German I Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar

2. Pronunciation
German Vowels English Pronunciation
[i] viel meet, eat
[y] khl ee rounded / long vowel
[] Tisch mitt, it
[] hbsch ih rounded / short vowel
[e] Tee mate, wait
[] schn ay rounded / long vowel
[] Bett met, wet
[] zwlf eh rounded / short vowel
[a] Mann mop, not
[] kam ah / longer vowel than [a]
[u] gut boot, suit
[] muss put, soot
[o] Sohn coat, goat
[] Stock caught, bought
[] bitte cut, what
[] Wetter uhr / also short vowel like []
Highlighted vowels do not exist in English.
Notice that words spelled with and can be pronounced with a long or short vowel, so determining the
pronunciation based on the spelling is not possible. The other umlauted letter, , is generally pronounced
as [e], though it can be pronounced as [] in some dialects. A general rule for pronunciation, however,
states that the short vowels / / must be followed by a consonant, whereas the long vowels / i y u e
o / can occur at the end of the syllable or word.

German Diphthongs English Pronunciation
[a] ein, mein eye, buy, why
[a] auf, kaufen cow, now, how
[] neu, Gebude toy, boy, foil









German Consonants
There are a few German consonants that do not exist in English, and some consonant combinations that
are not common in English. Notice that the pronunciation of the German r changes according to the
location in the countries that speak German, i.e. [R] in northern Germany and [r] in southern Germany,
Austria and Switzerland.
Spelling IPA Sample words How to pronounce:
ch (with vowels e and i) []
Chemie, mich,
nicht
Make yuh sound voiceless (no vibration of vocal
cords)
ch (with vowels a, o, u) [x]
Buch, lachen,
kochen
Make kuh sound a fricative (continuous airflow)
pf [pf]
Apfel, Pferd,
Pfanne
Pronounce together as one sound
z [ts] Zeit, Zug, Tanz Pronounce together as one sound
j [j]
ja, Januar,
Junge
yuh
qu [kv]
Quote, Quiz,
Quitte
kv
st / sp (at beginning of
syllable)
[t] / [p] Stadt, sprechen sht / shp
sch []
schenken,
schlafen
sh
th [t] Theater, Thron t
v [f] Vater, verboten f
w [v] Wasser, warm v
[s] Strae, gro s
s (before vowel) [z] Salz, seit, Sitz z
In addition, the sounds [b], [d], and [g] lose their voicing at the end of a syllable, so they are pronounced as
their voiceless counterparts [p], [t], and [k], respectively. However, the spelling does not reflect the
pronunciation.

Stress
Stress generally falls on the first syllable of the word, except in words borrowed from other languages,
where the stress falls on the last syllable (especially with French words.)









3. Alphabet
a ah j yoht s ess
b bay k kah t tay
c tsay l el u oo
d day m em v fow
e ay n en w vay
f eff o oh x eeks
g gay p pay y irp-se-lon
h hah q koo z tset
i ee r ehr

There is another letter in written German, (es-zet), pronounced like [s]. However, this letter is only used
after long vowels or diphthongs, and it is not used at all in Switzerland.