German Keyboard Tester for QWERTZ Keyboards

The German layout in the picture

German keyboards use the ISO shape with a tall Enter key and an extra key next to left Shift. The layout is set by the German standard DIN 2137, last revised in 2023, and the picture shows the one printed on everyday keyboards and installed by Windows as “German”. Compared with a US keyboard:

• Z and Y swap places, so the row under the numbers starts Q W E R T Z.
• Ü, Ö and Ä take the bracket, semicolon and apostrophe keys, and ß sits right of 0.
• < > | is the extra key next to left Shift, and # ' sits beside Enter.
• The shifted number row reads ! " § $ % & / ( ) =, and the third symbol on a keycap, bottom right, comes with AltGr: @ on Q, € on E, braces and brackets on 7 to 0, \ on ß, ~ on +, | on <, µ on M, ² and ³ on 2 and 3.

In the event log, ß shows up as Minus and Z as KeyY.

Testing the special keys

AltGr. Windows reports AltGr as Left Ctrl plus Right Alt. The tester drops the extra Ctrl, so AltGr counts once and Left Ctrl still needs its own press. Hold AltGr and press Q, E and 7 to 0 to check the combinations you use for @, € and brackets.

German key names. German keycaps name the other keys in German: Strg is Ctrl, and the six keys above the arrows are Einfg, Pos1, Bild auf, Entf, Ende and Bild ab (Insert, Home, Page Up, Delete, End, Page Down). They sit in the same places in the picture, and the event log uses the English names.

DIN 2137 also defines an extended layout, E1, which adds many more characters through AltGr and dead keys, such as the capital ẞ on AltGr+G and French quotation marks. Windows 11 offers it as “German Extended (E1)”. It runs on the same physical keyboard, so the test works the same way.

When the letters come out wrong

Two layout settings make a German keyboard type the wrong characters, and in both the keys themselves are fine:

• US layout. Z and Y are swapped, ö types ; and ß types -.
• Swiss German layout. Letters are right, but the ß key types ', Shift with ü, ö or ä gives è, é or à, the key left of 1 types §, and @ sits on AltGr+2 instead of AltGr+Q. Windows lists it as a separate keyboard, “Swiss German”, next to “German”.

In Chrome and Edge the line under the picture says when the computer isn’t set to German, and the event log shows what each key types, so a ; from the Ö key or a - from the ß key shows the mix-up at a glance. Pick “German” as the keyboard in your language settings to fix it.

The German keys at a glance

These keys differ from a US keyboard. The browser code is the name the key sends in the event log, taken from the US key in the same place. Letter keys type capitals with Shift. AltGr is the right Alt key; on Windows, Ctrl+Alt does the same.