shares

Which translation, when

Why

English uses shares for every company, German splits the word by Rechtsform and hangs a form gulf between the halves. The GmbH issues Geschäftsanteile, and both the assignment and the contractual promise to assign need notarielle Beurkundung, § 15 Abs. 3 und Abs. 4 Satz 1 GmbHG, with the form-free promise healed only by the notarised assignment itself, Abs. 4 Satz 2. The AG issues Aktien, § 1 Abs. 2 AktG, and they move without any notary. So the rendering of shares silently asserts a company type and with it a form regime: Aktien in a GmbH deal is a corporate impossibility that hides the Beurkundungspflicht, and the parties who signed an English SPA believing themselves bound have, under § 15 Abs. 4 GmbHG, so far bound nobody. Outside company capital the word relaxes, share is plain Anteil, market share is Marktanteil, and the securities vocabulary would be the overcorrection there.

Typical mistakes

• Aktien einer GmbH is a corporate-law impossibility, the GmbH issues Geschäftsanteile, and the wrong word tells the reader which company type the translator imagined.
• The promise trap is the expensive one, even the obligation to transfer needs Beurkundung, § 15 Abs. 4 Satz 1 GmbHG, healed only by the notarised assignment, Satz 2, so a form-free signing of a GmbH deal binds nobody yet.
• Share stays Anteil outside the capital structure, market share is Marktanteil, a share of the costs a Kostenanteil, and securities vocabulary there is the overcorrection.

What matters

GmbH acquisitions are where the word turns expensive: the parties sign an English SPA for the shares in a German GmbH and believe themselves bound. Under § 15 Abs. 4 GmbHG the obligation itself needed notarielle Beurkundung, the signing bound nobody, and only the notarised assignment heals the gap. Aktien in the translation would have promised the opposite, a form-free transfer this company type does not offer.

Examples