däss

Däss is a dialectal variant of the German conjunction dass, used to introduce subordinate clauses with the meaning "that." It occurs in several German-speaking regions, particularly in Alemannic and Bavarian varieties, including many Swiss German dialects and some Austrian dialects. In dialect writing, the form dass may be rendered in various ways to reflect local pronunciation, and dass with an umlauted ä (däss) is one such representation used by linguists or authors to indicate a distinct vowel quality.

Phonology and orthography vary by region, but the core function remains the same as the standard German dass: it marks clauses that depend on or comment on the content of a main clause. The use of лdäss in writing helps convey subtleties of spoken speech, where the word may be pronounced with a different vowel length or quality than the standard form. It is not a separate word in meaning, but a dialectal spelling that encodes pronunciation.

Distinctions from other similar forms are common in dialects. For example, das in standard German serves as a definite article or relative pronoun, while dass (and its dialectal variants) functions as a subordinating conjunction. In many contexts, the intended function is clear from syntax and does not alter overall sentence meaning.

Etymology traces dass to the standard German conjunction, with roots in Proto-Germanic and cognates across Germanic languages. The dialectal spelling dass or dass-like forms such as däss or dass-like representations are primarily a matter of phonology and orthography in regional varieties. See also: dass, German dialects, Swiss German, German subordination.