The German alphabet
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Knowing the alphabet is very important when learning a new language. It plays a big role during the learning process in multiple ways. Once you are familiar with the German alphabet and its pronunciation, learning the German language won't be that difficult for you anymore.
The German alpabet is not as complicated as it probably seems. The German alphabet consists in 26 letters, those letters are the same as in English. However the German alphabet has four extra letters, that I will explain to you in the following part.
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It's time to look at the alphabtet in more details. In the following list you can not only learn how to pronounce the german letters, also there are some examples. Remember to practice the pronunciation in order to maximise your skills and knowledge.
German letters | Pronunciation | German word with translation |
---|---|---|
a | ah | Arm (arm) |
b | beh | Bruder (brother) |
c | tseh | Celsius (celsius) |
d | deh | Dienstag (Tuesday) |
e | eh | essen (to eat) |
f | eff | Familie (family) |
g | geh | Gold (gold) |
h | hah | Haus (house) |
i | ih | Idee (idea) |
j | yott | Januar (january) |
k | kah | Kaffee (coffee) |
l | ell | Lampe (lamp) |
m | emm | Mann (man) |
n | enn | Nase (nose) |
o | oh | Ozean (ocean) |
p | peh | Pause (pause) |
q | kuh | Quelle (source) |
r | err | Regen (rain) |
s | ess | schön (pretty) |
t | teh | Telefon (telephone) |
u | uh | Uhr (clock) |
v | fau | Vater (father) |
w | veh | Wilkommen (welcome) |
x | iks | Xylophon (xylophone) |
y | ypsilon | Yoga (yoga) |
z | tzett | Zeitung (newspaper) |
Here you can listen to the pronounciation of the whole alphabe:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
Quick reminder
In German we have four special characters (Sonderzeichen):
Sonderzeichen | Approximate Sound in English | Example |
---|---|---|
ä | like the "e" in melon | ängstlich, ähnlich, Mädchen |
ö | like the "i" in girl | Löwe, Möwe, Österreich |
ü | no comparable sound in English | müde, Übung, Rübe |
ß | double "s" sound (sharp s) | Straße, heiß, Spaß |
Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels (gliding vowels). Some of them sound very similar:
Diphthonge | Approximate Sound in English | Example |
---|---|---|
ai | like | Mai |
äu, eu | boy | Bäume, deutsch |
au | house | Daumen |
There are several consonant combinations in the german language:
Consonant combination | Approximate Sound in English | Example |
---|---|---|
ch | hue | Bach |
sch | shoe | Schuh |
sp | sh + p | Spaß |
st | sh + t | Stange |
Most of you probably don't have a German keyboard. For the exercises, that are spread through all our chapters, it is really important that you know how to type the German special characters:
For all the combinations you have to press the ALT key while typing.
You still have problems pronouncing the German alphabet? Listening to the following video will help you learning the pronounciation of the German alphabet!
I hope you have enjoyed this lesson! It's now your time to shine! Go and test yourself with our fun and engaging short exercises. See you soon!
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