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Letter

The document provides a guide to the pronunciation of German letters and their corresponding sounds in English. It includes specific details on how certain letters and combinations are pronounced, such as the umlaut and diphthongs. The document serves as a reference for learners of the German language to understand the phonetics of its alphabet.

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Sanath Priyashantha
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24 views1 page

Letter

The document provides a guide to the pronunciation of German letters and their corresponding sounds in English. It includes specific details on how certain letters and combinations are pronounced, such as the umlaut and diphthongs. The document serves as a reference for learners of the German language to understand the phonetics of its alphabet.

Uploaded by

Sanath Priyashantha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lett

Pronunciation
er

a [ah] as in the first “a” of amaze


This letter is called the a-umlaut. The two dots above the letter are called
ä
umlaut. It is pronounced [ae], as in apple.
b [be] as in “beer”
[tse]
Before “a”, “o”, and “u”, the pronunciation of c is similar to the English “k.”
Before “i”, “e”, “ö”, “ä”, and “ü”, it sounds like “ts”: Imagine the sound of a
c
water drop falling on a hot stove.
‘ts’ rarely used on its own, but it is part of the extremely commonly used
consonant clusters below.
Ch Corresponds to the English “h” as in “hard”
Sch Corresponds to the English “sh” as in “sheet”
Tsch Corresponds to the English “ch” as in “chair”
d [de] as in “Dora”
[eh] as in “egg”. There is no such thing as a silent e at the end of a word in
German, like there is in English. These are very common, ex. cake, make,
e
fake, take. In German, Karte, Lampe, etc. are pronounced exactly as
written.
[ai] The diphthong is very common and sounds like the pronoun “I” in
Ei
English
Eu/
[oi] The diphthong is very common and sounds like the one in “oil”
äu
f [ef] as in “four”
g [ge] as in “great”
Ng Pronounced as “ŋ” like in English (e.g., in the word “spring”).
At the end of a word, it is pronounced as the German soft “ch” sound. The
Ig
combination “ig” thus becomes “ich”
[ha:] as in “hair” when it’s at the beginning of the word. Silent after vowels,
h
but lengthens them. Also silent at the end of words.
i [i:] as in “Ida”
ie [eeh] The long “e” as in “teeth’
j [jοt] as in “yo-yo”
k [ka:] as in “kind”
l [εl] as in “lick”
m [εm] as in “man”
n [εn] as in “man”
o [o:] as in “Otto”
ö This letter is called the o-umlaut. It sounds like the i in girl.
p [pe:] as in “Paul”
[ku:] Aa in “quick”, but there is an important difference to English: In
q German, “qu” are almost always found at the beginning of words and q and
u go together, pronounced “kw”

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