Locale Dsb De

Reference data for the Lower Sorbian (Germany) locale — endonym Dolnoserbšćina (Nimska), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: dsb-DE
• ISO 639-1: not assigned
• ISO 639-3: dsb
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: DE (Germany)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 7,000
• L2 (additional): 3,000
• L1+L2 (total): 10,000

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, two, few, other (4 forms).

• one — v = 0 and i % 100 = 1 or f % 100 = 1 (e.g. 1, 101, 201, 301, …)
• two — v = 0 and i % 100 = 2 or f % 100 = 2 (e.g. 2, 102, 202, 302, …)
• few — v = 0 and i % 100 = 3..4 or f % 100 = 3..4 (e.g. 3, 4, 103, 104, …)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 5~19, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbska, dsb) is a West Slavic language spoken in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg. It is a minority language of Germany with a small number of speakers, and it has features not found in major languages (the dual number). Terminology and norms come from the Sorbian Institute (Serbski institut). This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

• Translate into Lower Sorbian rather than copying German word order and German loanwords; German influence is strong and weakens the text. Use Sorbian terminology where it exists.
• Re-express idioms by meaning.

Grammar.

• Lower Sorbian has the dual number (for two) in nouns, pronouns, and verbs in addition to singular and plural. Use the dual when two things or people are meant.
• Cases: seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, vocative). Adjectives and nouns agree.
• Verbs have aspect (perfective and imperfective); do not drop it.

Register.

• "Ty" is the informal singular, "wy" the polite form and plural. Public-facing text uses "wy".

Orthography and typography.

• Alphabet: Latin with diacritics (ć, č, ě, ł, ń, ŕ, š, ś, ž, ź); never replace them with unaccented forms.
• Quotation marks „…“; decimal comma; euro.

Common pitfalls

• Dropping the dual or the diacritics.
• Translating through German.
• Mixing Lower and Upper Sorbian forms.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Serbski institut / Sorbisches Institut (https://www.serbski-institut.de)
• Domowina (https://www.domowina.sorben.com)