text: what makes english germanic, vocabulary, grammar or something else? if vocabulary - it would be the vocabulary of everyday speech, right? if grammar - hm, not too many germanic features here. help... there are four things that make english germanic.  1)  it's sound system is clearly derived from proto-germanic through regular sound changes.  for example, english hound, german hund (h:h, n:n, d:t); english tide, german zeit (t:ts; d:t); etc.  2)  it's basic vocabulary is clearly germanic.  for example, (english/german) come/kommen; foot/fuss; five/fünf; etc.  3)  it's grammar is clearly germanic.  for example, early modern english come/comest/cometh, german komme/kommst/kommt; english "i have made", german "ich habe gemacht" (same perfect construction)  4)  it's irregularities are the same irregularities found in the other germanic languages.  for example, english bind/bound, german binden/bund (strong verbs); english man/men, german mann/männer (vowel change for plural)  english is absolutely, 100% a germanic language through regular sound correspondences, the majority of its basic vocabulary, the majority of its grammatical structures, and the same patterns of irregularity