German pronunciation guide
1. Consonants
Note: German consonants B, F, G, K, L, M, N, P, T and X sound exactly the same as their English
counterparts, hence those are not included here to keep this guide compact.
Consonant Sounds like Examples
b, at the end of a word P gelb (yellow), taub (deaf), halb (half)
c, before ä, e, i & ö ts in cats circa (approximately)
c, in other cases k Creme (cream)
Note: c words aren’t very common
in German
d, at the start / middle of d in day dunkel (dark), Ding (thing), laden (load)
a word
d, at the end of a word T Abend (evening), Wald (forest),
Freund (friend)
g, at the end of a word K Tag (day)
Pronounced, when it begins a word Herz (heart), Hals (neck), heute (today)
Pronounced, when it falls in the Bahnhof (station), namhaft (well-known),
middle of a word, with a consonant Vorhof (front yard)
h preceding it
Silent, when it is preceded by a sehen (to see), sehr (very), fahren (to
vowel (this is used to indicate that drive/ go), wohnen (to live), Ruhe
the vowel is long) (silence)
(mostly) y as in yes Ja (yes), Josef, Johann, Jacke (jacket)
Exception: In English words Jeans, Job, joggen (to jog)
imported into German, ‘J’ sounds
j exactly the same as in English
Exception: In French words Journalist, Journal (journal), Jargon
imported into German, the j
sounds like ‘si’ in vision
qu* kv Qual (distress), Quittung (receipt),
bequem (comfortable)
* q words in German are
followed by U (always)
Mostly used when there is an ‘-er’ Bruder (brother), Schwester (sister),
at the end of German words. Mutter (mother), Vater (father)
Click here to listen
It is also used when the ‘r’ is the Tür (door), Uhr (clock), mehr (more), vier
last letter in a word, and follows (four), Bier (beer), Chor (chorus)
after a long vowel.
Click here to listen
r, Vocalic
Also used when the 'r' follows a Pferd (horse), Herd (cooker), spürte (felt),
(pronounced as a ‘vowel’, long vowel but precedes another führte (led)
not as a consonant) consonant.
Click here to listen
Used with prefixes er-, ver-, zer- erlauben (to allow) , vergessen (to
and her- forget), zerstören (to destroy),
hereinkommen (to come in)
Click here to listen
YouTube lesson
r, Consonantal Has no English equivalent, is YouTube lesson
produced in the throat.
at the start of a word, like z as in Sie (you), sagen (to say)
zoo
s
at the end of a word, like the Reis (rice), Preis (price), Glas (glass)
English s
(mostly) f as in fox Vorname (first name), vier (4),
Volkswagen
v Exception: In words borrowed November, aktiv
from English, the ‘v’ sounds same
as in English
w v wie (how), wo (where), Wagen (car)
the German ü typisch, Physik, Gymnasium
Exception: y at the start or end of Yoga, Party, Hobby, Handy (mobile
y words imported from English is phone)
pronounced exactly as you’d
pronounce them in English
z ts as in its Zeit (time), Zahn (tooth), Salz (salt), Zug
(train), Herz (heart)
2. Multiple consonants together
Letter combination Sounds like Examples
tsch CH as in chair Deutsch (German), tschüss (bye),
rutschen (to slip)
sch SH as in shoe Schumacher, schreiben (to write),
schwimmen (to swim)
st / sp SHT / SHP Sprechen (to speak), spielen (to play),
studieren (to study at a University),
stehen (to stand)
s in sea
written as ‘ß’ after a dipthong heißen (to be called), dreißig (30)
Written as ‘ß’ after long vowels Spaß (fun), Fuß (foot)
ß /ss
Written as ‘SS’ after a short vowel Wissen (knowledge), Schloss (castle)
Note: both ß and SS sound exactly
the same
pf ‘p’ and ‘f’ are sounded together Pferd (horse), Kopf (head)
ck k as in thick wecken (to wake), schmecken (to taste),
zurück (back)
(i) ach (oh!), Bach (stream), Krach (noise),
Loch (hole), Tochter (daughter), mochte
‘ch’ after a-, o-, u, and au-, a hard (liked), Buch (book), Tuch (cloth), Bauch
‘ch’ sound (stomach), Rauch (smoke)
-no English equivalent exists- Listen
ch
(ii) Blech (tin), Stich (sting), Bäche (streams),
möchte (would like), Bücher (books), euch
In the rest of the cases, namely, (you (informal)), Bräuche (customs),
‘ch’ after 'e', 'ä', 'i', 'ei', 'eu', 'äu', Dolch (dagger), Mönch (monk), Storch
'ö', and ü or after a consonant, a (stork)
soft ch sound
-no English sound exists- Listen
Exception: In words imported Chaos, Checken (to check)
from English, the ‘ch’ sounds
exactly the same as how an English
speaker would pronounce it
Exception: In words imported from Chef (boss), Chance, Chauvinist
French, the ‘ch’ sounds like ‘sch’
-ig suffix sounds exactly like ch in case (ii) richtig (correct), Honig (honey), lustig
above (funny), traurig (sad), eilig
(hurried), fertig (finished)
Listen
th the t is sounded, while the h is Theater (theatre), Thema (theme),
silent Theorie (theory), sympathisch
(pleasant), Apotheke (chemist's),
Mathematik (mathematics), Methode
(method), Athlet (athlete), Psychopath
(psychopath)
Listen
the suffix -tion TSEE-ohn Nation, Information
3. Vowels
Vowel Sounds like Examples
long: a in father fragen (to ask), sagen (to say), arbeiten
(to work), Saal (hall), haben (to have)
a
short: u in cut Katze (cat), kalt (cold), alt (old), Salz (salt)
long: a in say Lesen (to read), gehen (to go), leben (to
e live), Regen (rain)
short: e in Bed Geld (money), Bett (bed)
long: ee Termin (appointment)
I
short: i as in bit mit (with), bitte (please)
o long: aw sound as in call oder (or), rot (red), tot (dead)
short: o as in hot Gott (God), blond (blonde)
long: oo in moon anrufen (to call), Blut (blood)
u
short: oo in foot rund (around), Hund (dog), Lust (desire)
Like a in day spät (late), Universität (university),
ä Mädchen (young girl)
like e in bed Länder (countries), Männer (men)
OE (sounds like ayo) schön (beautiful), Löwe (lion)
ö
OE (sounds like ayo but shorter) Öffnung (opening) , Möbel (furniture)
UE long sound für (for), müde (tired)
ü
UE short sound Über (over), Tür (door)
4. Dipthongs (combination of two vowel sounds)
Dipthong Sounds like Examples
EYE Mai (May), Hai (shark), Nein (no), mein
ai / ei
(my), klein (small), Wein (wine)
EE Wie (how), Wien (Vienna), liegen (to lie,
ie
in bed for example)
OU as in foul Auch (also), auf (on, at), aus (from),
au
genau (exactly)
eu/ äu OY as in toy neun (nine), Fräulein (Miss)
