German Pronunciation Guide: Vowels, Consonants & Accents

Last updated on November 16, 2024

German is one of those foreign languages that most people in the world can clearly recognize by its

sound even if they do not speak a word of German. No matter how harsh the German language may

sound to your ear, the good news is that mastering German pronunciation is not too difficult,

especially if you are a native speaker of another European language. If you manage all the basics of

German pronunciation presented in this brief guide, your German should soon sound well enough

for a native listener.

The Basics

German uses the 26 letters of the English alphabet. In addition, German has a character ß called

eszett (or scharfes-S) and three umlaut vowels ä, ö and ü. So, altogether there are 30 letters in the

German alphabet but there are a lot more sounds than letters (to get started watch this video to

learn how to pronounce individual German letters).

In most cases, pronunciation of the sounds used in the German language follows certain rules and

patterns that you need to learn by heart. Unlike English words, German words are pronounced as

they are written. That is, if you learn how to correctly pronounce individual letters and letter

combinations and where to place accents you will be able to pronounce German words correctly

without even ever having heard them from a native speaker's mouth. Here is a brief overview of all

sounds and basic rules that should help you get to grips with German pronunciation:

German Vowels

English speakers, particularly Americans, tend to be careless with vowel pronunciation and get away

with it. You cannot do this with German. The German vowels must be as clearly and cleanly
enunciated as consonants for understanding. German vowels are pronounced long or short.

Short vowels: A stressed vowel followed by two consonants is usually pronounced short (Bett,

hacken, kann, selber), but long vowels in a root form remain long even if inflected to be followed by

two consonants (groß - größte or leben - gelebt). The vowel preceding CK is always short (Bock,

locken, Lücke, trocken).

Long vowels: A vowel followed by a silent H or doubled is pronounced long (fahren, wohnen, Boot,

Seele, Stuhl). A vowel is usually long if its syllable is not closed by a consonant (ja, so, ha-ben,

o-ben) or followed by a single consonant (gut, kam, rot, schon). The combination IE is usually

pronounced as a long i (sieben, tief, viel). Unstressed vowels except E at the end of a word are

usually pronounced long (Schere, Sofa, Vati).

Pronunciation of individual German vowels is as follows:

A: The German short A is pronounced like the U in "hut" only more open and tense. The German

long A is pronounced like the A in "father".

Examples:

Short A: alle, kann, Land, Stadt

Long A: Abend, Jahr, haben, nach

E: The German short E is pronounced like the E in "get" or in "men". The German long E is

pronounced like the A in "laid" but longer and without gliding. In some words, the E is doubled to

show that it is long. Many German words end with a final E or ER. The final E, as well as E in a final

ER, is hardly voiced. It is pronounced similar to the final A in the English word "idea".

Examples:

Short E: echt, Elch, fertig, Kette

I: The short i (capitalized I not L) is pronounced like the I in "mitten". The German long I is

pronounced like the EE in "seed" but without gliding. Sometimes the letter I is followed by the letter

E to indicate that it is long.

Examples:

Short I: Bild, Gipfel, ich, richtig

Long I: ihnen, Titel, wider/wieder

Note: The combination IE is almost always pronounced as a long I, but in the word Familie the IE is

pronounced as two separate vowels.

O: The short O is pronounced like the O in "knot" or in "hot" if you are British. The long O is

pronounced like the O in "so" but with the lips more rounded and without gliding.

Examples:

Short O: bockig, toll, Tochter, Woche

Long O: Boden, Ober, rot, Wohl

U: The short U is pronounced like the OO in "foot". The long U is pronounced like the OO in "pool"

or "stool" but with the lips more rounded and without gliding.

Examples:

Short U: Luft, lustig, unter, Wunsch

Long U: Buch, Kur, ruhig, Ufer

Ä: The German long and short Ä are usually pronounced like the German long and short E although

some native speakers may pronounce them somewhat differently.

Examples:
Short Ä: Bänder, hätte, Lärm, Sänger

Long Ä: Mädchen, Käse, täglich, zählen

Ö: There are no English equivalents for the German long or short Ö. They are pronounced like a

German E with the lips rounded.

Examples:

Short Ö: Hölle, können, Löffel, öffnen

Long Ö: böse, krönen, Kröte, Löwe

Ü: There are no English equivalents for the German short or long Ü either. They are pronounced like

a German i with the lips rounded. Or better, the EW of the word "yew" said in disgust with the lips

rounded but tensed and no gliding.

Examples:

Short Ü: dünn, drücken, Münze, tüchtig

Long Ü: fühlen, Tür, Lüge, über

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