Alphabets

  • Video of German alphabets and sounds:

    Character Char Sound Example of sound Remarks
    a ah mama  
    b bey Bob  
    c tsay its  
    d day dad  
    e ay say  
    f eff fife  
    g gay goggle  
    h hah hope  
    i ee keep  
    j yawt yawn  
    k kah kick  
    l ell lull  
    m emm mom  
    n enn noon  
    o oh only  
    p pay pipe  
    q koo quite  
    r air roar Gurgling alone. "uh" when "er"
    s ess zealous  
    t tay tot  
    u oo Moon  
    v fow for like english "f", but sometimes like german "w"
    w vay vivid like English "v"; e.g in van
    x ix taxi  
    y uepsilon mystic  
    z tset its Pronounced "ts"
    ä ay say  
    ö er were  
    ü ue sure Make oo face but say ee
    ß ess-tset straße, gruß Called scharfes 's', eszett
  • A double-consonant (e.g "ll") is pronounced faster

  • r make gurgling sound when it is alone. But when combined with "e" (i.e er), it makes "uh" sound e.g

    Frau F-ugh-aow
    bier bee-uh
  • v makes English "f" sounds, but sometimes make german "w" sound
    • Mostly for native German words it sounds like English "f"
    • Mostly for words borrowed from other languages it sounds like English "v" (i.e German "w")
  • s at beginning of a word is pronounced as English "z" e.g "super" as "zoop-uh"

    • In combination with "t" and "p" it's pronounced as "sh" e.g

      German Sound English
      stift shtift pen
      stuhl shtool chair
      sprechen shp-ugh-eshen speake
      straße sht-ugh-asse street

  • ß is used only after a short vowel

    • Makes sharper/smaller sound than ss
    Example Englush
    straße street
    gruß greeting
    dreißig thirty
  • h is not pronounced when it is alone (e.g in "zehn (tsain)") except when it is at beginning of a word (e.g in "haus (house)")
    • It make pairs for different sounds ch (soft cat-hissing sound), sch (sh sound), tsch (ch sound)