The German alphabet and pronunciation rules
The alphabet
The German alphabet has the exact 26 letters which the English alphabet has:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Apart from these letters, German has some other special letters. First of all, some letters can be written with umlaut and these are
ä Ä
ü Ü
ö Ö
It is very common to write the vowels with umlaut in the following case. This can be necessary especially if these letters do not appear on the keyboard:
ä: ae
ü: ue
ö: oe
Another letter which is peculiar to German is the special s sound, i.e. “ß”, which is called “scharfes s” or eszett in German. This letter sounds like “ss”. The letter “ß” never comes at the beginning of a word.
Thus, together with these four additional letters, German has 30 letters totally.
The pronunciation
Good news is that German is spoken as it is written, in a broad sense at least. By learning a few pronunciation rules, you can pronounce German words easily.
These are the letters you need to pay special attention when pronouncing:
v: it’s pronounced as “f”
j: it’s pronounced as “y”. You surely know what “ja” is. In German, “j” is pronounced always as y.
s: it’s pronounced as “z”
z: as “ts”
w: as “v” in English
ä: it’s pronounced as “e” like “get” in English
ö: similar to “i” in the word “girl”
ü: this sound does not have an equivalent or a similar sound in English.
Paired vowels and consonants
In German, certain combinations of some letters are pronounced always the same. Therefore, it is a good idea to notice these combinations so that you can pronounce an unknown German word correctly as well.
These combinations are as follows
ei: it’s pronounced as in English “eye”
sch: it’s pronounced as it’s pronounced as “sh” is pronounced in English, as in “show”
ie: it’s pronounced as ”eeh” is pronounced in English
ck: it’s pronounced as “k” is pronounced in English
au: it’s pronounced as “ow”
tsch: as “ch” in chair. Example: “deutsch”
Vocabulary
Words related to alphabet, spelling, pronunciation and words
Das Aphabet / das ABC the alphabet
Der Buchstabe the letter
buchstabieren to spell
die Aussprache the pronunciation
aussprechen to pronounce
Wie spricht man Ihren Namen aus? How is your name pronounced?
Der Zungenbrecher tongue twisters
Das Wort word
Fixed expressions with “word”
mit einem Wort in short
mit anderen Worten in other words
jemand hat das Wort it’s someone’s turn to speak
für jemanden ein gutes Wort einlegen to talk nice about someone
das große Wort haben to talk the most
zu Wort kommen to be allowed to talk
jemandem das Wort erteilen to allow someone to talk
jemandem ins Wort fallen to interrupt someone when speaking
das Wort ergreifen to start to talk about something
Exercises
Tongue twisters are a good way to challenge yourself in the pronunciation of a new language. Practice with the following German tongue twisters
- Denen Dänen, denen Dänen Dänen dehnen, dehnen deren Dänen.
- Fischers Fritze fischt frische Fische, Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritze.
- Nickende Nichten und wippende Fichten.
- Eine gut gebratene Gans ist eine gute Gabe Gottes.
- Am Zehnten Zehnten um zehn Uhr zehn zogen zehn zahme Ziegen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo.
- Bierbrauer Bauer braut braunes Bier, braunes Bier braut Bierbrauer Bauer.
- Die krumme Katze tritt die krumme Treppe krumm.
- Der Dachdecker deckt dein Dach, drum dank dem Dachdec In Ulm, um Ulm, um Ulm herum. ker, der dein Dach deckt.
- Es klapperten die Klapperschlangen, bis ihre Klappern schlapper klangen.
- Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher.
- Ich sage Ihnen das, dass das "das, dass", das das Kind geschrieben hat, richtig ist.
- Der Schweizer Schweißer schwitzt und schweißt.
- Zwischen zwei Zwetschgenzweigen sitzen zwei zwitschernde Schwalben.
- Ob er über Oberammergau, oder aber über Unterammergau, oder ob er überhaupt noch kommt, ist ungewiß
- Zehn Ziegen zogen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo