German for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Learn German Pronunciation

-

Affiliate Disclosure: Every purchase made through our affiliate links earns us a pro-rated commission without any additional cost to you. Here are more details about our affiliate disclosure.

German is more phonetically compatible language than English. This means that the German words almost always sound like the spell- with consistent sounds for any given spelling. It is always important that you should know how the German Pronunciation works (e.g., the German ei — as in nein — spelling is always sounded EYE, whereas German ie — as in Sie — always has the ee sound.) In German, rare exceptions are usually foreign words from English, French or other languages

Any German student should learn the sounds associated with some spelling as soon as possible. To know them, you should be able to pronounce even the German words correctly, which you have never seen. Before start, it is always advisable that you should know all the German Alphabets, Click the link below for

The German (Deutsch) Alphabet Pronunciation

Now that you know how to the alphabets sound in German Pronunciation, let’s talk about some terminology. It is helpful to know, for instance, what diphthongs and paired consonants are.

German Diphthongs

A Diphthongs (comes from the Greek word di which means two + phthongos which means sound or voice) a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (as in coin, loud, and side).

An example would be the au combination. The diphthong au in German always has the sound OW, as in English “ouch.” The au is also part of the German word autsch, which is pronounced almost the same as “ouch” in English.

Here are more examples of German Diphthongs:

Diphthongs
Diphthong
Double
Vowels
Aussprache
Pronunciation
Beispiele / Examples
ai / ei eye bei (at, near), das Ei (egg), der Mai (May)
au ow auch (also), das Auge (eye), aus (out of)
eu / äu oy Häuser (houses), Europa (Europe), neu (new)
ie eeh bieten (offer), nie (never), Sie (you)

 

Grouped or Paired Consonants in German

German also has many common grouped or paired consonants that have a consistent pronunciation as well. An example of this would be st, a very common combination of the consonants s and t, found in many German words.

In standard German, the st combination at the beginning of a word is always pronounced like scht and not like the st found in English “stay” or “stone.” So a German word such as Stein (stone, rock) is pronounced schtine, with an initial sch-sound, as in “show.”

Here are more examples of paired consonants:

Grouped Consonants
Buchstabe
Consonant
Aussprache
Pronunciation
Beispiele / Examples
ck k dick (fat, thick), der Schock (shock)
ch >> After a, o, u and au, pronounced like the guttural ch in Scottish “loch” – das Buch(book), auch (also). Otherwise it is a palatal sound as in: mich (me), welche (which),wirklich (really). TIP: If no air is passing over your tongue when you say a ch-sound, you aren’t saying it correctly. No true equivalent in English. – Although ch doesn’t usually have a hard k sound, there are exceptions: Chor,ChristophChaosOrchesterWachs (wax)
pf pf Both letters are (quickly) pronounced as a combined puff-sound: das Pferd (horse), derPfennig. If this is difficult for you, an f sound will work, but try to do it!
ph f das Alphabetphonetisch – Some words formerly spelled with ph are now spelled with f:das Telefondas Foto
qu kv die Qual (anguish, torture), die Quittung(receipt)
sch sh schön (pretty), die Schule (school) – The German sch combination is never split, whereas  sh usually is (Grashalme, Gras/Halme; but die Show, a foreign word).
sp / st shp / sht At the start of a word, the s in sp/st has a sch sound as in English “show, she.” sprechen(speak), stehen (stand)
th t das Theater (tay-AHTER), das Thema (TAY-muh), topic – Always sounds like a t (TAY). NEVER has the English th sound!

 

German Pronunciation Pitfalls

Once you have mastered diphthongs and grouped consonants, the next thing to note is how to pronounce other letters and letter combinations found within the German words, for example, at the end of a German word ” D “is usually a hard “t “sound in German, not English’s soft “D“sound.

Apart from this, the fact is that English and German words are often identical or similar in spelling can lead to pronunciation errors

Letters in Words
Spelling Aussprache
Pronunciation
Beispiele / Examples
final b p Lob (LOHP)
final d t Freund (FROYNT), Wald (VALT)
final g k genug (guh-NOOK)
silent h gehen (GAY-en), sehen (ZAY-en)
When h follows a vowel, it is silent. When it precedes a vowel (Hund), the h is pronounced.
German th t Theorie (TAY-oh-ree)
German v f Vater (FAHT-er)
In some foreign, non-Germanic words with v, the v is pronounced as in English: Vase (VAH-suh),  Villa (VILL-ah)
German w v Wunder (VOON-der)
German z ts Zeit (TSITE), like ts in “cats”; never like an English soft z (as in “zoo”)

 

Similar Words: German Pronunciation Pitfalls

Similar Words
Pronunciation Pitfalls
Wort
Word
Aussprache
Pronunciation
Comments
Bom be
bom b
BOM-buh The mb, and e are all heard
Genie
genius
zhuh-NEE The g is soft, like the s sound in “leisure”
Nation
nation
NAHT-see-ohn The German –tion suffix is pronounced TSEE-ohn
Papier
paper
pah-PEER Stress on the last syllable
Pizza
pizza
PITS-uh The i is a short vowel because of the double z

 

Thanks for reading, let us know in comments if we missed something to mention about German Pronunciation. Don’t forget to share with your friends and family members.

Related Articles

Like our Article/ Blog? Can buy a Buttermilk for our team.. Click here

Pardeep Patelhttps://pardeeppatel.com/
Hi!, I am Pardeep Patel, an Indian passport holder, Traveler, Blogger, Story Writer. I completed my M-Tech (Computer Science) in 2016. I love to travel, eat different foods from various cuisines, experience different cultures, make new friends and meet other.

Share this article

-- Advertisement --

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

-- Advertisement --