Introduction to German alphabet

Pronunciation for beginners

Hosts: Rin & Mike & cow

Session level: A1
What are we - Differences in pronunciation
between regions
learning today? - German alphabet
- Vowels (including umlauts)
- Consonants
- Common letter combinations
- Tips on how to learn &
improve your pronunciation!
If you‘re using this presentation….
Every word has a wikitionary.de page with the pronunciation examples linked to it. You can access it by
clicking on it.
What is IPA?

IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. It’s

an alphabetic system that accurately represents the
pronunciation of languages.
alles [ˈaləs] wenn [vɛn]
Do you need to learn IPA? no, but…

It is very helpful when identifying and learning sounds

that you’re unfamiliar with, especially those you
struggle with.

I included IPA in this session as a reference and visual

help.

source: Wikipedia
Does everyone sound the same?
Differences in pronunciation across regions

German language is not standard across

German-speaking countries, or even inside of
Germany.

There are many dialects (Bairisch, Schwäbisch,

Schweizer Deutsch) which do not only differ in
pronunciation but also word usage. Do not be
surprised if you can’t understand anything!
Example: word usage
Example: pronunciation
Vowels
Vowel Length
Vowels (Vokale)
- short short Bett Sonne
- when a vowel is followed by two or more consonants
- long long Tag Maß
(single consonant)
- when a vowel is followed by a single consonant
- when the vowel is doubled long leer Waage
- when the vowel is followed by H (double vowel)

long Bahnhof Wohnen

^ Disclaimer: This isn’t a hard rule and you will find exceptions, (vowel followed by H)
For example: click on the word to see the pronunciation on wikitionary.de
Adler [ˈaːdlɐ]
Januar [ˈjanuaːɐ̯]
 Vowels
Vowel IPA Short Example Short IPA long Example Long

alles [ˈaləs] aber [ˈaːbɐ]

a a Mann [man] aː Tal [taːl]

wenn [vɛn] leben [ˈleːbn̩]

e ɛ Geld [ɡɛlt] eː Weg [veːk]

kommen [ˈkɔmən] ohne [ˈoːnə]

o ɔ Koffer [ˈkɔfɐ] oː Boot [boːt]

Mutter [ˈmʊtɐ] rufen [ˈʁuːfn̩]

u ʊ rund [ʁʊnt] uː Hut [huːt]

bitten [ˈbɪtn̩] Igel [ˈiːɡl̩ ]

i ɪ Imbiss [ˈɪmbɪs] iː Kino [ˈkiːno]
click on the word to see the pronunciation on wikitionary.de
Umlauts
Umlaut is an diacritical mark (¨) that indicates a change in pronunciation.

Umlaut IPA Short Example Short IPA long Example Long

ɛː ähnlich [ˈɛːnlɪç]
Bälle [ˈbɛlə] Käse [ˈkɛːzə], [ˈkeːzə]
ä ɛ Äste [ˈɛstə] eː
depending on the region spät [ʃpɛːt], [ʃpeːt]

öffnen [ˈœfnən] Löwe [ˈløːvə]

ö œ Töpfe [ˈtœp͡fə] øː böse [ˈbøːzə]

müssen [ˈmʏsn̩] über [ˈyːbɐ]

ü ʏ Brücke [ˈbʁʏkə] yː Mühe [ˈmyːə]
Consonants
Consonants 1
Consonant IPA Example

Ball [bal]
b b böse [ˈbøːzə]

Celsius [ˈt͡sɛlzi̯ ʊs] if c is before 'ä', 'e', 'i', or 'ö'

͡ ts
c circa [ˈt͡sɪʁka]
k Café [kaˈfeː] otherwise

Dach [dax]
d d Decke [ˈdɛkə]

Frau [fʁaʊ̯]
f f Fluss [flʊs]

Gift [ɡɪft]
g ɡ Glas [ɡlaːs]
Consonants 2
Consonant IPA Example

Haus [haʊ̯s]
h h Hahn [haːn]

j Jagd [jaːkt] Junge [ˈjʊŋə]

j
d͡ʒ / ʒ Job [d͡ʒɔp] Jalousie [ʒaluˈziː] loan words

Küche [ˈkʏçə]
k k Kino [ˈkiːno]

Liebe [ˈliːbə]
l l Luft [lʊft]

Mutter [ˈmʊtɐ]
m m Mann [man]
Consonants 3
Consonant IPA Example

Nase [ˈnaːzə]
n n Nebel [ˈneːbl̩ ]

Pilz [pɪlt͡s]
p p Punkt [pʊŋkt]

Quark [kvaʁk] Quelle [ˈkvɛlə]

q k bequem [bəˈkveːm]
almost always in a combination Qu [kv]

Rad [ʁaːt] Reis [ʁaɪ̯s] Büro [byˈʁoː] at the start of the word / syllable
ʁ Bruder [ˈbʁuːdɐ] Freund [fʁɔɪ̯nt] after a consonant
r r the “gargling” guttural R (made in the back of your throat) sound is the most common
pronunciation, however, some regions (Bayern, Austria, Switzerland) tend to use a
depending on the region trilled R (made with the tip of your tongue)
This video here helped me learn the guttural R.
Consonants 4
Consonant IPA Example

z Seil [zaɪ̯l] Sinn [zɪn] Nase [ˈnaːzə] single s before a vowel

s
s Kiste [ˈkɪstə] Wüste [ˈvyːstə] Kasse [ˈkasə] otherwise

Tag [taːk]
t t
Auto [ˈaːuto] Kette [ˈkɛtə]

f Vogel [ˈfoːɡl̩ ] Vater [ˈfaːtɐ]

v
v Vase [ˈvaːzə] Virus [ˈviːʁʊs] Niveau [niˈvoː] loan words

Weg [veːk]
w v bewerten [bəˈveːɐ̯tn̩]
Consonants 5
Consonant IPA Example

Fax [faks]
x ks Hexe [ˈhɛksə]

Yak [jak]
y j Yacht [jaxt]

z ts Zeit [t͡saɪ̯t] Zahn [t͡saːn] Zimt [t͡sɪmt]

Fuß [fuːs]
ß s heißen [ˈhaɪ̯sn̩]
Letter combinations
Diphthongs (Vowel combinations)
Combination IPA Example

Mai [maɪ̯] naiv [naˈiːf]

ai, ei aɪ
Eisen [ˈaɪ̯zn̩] Bein [baɪ̯n]

neu [nɔɪ̯] Freund [fʁɔɪ̯nt]

eu, äu ɔʏ Häuser [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ] Bäume [ˈbɔɪ̯mə]

exception: Museum [muˈzeːʊm]

Haus [haʊ̯s]
au aʊ Auto [ˈaʊ̯to]

Biene [ˈbiːnə]
ie iː Ziel [t͡siːl]
Consonant combinations 1
Combination IPA Example

ç ich [ɪç] weich [vaɪ̯ç] durch [dʊʁç] after 'i', 'e', 'ä', 'ü', 'ö', 'ei',
'ai', 'eu', and 'äu' and consonants other than 's', 'ch'
x nach [naːx] Buch [buːx] Dach [dax] after 'a', 'o', 'u' and 'au'
ch
k wechseln [ˈvɛksl̩ n] Fuchs [fʊks] before 's'
ʃ Chor [koːɐ̯] Chef [ʃɛf] Chaos [ˈkaːɔs] loan words
more detail here

sch ʃ schon [ʃoːn] Schaum [ʃaʊ̯m]

tsch tʃ rutschen [ˈʁʊt͡ʃn̩] Tschechien [ˈt͡ʃɛçn̩]

dsch dʒ Dschungel [ˈd͡ʒʊŋl̩ ]

Consonant combinations 2
Combination IPA Example

ck k Jacke [ˈjakə] Ecke [ˈɛkə]

Sport [ʃpɔʁt] Spur [ʃpuːɐ̯] versprechen [fɛɐ̯ˈʃpʁɛçn̩]

at the beginning of a syllable
sp ʃp
Wespe [ˈvɛspə]

starten [ˈʃtaʁtn̩] Staub [ʃtaʊ̯p] verstehen [fɛɐ̯ˈʃteːən]

at the beginning of a syllable
st ʃt
Wüste [ˈvyːstə]

tz ͡ ts Katze [ˈkat͡sə] Satz [zat͡s]

th t Theater [teˈaːtɐ] Thema [ˈteːma] the ‘h’ is silent

Word endings
Combination IPA Example

ç, k mutig [ˈmuːtɪç], [ˈmuːtɪk]

-ig depending on the
lustig [ˈlʊstɪç], [ˈlʊstɪk]
region

-en - machen [ˈmaxn̩] sprechen [ˈʃpʁɛçn̩]

Nation [naˈt͡si̯ oːn]

-tion ͡ tsi̯ oːn Präsentation [pʁɛzɛntaˈt͡si̯ oːn]

immer [ˈɪmɐ] Vater [ˈfaːtɐ] versprechen

[fɛɐ̯ˈʃpʁɛçn̩]
ɐ
-er, -or Motor [ˈmoːtoːɐ̯] Professor [pʁoˈfɛsoːɐ̯]
oːɐ̯
Uhr [uːɐ̯]
So, how does one get better?
Tips on improving pronunciation

- DO NOT use English approximations (I will ban you)

- Look up the pronunciation of words
- https://de.wiktionary.org/
- https://forvo.com/
- If you feel like you’re struggling with the sound, look up the lip and tongue movements and position
(here IPA is especially useful)
- Actively listen to the language
- Practise via shadowing technique - listen to an audio and repeat afterwords, whilst trying to match
the pronunciation as closely as possible
- Get feedback!
- #pronunciation - ask questions about pronunciation, or post a recording of yourself to get
advice and corrections
- Get used to the feeling when you still get laughed at when you mispronounce something, even though you spent an ungodly amount of time practising pronunciation and getting feedback, yay
Thanks for joining!

Next session: