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Alphabet & Pronunciation
German alphabet, umlauts, ß, vowel length and key pronunciation rules
a, e, i, o, u
the basic vowels
ah, eh, ih, oh, oo
German vowels can be short or long
ä, ö, ü — Umlaute
the umlauts
ae, oe, ue
Umlauts change vowel sound: schön, über, Mädchen
ß — Eszett
the sharp s (ß)
ss
ß = ss after long vowel: Straße, groß; never at word start
ch — ich-Laut vs ach-Laut
ch — soft vs hard
ich [ç] / ach [x]
ich/mich = soft; ach/Buch = hard guttural
sch — [ʃ]
sch = sh sound
sh
Schule, schön, Tisch — sch is like English sh
st-/sp- am Wortanfang
st-/sp- at word start = sht/shp
sht, shp
Stadt [shtat], Sport [shport] at word beginning
z — [ts]
z = ts sound
ts
Zeit [tsait], zehn [tsehn] — z is always ts
v — meist [f]
v usually = f sound
f
Vater [fater], viel [feel] — v sounds like f
w — [v]
w = v sound
v
Wasser [vasser], wo [voh] — w sounds like English v
Hallo / Guten Tag / Auf Wiedersehen
Hello / Good day / Goodbye
HAH-loh / GOO-ten tahk / owf VEE-der-zayn
Basic greetings
