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Alphabet in German Language
Understanding the German alphabet is important to learn the German Language. German alphabet configuration is practiced in a daily conversation. Without the German alphabet, it is difficult to speak the German terms properly even if a person know how to write those phrases in German. Learn More
Like in any language, the better a person pronounce a letter in a word, the more understood you will be in speaking the German language. Following are links that redirects you to the German alphabet and how it’s pronounced in English.
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Vowels in German Alphabet
| a | like 'u' in "cup", 'a' in "target". In Austria, it sounds more like "au" in "Paul". |
| e | like 'e' in "ten", or 'e' in "emotion". Very often in the spoken language and in colloquial writing it tends to be replaced by an apostrophe when found in the middle of a word. For instance: Gewehr (rifle) becomes G'wehr; gesehen (to have seen) becomes g'seh'n. |
| i | like 'i' in "bingo", or 'i' in "hit". In southern dialects, especially in Austria, it tends to be pronounced like an "ee" in "seen" |
| o | like 'oo' in "door", like 'o' in "mole" |
| u | like 'ou' in "you" |
| ä | (Umlaut, transcribed as 'ae') like 'e' in "ten", 'a' in "band" |
| ö | (Umlaut, transcribed as 'oe') like 'i' in "Sir" (not a sound in English) |
| ü | (Umlaut, transcribed as 'ue') like 'ew' in "EWWW (disgust)" |
| y | same as 'ü', but also consonant "j" in words of foreign origin ("Yacht") |
| Umlauts are usually (albeit not always) stressed. |
Consonants in German Alphabet
| Note: | Consonants are pronounced quite strongly (except perhaps the 'r'). |
| b | like 'b' in "bed" |
| c | like 'ts' in "bits" before 'i' and 'e'; like 'k' in "kid" else |
| d | like 'd' in "dog" |
| f | like 'ph' in "phone" |
| g | like 'g' in "go" (never as in "giraffe") |
| h | like 'h' in "help" |
| j | like 'y' in "yoga" |
| k | like 'c' in "cat" |
| l | like 'l' in "love" |
| m | like 'm' in "mother" |
| n | like 'n' in "nice" |
| p | like 'p' in "pig" |
| q | like 'q' in "quest" (always with "u") |
| r | like 'r' in "arm", like 'r' in "feather". Terminal Rs are almost silent but with the hit of an "r" sound. Rs beginning a word or syllable are pronounced from the back of the throat, almost as in French. In southern Germany (Bavaria), Austria and in Switzerland, the "r" is rolled as in Spanish in all position except the initial. |
| s | like 'z' in "haze" |
| t | like 't' in "top" |
| v | like 'f' in "father", or like "v" in "victory" |
| w | like 'v' in "victory", never like 'wh' in "whisky" |
| x | like 'cks' in "kicks" |
| z | like 'ts' in "bits" |
| ß | like 's' in "was" |
Semi Vowels/ Diphthongs in German Alphabet
| Please note: | These combinations are not always used as diphthongs. At syllable boundaries and sometimes even in a syllable, they are spoken as separate vowels (e.g. soeben — zoh-AY-ben) |
| au | like 'ow' in "how" |
| ae | transcription for 'ä' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs |
| ah | like 'a' in "bar", longer than 'a'. |
| äu | like 'oy' in "boy" |
| ei | like 'i' in "wine" |
| eu | like 'oy' in "boy" |
| eh | long 'e' |
| ie | like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i'. |
| ieh | like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i', fundamentally no difference to 'ie'. |
| oe | transcription for 'ö' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs |
| oh | like 'oo' in "food", longer than 'o'. |
| ue | transcription for 'ü' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs |
| uh | like 'ou' in "youth", longer than 'u'. |
| ch after 'a', 'o', 'u' and 'au' | like 'ch' in Scottish "loch", spoken in the throat, like 'j' in Spanish |
| ch after 'e', 'ä', 'i', 'ei', 'eu', 'äu', 'ü' and 'ö', or after a consonant | like 'h' in "huge" |
| ch at the beginning of a word | like 'ch' in "character" |
| ck | like 'ck' in "blocking" |
| ng | like both 'ng' in "singing", never like 'ng' in "finger" |
| ph | like 'f' in "fish" |
| sch | like 'sh' in "sheep" |
| sp at the beginning of a word | like 'shp' in "fish pool" |
| ss | like 's' in "ship", in contrast to 'ß', makes the preceding vowel shorter. Also used as transcription for 'ß' in URL or on foreign keyboards. |
| st at the beginning of a word | like 'sht' in "ashtray" |
| German grammar retains many conjugations and declensions from proto-Germanic, which have been lost in English and other Germanic languages. This means that some aspects of it will be difficult to master, though speakers of Icelandic will find many elements of German grammar familiar. | |
| In common with many other European languages, German has two "you" verb forms which denote the relationship the speaker has to someone else. To express familiarity, one uses the du form; for formality, the Sie form. As a general rule the Sie form is used when one might address someone as "Madam" or "Sir". If on first name terms, one uses the du form. Grammatically, the Sie form takes the 3rd person plural ending. | |
| There are 3 different noun genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The article of a noun depends on the gender: der (m), die (f) and das (n). Unlike in English, inanimate objects frequently have a different gender than neuter assigned to them, often arbitrarily; for example, Tür (door) is female, while Tor (gate) is neuter. However, you will generally be understood if you use the wrong gender as there are only a few (obscure) nouns which mean different things depending on gender, and their correct meaning will always be clear from the context. People may correct you, however, in order to help you to learn German. | |
| Furthermore, German nouns are declined. There are four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), genitive (possessive), and dative (indirect object). Each varies depending on the noun's gender and whether it is singular or plural. | |
| An orthographic peculiarity is that all nouns, even those in the middle of a sentence, begin with a capital letter. | |
| There are very strong accentual and dialectic differences in German-speaking countries. A German from the north, where the standard version of the language is most prevalent, may have a hard time understanding a southerner's pronunciation. Standard German, or "Hochdeutsch" (which is arguably based on the Berlin dialect), is universally known and taught, although not everyone speaks it well. Generally, the further south one travels, the more people speak dialect natively. The Main River serves as a rough "border" between the northern and southern German speaking cultural worlds. In Switzerland, everyone speaks a dialect natively, and it's even often used in the media. Be advised that in rural areas of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Austria, South Tyrol and Switzerland, elders speak the language with a singy-songy accent or swallowing of vowels and consonants. In Alsace most people prefer to speak French with outsiders, and do NOT consider their dialect to be German as such! People in Alsace are usually unable, or if able, reluctant to speak High German! People from Switzerland or Baden, however, could try speaking their dialect since they all belong to the Alemannic family. | |
| In the north of Germany, some people speak a related language called Plattdüütsch or Low German ("Plattdeutsch" in German). It is very closely related to Dutch and mainland Scandinavian languages. Nearly all Platt speakers also speak German. | |
| The German spoken in Switzerland is referred to as Schwiizertüütsch. There are various varieties of Swiss German depending on the region and it is spoken natively by all Swiss-Germans, and widely used in the media (not news, though). Dialects are not usually used in the media in Germany, Austria or Liechtenstein except for regional programming. Thus, this is rare in the German speaking world, as "Hochdeutsch" is more or less the sole language of media outside Switzerland. Nevertheless, all German-speaking Swiss learn standard German in school, so unless approaching rural elders, you'll be fine with standard German. The German dialects spoken in Vorarlberg (Austria), Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and Alsace (France) are Alemannic, as is Swiss German. | |
| In the Italian South Tyrol, like in most of Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and southern Germany, most people speak a local dialect. However, standard German and Italian are both taught in the schools. The German spoken in South Tyrol is very similar to that of neighboring Austria and Bavaria to the north. |
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