Letters In Words

Letters in Words Spelling

Aussprache Pronunciation

final b

p

Lob (LOHP)

final d

t

Freund (FROYNT), Wald (VALT)

final g

k

genug (guh-NOOK)

silent h

-

gehen (GAY-en), sehen (ZAY-en)

Beispiele / Examples

When h follows a vowel, it is silent. When it precedes a vowel (Hund), the h is pronounced. German th

t

Theorie (TAY-oh-ree)

German v

f

Vater (FAHT-er)

In some foreign, non-Germanic words with v, the v is pronounced as in English: Vase (VAH-suh), Villa (VILL-ah) German w

v

Wunder (VOON-der)

German z

ts

Zeit (TSITE), like ts in "cats"; never like an English soft z (as in "zoo")

Similar Words Pronunciation Pitfalls Wort Word

Aussprache Pronunciation

Bombe bomb

BOM-buh

The m, b, and e are all heard

Genie genius

zhuh-NEE

The g is soft, like the s sound in "leisure"

Nation nation

NAHT-see-ohn

Papier paper

pah-PEER

Pizza pizza

e (without ads) das Alphabet

Comments

The German -tion suffix is pronounced TSEE-ohn Stress on the last syllable

The German Alphabet and Its Sounds Buchstabe Letter

Aussprache Pronunciation

Aa

ah

ab (from), der Apparat (appliance, phone)

Ää

ay

der Äther (ether), die Fähre (ferry)

Bb

bay

bei (at, near), das Buch (book)

Cc

say

die City (downtown), der Computer

Dd

day

durch (through), dunkel (dark)

Ee

ay

elf (eleven), wer (who), er (he)

Ff

eff

faul (lazy), der Feind (enemy)

Gg

gay

das Gehirn (brain), gleich (same, equal)

Hh

haa

die Hand (hand), halb (half)

Ii

eeh

der Igel (hedgehog), immer (always)

Jj

yot

das Jahr (year), jung (young)

Kk

kah

der Kalender (calendar), kennen (know)

Ll

ell

Mm

emm

mein (my), der Mann (man)

Nn

enn

die Nacht (night), nein (no), nicht (not)

Oo

oh

das Ohr (ear), die Oper (opera)

Öö

ooh

Österreich (Austria), öfters (once in a while)

Pp

pay

das Papier (paper), positiv (positive)

Qq

koo

die Quelle (source), quer (crossways)

Rr

err

das Rathaus (city hall), rechts (right)

Ss

ess

die Sache (matter), das Salz (salt), seit (since)

Beispiele / Examples

langsam (slow, slowly), die Leute (people)

Lower case only. Replaces "ss" in some words. Not used in Swiss German. groß (big, great), die Straße (street) BUT: das Wasser (water), dass (that), muss (must)

ß

ess-zett (s-z ligature)

Tt

tay

der Tag (day), das Tier (animal)

Uu

ooh

die U-Bahn (subway, metro), unter (below)

Üü

uyuh

über (over, about), die Tür (door)

Vv

fow

der Vater (father), vier (four)

Ww

vay

wenn (if, whenever), die Woche (week)

Xx

ixx

x-mal (umpteen), das Xylofon

Yy

oop-seelohn

der Yen (yen), der Typ (type)

Zz

zett

zahlen (pay), die Pizza, zu (to, too) To

German is a much more phonetically consistent language than English. This means that German words almost always sound the way they are spelled—with consistent sounds for any given spelling. (e.g., the German ei - as in nein - spelling is always sounded EYE, whereas German ie - as in Sie - always has the EEE sound.) No need to learn exceptions like English “i before e, except after c.” In German, the rare exceptions are usually foreign words from English, French, or other languages. Any student of German should learn the sounds associated with certain spellings as soon as possible. Knowing them, you will be able to correctly pronounce even German words you have never seen before! Now that you know how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet in German, we'll advance to the next stage. First, let's talk about some terminology. It is helpful to know, for instance, what diphthongs and paired consonants are. Diphthongs A diphthong (Greek di, two + phthongos, sound, voice) is a combination of two vowels that blend and are sounded together. Instead of being pronounced separately, the two letters have one sound or pronunciation. An example would be the au combination. The diphthong au in German always has the sound OW, as in English “ouch” (the "ou" being an English diphthong; the au is also part of the German word autsch, which is pronounced almost the same as “ouch” in English!) Obviously, this kind of information is very useful to know when you are trying to pronounce German. In the chart below, we present more examples of German diphthongs. DIO > RealAudio sound for this page! Diphthongs Diphthong Double Vowels

Aussprache Pronunciation

ai / ei

eye

bei (at, near), das Ei (egg), der Mai (May)

au

ow

auch (also), das Auge (eye), aus (out of)

Beispiele / Examples

eu / äu

oy

Häuser (houses), Europa (Europe), neu (new)

ie

eeh

bieten (offer), nie (never), Sie (you)

Grouped Consonants Buchstabe Consonant

Aussprache Pronunciation

ck

k

dick (fat, thick), der Schock (shock)

>>

After a, o, u and au, pronounced like the guttural ch in Scottish "loch" - das Buch (book), auch (also). Otherwise it is a palatal sound as in: mich (me), welche (which), wirklich (really). TIP: If no air is passing over your tongue when you say a ch-sound, you aren't saying it correctly. No true equivalent in English. - Although ch doesn't usually have a hard k sound, there are exceptions: Chor, Christoph, Chaos, Orchester, Wachs (wax)

pf

Both letters are (quickly) pronounced as a combined puff-sound: das Pferd (horse), der Pfennig. If this is difficult for you, an f sound will work, but try to do it!

ph

f

das Alphabet, phonetisch - Some words formerly spelled with ph are now spelled with f: das Telefon, das Foto

qu

kv

die Qual (anguish, torture), die Quittung (receipt)

sh

schön (pretty), die Schule (school) - The German sch combination is never split, whereas sh usually is (Grashalme, Gras/Halme; but die Show, a foreign word).

sp / st

shp / sht

At the start of a word, the s in sp/st has a sch sound as in English "show, she." sprechen (speak), stehen (stand)

th

t

ch

pf

sch

Beispiele / Examples

das Theater (tay-AHTER), das Thema (TAY-muh), topic - Always sounds like a t (TAY). NEVER has the English th sound!

The Great Vowel Shift affected only the long (or "tense") vowels. The short vowels were not affected. This is the general process, here used to explain the pronunciation of Latin to English-speakers. It is not intended to be an adequate linguistic analysis of the GVS. Orthographically, long vowels in English are often marked • •

by being repeated (e.g. "feet", "feel," "tooth") or by having an "e" at the end of the word that, our teachers tell us, make the preceding vowel long (e.g., "like", "came", "home").

Vowels are pronounced in different areas of the mouth. If you hold your chin while going through the vowel sounds, you'll notice your chin rises and falls. When your chin is up, you're pronouncing high vowels and when you're chin is as far down as it goes in vowel pronunciation, you're pronouncing an "a", the low vowel. Vowels are often pronounced more in the front or back of your mouth. High vowels: /i/ /u/ Mid vowels: /e/ /o/ Low vowel: /a/ Back vowels: /u/ /o/ When the Great Vowel Shift took place, the vowels rose upward, pushing the next higher vowel into the slot above. The vowels on top had no higher place to go and so became diphthongs. The front vowels were one chain pushing upwards, and the back vowels were another. What was written as an "e" was pronounced like a modern long "a" before the shift. When it moved up it came to be pronounced like a modern long "e" or a French or Roman "i". An old "i" became a diphthong [aj] as in "high". "O" became "u" as in the word "moon", which must have previously been pronounced something like our word "moan." Front vowel chain of the Great Vowel Shift /long a/-->/long e/-->/long i/--/aj/ Back vowel chain of the Great Vowel Shift /long o/ -->/long u/ -->/aw/ So, if you see the letter "i" in a Latin word, remember it's not the Romans who pronounced the vowels oddly. We do -- now, and thanks to the GVS. A Latin "i" is pronounced as our "i" used to be.