what time is it?)
Es esch .... (It is ....)
eis (one o'clock)
halbi eis (half past twelfe)
viertel vor eis (quater to one)
zäh vor eis (ten to one)
virtel ab eis (quarter past one)
zäh ab eis (ten past one)
halbi zwoi (half past one)
Duration
Wie lang gohts bis ... (How long does it take to...)
Wie lang het me bis....? (dito)
Duretslang bes of? (dito)
