\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article} \usepackage{ae} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \begin{document} \begin{itemize} \item Proper kerning for German-style quotes:\par \begin{center} \Large \quotedblbase W`` \quotedblbase V`` \quotedblbase O`` \quotesinglbase W` \quotesinglbase V` \quotesinglbase O` \end{center} \item Without kerning:\par \begin{center} \Large \quotedblbase{}W{}`` \quotedblbase{}V{}`` \quotedblbase{}O{}`` \quotesinglbase{}W{}` \quotesinglbase{}V{}` \quotesinglbase{}O{}` \end{center} \item Lowered umlaut dots: \begin{center} \Large \"a \"o \"u i \end{center} \end{itemize} \end{document}