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German Alphabet Pronunciation Guide

The document summarizes some key differences between the German and English alphabets and pronunciations of letters. It notes that German has more than 26 letters and some letters are pronounced differently than in English. It provides a table comparing the pronunciation of each letter in German alongside an example German word. It also highlights some special letters in German like ä, ö, ü, and ß which are not present in the English alphabet.

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Renan Kitofi Cury
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117 views2 pages

German Alphabet Pronunciation Guide

The document summarizes some key differences between the German and English alphabets and pronunciations of letters. It notes that German has more than 26 letters and some letters are pronounced differently than in English. It provides a table comparing the pronunciation of each letter in German alongside an example German word. It also highlights some special letters in German like ä, ö, ü, and ß which are not present in the English alphabet.

Uploaded by

Renan Kitofi Cury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Note: be aware that the pronunciation of the letter by itself can differ from when it’s

used in German words

Unique characteristics of the German alphabet:


● More than 26 letters in the alphabet - German has a so-called extended Latin
alphabet
● The pronunciation of some of these letters do not exist in the English language
● The V in German sounds like the F in English
● Most of the time the S in German sounds like Z in English when placed at the
beginning of a word followed by a vowel
● The W in German sounds like the V in English
● Several letters are pronounced more from the back of the throat: g, ch, r

Letter Pronunciation German Word

A A Arm (arm)
B Be Baby (baby)
C Tse Celsius (celsius)
D De Debatte (debate)
E E Eskimo (eskimo)
F Ef Familie (family)
G Ge Gold (gold)
H Ha Haus (house)
I I Idee (idea)
J Jot Januar (january)
K Ka Kaffee (coffee)
L El Lampe (lamp)
M Em Mutter (mother)
N En Nase (nose)
O O Ozean (ocean)
P Pe Pause (pause)
Q Ku Quiz (quiz)
R Er Regen (rain)
S Es Salami (salami)
T Te Telefon (telephone)
U U Uhr (clock)
V Fau Vater (father)
W Vay Wilkommen (welcome)
X Iks X-Beine (knock-knees)
Y Ypsilon Yoga (yoga)
Z Tset Zombie (zombie)

SPECIAL LETTERS
The extra letters are ä, ö, ü and ß
● Note: if your keyboard does not have ä, ö, ü and ß, you can use ae, oe, ue and ss
instead 😉
● Note: the letter ß will never appear at the beginning of a word

Letter Pronunciation of letter Example

Ä similar to 'e' in melon ähnlich (similar)


Ö similar to 'i' in girl Österreich (Austria)
Ü no equivalent sound über (over)
ẞ double 's' sound die Straße (street)

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