The German alphabet and pronunciation

The alphabet: A to M

German uses the same 26 letters as English, plus ä, ö, ü and ß. You need the letter names to spell your name, an address or an email on the phone.

Most names are simply the sound of the letter with a vowel: , , , . Watch out for the ones that sound like a different English letter: German sounds like English “A”, German sounds like English “E”, and j is .

Letter	Sounds like	Meaning
A a	“ah”	apple
B b	“bay”	bread
C c	“tsay”	café
D d	“day”	village
E e	“ay”	food, meal
F f	“ef”	fish
G g	“gay”	garden
H h	“hah”	house
I i	“ee”	island
J j	“yot”	year
K k	“kah”	child
L l	“el”	lamp
M m	“em”	mother

The alphabet: N to Z, umlauts and ß

Four more names are easy to mix up: v is (like “fow”), w is (like “vay”), y is and z is . The letters with dots are called by their sound; people also say , and . ß is or .

To make a letter clear on the phone, people add a word: , .

Letter	Sounds like	Meaning
N n	“en”	night
O o	“oh”	fruit
P p	“pay”	post, post office
Q q	“koo”	jellyfish
R r	“air”	bike, wheel
S s	“ess”	sun
T t	“tay”	table
U u	“oo”	clock, watch
V v	“fow”	bird
W w	“vay”	water
X x	“iks”	taxi
Y y	“ÜP-see-lon”	typical
Z z	“tset”	train
Ä ä	like “e” in “bed”, but long	apples
Ö ö	“ay” with rounded lips	oil
Ü ü	“ee” with rounded lips	exercise
ß	“ess-TSET”	street

Vowels: long and short

Every German vowel can be long or short, and the difference can change the meaning. A vowel is usually long before h (), when it is doubled (, ) and before a single consonant (). It is usually short before a double consonant (, ) or several consonants ().

German vowels are pure: they don't glide into another sound as English “go” or “say” do. An e at the end of a word is always pronounced, as a short “uh”: has two syllables.

Spelling	Sound	Examples
a (long)	like “a” in “father”	(day), (railway)
a (short)	the same sound, but short	(man), (town)
e, ee, eh (long)	like “ay” in “say”, without gliding into “ee”	(lake), (to go)
e (short)	like “e” in “bed”	(bed), (to eat)
e (unstressed, at the end)	a weak, short “uh”	(please), (name)
i, ie (long)	like “ee” in “see”	(cinema), (four)
i (short)	like “i” in “bit”	(child), (milk)
o, oo, oh (long)	like “o” in “go”, without gliding into “oo”	(bread), (boat)
o (short)	like “o” in British “hot”	(sun), (to come)
u, uh (long)	like “oo” in “moon”	(book), (clock)
u (short)	like “u” in “put”	(dog), (mother)
ä (long)	like “ai” in “fair”, held a little longer	(cheese), (late)
ä (short)	like “e” in “bed”	(apples), (hands)
ö (long)	say “ay” and round your lips	(beautiful), (to hear)
ö (short)	say “e” in “bed” and round your lips	(can), (twelve)
ü (long)	say “ee” and round your lips	(green), (for)
ü (short)	say “i” in “bit” and round your lips	(five), (luck)
ei, ai	like “eye”	(my), (May)
eu, äu	like “oy” in “boy”	(today), (houses)
au	like “ow” in “now”	(house), (blue)

Consonants that differ from English

German spelling is very regular, so once you know these rules you can read almost any word aloud. Most consonants sound as in English; these are the ones to learn.

At the end of a word or word part, b, d and g lose their voice and sound like “p”, “t” and “k”: , , . The sound comes back when a vowel follows: , .

Spelling	Sound	Examples
w	“v” in “van”	(water), (how)
v	usually “f”; “v” in many borrowed words	(father), (a lot); (vase)
z, tz	“ts” in “cats”	(train), (cat)
s before a vowel	“z” in “zoo”	(sun), (to read)
ss, ß	a sharp “s”, as in “kiss”	(cup), (street)
sch	“sh” in “shop”	(school), (fish)
sp, st at the start of a word or word part	“shp”, “sht”	(to play), (town), (to understand)
st everywhere else	“st”, as in English	(is), (window)
ch after a, o, u, au	a rough sound at the back of the throat, like Scottish “loch”	(eight), (book), (also)
ch after other letters	a soft sound, like a whispered “h” in “huge”	(I), (milk), (girl)
-ig at the end of a word	like the soft ch in	(twenty), (right)
chs	“ks”	(six), (fox)
j	“y” in “yes”	(yes), (year)
r	made at the back of the throat, not with the tip of the tongue	(red), (bike)
r, er at the end	almost a vowel, like a short “uh”	(here), (father)
h after a vowel	silent; it shows that the vowel is long	(to see), (clock)
pf	both letters, “p” and “f” quickly together	(apple), (head)
qu	“kv”	(jellyfish), (comfortable)
th	just “t”	(theatre), (topic)
ng	“ng” in “singer”, never with a hard “g”	(to sing), (long)
tsch	“ch” in “church”	(bye), (German)
b, d, g at the end of a word or word part	“p”, “t”, “k”	(yellow), (dog), (day)

Umlauts, ß, accents and stress

The two dots of the umlaut change the vowel, and the meaning: (already) but (beautiful), (to pay) but (to count). If you can't type the dots, write ae, oe, ue: Mueller for .

ß is a sharp “s” that comes after a long vowel or after ei, au and eu: , , . After a short vowel you write ss: , , . In capital letters people usually write SS, and in Switzerland ß isn't used at all.

German has no written accents, except in a few borrowed words like . Most German words are stressed on the first syllable. The prefixes be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer- and ent- are never stressed, but separable prefixes like auf- and an- are.

Many borrowed words are stressed at the end: , , . Verbs ending in -ieren stress the ie: , .

Word	Stress	Meaning
	MUT-ter	mother
	AR-beit	work
	WO-chen-en-de	weekend
	be-SU-chen	to visit
	ver-STE-hen	to understand
	ge-SCHENK	present
	AUF-ste-hen	to get up
	AN-kom-men	to arrive
	ho-TEL	hotel
	mu-SIK	music
	bü-RO	office
	u-ni-ver-si-TÄT	university
	stu-DIE-ren	to study
	fa-MI-lie	family

Practice

Listen to each sentence, then say it yourself, slowly at first. The first one uses every letter of the alphabet, including ä, ö, ü and ß.

Zwölf Boxkämpfer jagen Viktor quer über den großen Sylter Deich.Twelve boxers chase Viktor across the big dyke on Sylt.
Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische.Fisherman Fritz fishes fresh fish. · a tongue twister for f and sch
Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.I speak a little German.
Wie schreibt man das?How do you spell that?
Können Sie das bitte buchstabieren?Could you spell that, please?
Acht Bücher liegen auf dem Tisch.Eight books are lying on the table. · a rough ch in , a soft ch in