LESSON NOTES

Introduction to German #2
Introduction to German Pronunciation

CONTENTS

Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Grammar

# 2
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VOCABULARY

German English Class

Ohr ear noun; neuter, das

Bad bath noun

Nebel fog noun; masculine, der

rund round adjective & adverb

Bär bear noun; masculine, der

über over preposition

Rast rest noun; feminine, die

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Die Reifen an einem Auto sind rund. Karussell

The tires on the car are round. merry go round

runde Blaubeeren Der runde Tisch sieht viel besser aus als der
viereckige.
round blueberries
The round table looks way better than the
square one.

Die runden Formen des Rennwagens waren
beinah hypnotisierend.
The round forms of the racing car were almost
hypnotizing.
Das Runde muss in das Eckige.
The round thing has to go inside the angular
thing. (= you have to play the soccer ball into the
goal)

weißer Eisbär Bären sind starke Tiere.

white polar bear Bears are strong animals.

Der Grizzly-Bär rennt im Fluss. großer Braunbär

The grizzly bear is running in the river. big brown bear

Der Grizzlybär rennt in dem Fluss. über dem Regenbogen

The grizzly bear is running in the river. over the rainbow

Sie haben das Schild über die Straße gehängt. Ich finde mich übercool. / Ich springe über den
Zaun.
They hung the sign over the street.
I think I am supercool. / I jump over the fence.

Pass auf, dass du während deiner Rast keinen Rost ansetzt.

Be careful not to grow any rust while you rest.

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GRAMMAR
Introduction to German Pronunciation

In this lesson, you'll learn the basics of German pronunciation.

English vs. German

German uses the exact same letters as English. It also uses one extra character (ß), and has unique
markers which looks like two dots appearing over some vowels (ä, ö, ü).

But let's try not to focus and rely on the German letters too much. Let's focus on the sounds. There are a
total of 28 consonant sounds and 17 vowel sounds in German. The good news is that most of these
sounds are identical to English.

One thing to note though, is that German vowels are pronounced much more clearly than English.
We also have more vowel sounds than English, so that's why it's very important that we pronounce
them clearly. Unlike English, we try to maintain a constant pitch from start to finish without tapering
off.

Some vowels, such as A, O, and U, can have two dots over them. We call these dots umlaute. They
indicate a change in the original pronunciation of the vowel. Compare the following pairs of vowels:

a, ä
a + e = ä (Äpfel = "apples") – it is pronounced like the “e” in “melon”
o, ö
o + e = ö (Öl = "oil") – it is pronounced like the “I” in “girl”
u, ü
u + e = ü (Hürde = "hurdle") – there's no direct equivalent

The vowels with the two dots over them are essentially a combination between the vowel, and an E
sound. Sometimes they're represented as AE, OE, or UE.

Now, let's take a look at German consonants. Like vowels, German consonants are predominantly
similar to English. Other consonant sounds however, may be a little more challenging.

r (rost)

r (Rübe)

r (Schmarrn)

Tricky Letters

Some consonants in German aren't actually pronounced as they look to an English speaker. Let's take a
look at some of these letters.

The German V, isn't pronounced like an English V, but as an F sound. So both V and F in German, are
pronounced as an F sound.

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Vogel (“bird”), Fett (“fat”)

The German W, on the other hand, is pronounced like a V sound.

Wasser (“water”), Wagen (“car”)

German is also notorious for its "ich" and "ach" sounds. The German CH, isn't pronounced like the CH in
“church”.

Ich ("I"), Licht (“light”), Recht (“law”)

It could also be pronounced another way:

wach (“awake”)

Dach (“roof”), noch (“still”)

The former is pronounced closer to the front of the mouth, while the latter is pronounced at the back of
the mouth.

Next, is the SCH. This one is actually pronounced like the “sh” in “sheet”.

schmal (“narrow”), schnell (“fast”), Schlaf (“sleep”)

Now that you have gained a better understanding of German sounds, let's take a closer look at some
common mistakes and how to fix them!

Common mistakes

We mentioned before that English speakers do not maintain the pitch of the vowel throughout. This
often occurs because English speakers tend to "glide" on the vowel, needlessly adding a Y sound as they
prolong the vowel.

When pronouncing German vowels, try to maintain the same pitch throughout the vowel.

Bad (“bath”), Nebel (“fog”), Igel (“hedgehog”), Ohr (“ear”), U-Boot (“submarine”)

Bär (“bear”), blöd (“corny”), über (“over”)

Another challenging sound is the German guttural R sound.

rund (“round”), Rast (“break”)

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