German alphabetDeutsches Alphabet

Consists of 26 letters 3 Diacritic letters (Umlaut) 1 sharp s (scharfes S) Around 14 ish diphthongs (double vowels) and grouped consonants Goal: 1-2 letters per day

German Alphabet (1/4)

Letter; Pronuc. of letter name; Sound of letter- as in;

examples

A
B

ah
approx: bay

astronaut
baby

der Apfel (apple) Januar (January)

der Bruder (brother), aber (but)

C approx: tsay like ts) D approx: day

creative, Celcius- soft c sound in German sounds ex: der Chor, der Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market), Celcius dollar Dienstag (Tuesday), oder (or)

E
F

approx: ay
eff

elegant
effort georgous

essen (to eat), zuerst (first)

der Freund (friend), offen (open) gut (good), gemein (mean)

G approx: gay

German Alphabet (2/4)

Letter; Pronuc. of letter name; Sound of letter- as in; examples

H
I

haa
eeh

hammer
Igor

der Hammer, die Mhle (mill)

der Igel (porcupine), der Imbiss (snack stand), sieben (seven) das Jahr (year), jeder (each) das Kamel, der Kuchen (cake) die Leute (people), das Land (land) der Mann, die Ameise (ant) nicht (not), die Mnze (coin)

J K L M N

yot kah ell em en

yellow camel love man nice

German Alphabet (3/4)

Letter; Pronuc. of letter name; Sound of letter- as in; examples

O P Q

oh approx: pay koo

oven party coral

Ostern (easter), rot (red) die Polizei (police), der Apfel (apple) das Quadrat (square), die Quelle (source) Note: All German words start with Qu (-kw sound) der Rcken (the back), der Stern (star)

R S T U

approx: er es approx: tay ooh

rich

zoo, shine, mouse summen (to hum), schn (pretty, nice), die Maus tyrant der Tyrann, acht (eight) die Universitt (university), der Mund (mouth)

ou sounds in you

German Alphabet (4/4)

Letter; Pronuc. of letter name; Sound of letter- as in; V fow father van examples der Vogel (bird), die Nerven (nerves) die Wange (cheek), das Schwein (pig), wieviel (how much) das Xylofon/Xylophon, die Hexe (witch) Note: There are hadly any words that start with x der Yeti, Note: There are hardly any words that start with y die Zeitung (newspaper), der Zigeuner (gypsy) hnlich (similar), ghnen W approx: vay

ix

sounds like kz

uep-si-lohn

yellow

tset

sounds like ts

sounds similar to the e in melon(to yawn)

German Umlaut/ Diphthong (double vowels)

Pronunciation Au, au Ei, ei Ai, ai Eu, eu Examples sounds similar to the I in girl- sterreich (Austria), Lwe (lion) no equivalent sound in englishber (over), mde (tired) double s sound hei (hot), die Strae (street) ow (out of) eye eye oy bei (at, near), das Ei (egg) der Mai (May) Europa (Europe), neu (new) auch (also), das Auge (eye), aus

German grouped consonants (1/3)

Consonant

Pronunciation sh schn (pretty), die Schule (school)- The German sch combination is never split, whreas sh usually is (Grashalme, Gras/Halme; but the Show, a foreign word) Both letters are quickly pronounced as a combined puff-sound: das Pferd (horse), der Pfennig. If difficult an f sounds will work Huser (houses) bieten (offer), nie (never), Sie (you) dick (fat, thick), der Schock (shock) das Alphabet, phonetisch- Some words formerly spelled with a ph are now spelled with f: das Telefon, das Foto

Sch, sch

Pf, pf

pf

u, u ie ck ph

oy eeh k f

German grouped consonants (2/3)

Consonant Qu, qu (receipt) Sp/St, sp/st sph/sht At the start of a word, the s in sp/st has a sch sounds as in English show, she- sprechen (speak), stehen (stand) t das Theater (tay-AHTER), das Thema (TAY-muh), topic Always sounds like a t (TAY). NEVER has the English th sound Pronunciation kv die Qual (anguish, torture), die Quittung

Th, th

German grouped consonants (1/3)

ch After a, o, u and au, pronounced like the guttural ch in Scottish loch- das Buch (book), auch (also). Otherwise it is a palatal sound as in: mich (me), welche (which), wirklich (really). TIP: If no air is passing over your tongue when you say a -ch sound, you arent saying it correctly. No true equivalent in English. Although ch doesnt usually have a hard k sound, there are exceptions: Chor, Christoph, Chaos, Orchester, Wachs (wax)

German Letter sounds in words

Spelling Final B Aussprache p Beispiele/Ex.: Lob (LOHP)

Final d
Final g Final h German th German v German w German z

t
k

Freund (FROYNT)
genug (guh-NOOK)

gehen (GAY-en), sehen (ZAY-en) t f v ts Theorie (TAY-oh-ree) Vater (FATH-er) Wonder (VOON-der) Zeit (TSITE), like ts in cats; never like an English soft Z (as in zoo)

Example Similar Words

Wort- word Bombe bomb heard Aussprache/Pronouciation BOM-buh; The m, b and e are all

Genie genius zhuh-Nee; The g is soft, like the s sounds in leisure

Nation nation NAHT-see-ohn; The German tion suffix is pronounced TSEE-ohn

Papier paper Pizza pizza pah-Peer; Stress on the last syllable The I is a short vowel because of the double z