The English writing assistant for people who think in German.
Grammarly was made for native English writers. WriteNative is made for you: it explains every suggestion in German, shows what each word means and how to say it, and turns what you write in German into natural English, in any app on your Mac.
Explanations in German, not just corrections
A red underline tells you something is wrong. It does not tell you why, and next week you make the same mistake. Click any WriteNative underline and the card explains the reason in German: a tense that does not fit, a missing article, a word that looks right but means something else in English.
Each suggested word comes with its meaning in this sentence in German ("received" → erhalten) and its pronunciation, so you learn the word while you fix it.
Mistakes German speakers make in English
German and English are close relatives, which is exactly why some mistakes look right when you write them. A few that almost everyone knows:
A correction alone does not help much with these. The card tells you in German why the English word means something else here, or which tense fits, so next time you get it right yourself.
- False friends: "become" is werden, not bekommen; "actual" is tatsächlich, not aktuell; "eventually" is schließlich, not eventuell; "sensible" is vernünftig, not sensibel.
- Tenses with seit: "I work here since 2020" instead of "I have worked here since 2020".
- Present perfect with a past time: "I have seen him yesterday" instead of "I saw him yesterday".
- Uncountable nouns: there are no "informations" or "advices", only "information" and "advice".
- German comma rules: English usually has no comma before "that".
Write in German, send English
Press ⌥ twice with nothing selected and write what you mean in German. The English appears as you type, written the way a colleague would say it rather than word for word, and goes in at your cursor in Slack, Mail, Notion or the browser.
WriteNative and Grammarly for German speakers
Both check your English in the apps on your Mac. The difference is how much of it you understand.
| WriteNative | Grammarly | |
|---|---|---|
| Reason for each suggestion | In German | Short labels in English |
| Word meanings and pronunciation | In German | No |
| Write in German, get English at the cursor | Yes | Separate translation step |
| Typos fixed automatically as you type | Yes, in native Mac apps | No |
| Runs entirely on your Mac | Yes, with On-device | No |
Where it works
Mail, Messages, Notes, Slack, Notion, text boxes in Chrome and most other apps with a text field. Pages and Keynote through the shortcut. It does not work inside Google Docs.
Questions
- Is the app itself in German?
- Yes. The Mac app and this website are in German, along with eight other languages. Explanations follow the app's language.
- Does Grammarly work for German speakers?
- Grammarly now gives suggestions for German text too, but its explanations stay short labels in English. WriteNative explains suggestions on your English in German and translates what you write in German into English.
- What is free, and what does Pro cost?
- Without an account you get the macOS speller and automatic typo fixes. A free account adds 30 paragraph checks and 5 rewrites or translations a day. Pro is $20 a month, $45 a quarter or $96 a year, unlimited, and starts with a 7-day free trial.
- Is my text stored?
- No. Cloud checks send only the paragraph you just wrote, and nothing is kept or used for training. With the On-device plan nothing leaves your Mac.
Write English the way you mean it.
Free to download. Explanations in German from the first underline.