Pronunciation guide

German pronunciation is relatively straightforward, although spelling is somewhat more involved.

Vowels

a
like 'u' in "cup", 'a' in "target"
e
like 'e' in "ten", 'a' in "bake"
i
like 'i' in "bingo"
o
like 'oo' in "door", like 'o' in "top"
u
like 'ou' in "you"
ä
(Umlaut, transcribed as 'ae') like 'e' in "ten", 'a' in "band"
ö
(Umlaut, transcribed as 'oe') like 'i' in "Sir"
ü
(Umlaut, transcribed as 'ue') like 'y' in 'Tyrell'
y
same as 'ü', but also consonant "j" in words of foreign origin ("Yacht")

Length of Vowels

A vowel is shortened when followed by a double consonant.

A vowel is lengthened by a subsequent 'h', or by a double vowel, depending on the word. An exception is 'i', which is lengthened by a following 'e' or 'eh'.

Examples: the h in Hahn makes the a long; the aa in Haar is also long, the e in Tier makes the i long. (See below for "Diphthongs".)

Consonants

Consonants are pronounced quite strongly (except perhaps the 'r').
b
like 'b' in "bed"
c
like 'ts' in "bits" before 'i' and 'e'; like 'k' in "kid" else
d
like 'd' in "dog"
f
like 'ph' in "phone"
g
like 'g' in "go" (never as in "giraffe")
h
like 'h' in "help"
j
like 'y' in "yoga"
k
like 'c' in "cat"
l
like 'l' in "love"
m
like 'm' in "mother"
n
like 'n' in "nice"
p
like 'p' in "pig"
q
like 'q' in "quest" (always with "u")
r
like 'r' in "arm", like 'r' in "feather" (often like silent "h")
s
like 'z' in "haze"
t
like 't' in "top"
v
like 'f' in "father", or like "v" in "victory"
w
like 'v' in "victory", never like 'wh' in "whisky"
x
like 'cks' in "kicks"
z
like 'ts' in "bits"
ß
like 'ss' in "hiss"

Common diphthongs and ligatures

Note: these combinations are not always used as diphthongs. At syllable boundaries and sometimes even in a syllable, they are spoken as separate vowels (e.g. soeben — zoh-AY-ben)
au
like 'ow' in "how"
ae
transcription for 'ä' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
ah
like 'a' in "bar", longer than 'a'.
äu
like 'oy' in "boy"
ei
like 'i' in "wine"
eu
like 'oy' in "boy"
eh
long 'e'
ie
like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i'.
ieh
like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i', fundamentally no difference to 'ie'.
oe
transcription for 'ö' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
oh
like 'oo' in "door", longer than 'o'.
ue
transcription for 'ü' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
uh
like 'ou' in "youth", longer than 'u'.
ch after 'a', 'o' and 'u'
like 'ch' in Scottish "loch", spoken in the throat, like 'j' in Spanish
ch after 'i' and 'e'
like 'h' in "huge"
ch at the beginning of a word
like 'ch' in "character"
ck
like 'ck' in "blocking"
ng
like both 'ng' in "singing", never like 'ng' in "finger"
ph
like 'f' in "fish"
sch
like 'sh' in "sheep"
sp at the beginning of a word
like 'shp' in "fish pool"
ss
like 'ss' in "hiss", in contrast to 'ß', makes the preceding vowel shorter. Also used as transcription for 'ß' in URL or on foreign keyboards.
st at the beginning of a word
like 'sht' in "ashtray"

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