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)