Soaps give an alkaline reaction and have a decided acrid taste; in a pure condition - a state never reached in practice - they have neither smell nor colour.
It forms double chlorides with the alkaline chlorides.
The oxides of type RO are soluble in water, the solution possessing a strongly alkaline reaction and rapidly absorbing carbon dioxide on exposure; they are basic in character and dissolve readily in acids with the formation of the corresponding salts.
Acids have practically no action on the metal, but it is soluble in solutions of the alkaline hypochlorites.
Germanium compounds on fusion with alkaline carbonates and sulphur form salts known as thiogermanates.