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About German Consonants Chart
Would like to know what are the consonants when it comes to German language? In articulatory phonetics, a German consonant is a speech sound that is articulated by using complete or perhaps partial closure within the vocal tract. The term consonant can also be employed to make reference to a letter of the German alphabet that denotes a consonant sound. Learn More
German Consonants Chart
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German Consonants in 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" |
German Diphthongs in 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" |
Select the hyperlinks directly below to find out a list of useful German travel phrases that are structured by category. For every travel phrase in German, you will notice the English translation.
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