How to read and say German
Letters, sounds and stress from Wikivoyage's German phrasebook. Then hear the phrases and practice them, free.
▶ Practice German phrasesGerman pronunciation is relatively straightforward, although spelling is somewhat more involved.
Y and qu are uncommon in standard German, with close to 90% of the words using them being borrowed.
Vowels
| vowel | English equiv. | vowel | English equiv. | vowel | English equiv. |
| a (IPA: a, ɐ) | like 'u' in "cup", 'a' in "target". In Austria, it sounds more like "au" in "Paul". | e (IPA: eː, ə, ɛ) | like 'e' in "ten", or 'e' in "emotion"; a schwa at the end of words with 2 or more syllables | i (IPA: iː, ɪ) | like 'i' in "bingo" |
| o (IPA: oː, ɔ) | like 'oo' in "door", like 'o' in "mole" | u (IPA: uː, ʊ) | like 'oo' in 'soon' | ä (IPA: ɛ) transcribed as ae | like 'e' in "ten"; same to e when being short |
|
ö (IPA: œ, øː)
transcribed as oe |
like 'i' in "Sir" (not a sound in English) | ü (IPA: yː, ʏ) transcribed as ue | same to the French 'u' in "tu" and the letter in Hanyu Pinyin | y | same as 'ü', but also consonant "j" in words of foreign origin ("Yacht"), sometimes pronounced more akin to "i", in general "y" shows the most irregularities in pronunciation of all vowels |
Length of vowels
A vowel is shortened when followed by a double consonant letters. A vowel is lengthened by a subsequent 'h', or by a double vowel, depending on the word. An exception is 'i', which is lengthened by a following 'e' or 'eh'.
Examples: the h in Hahn makes the a long; the aa in Haar is also long, the e in Tier makes the i long. (See below for "Diphthongs".)
In the Austrian and Bavarian dialect, vowel pronunciations are slightly longer and more pronounced.
Consonants
Consonants are pronounced quite strongly (except perhaps the 'r').
| Consonant | English equiv. | Consonant | English equiv. | Consonant | English equiv. |
| b | like 'b' in "bed" | c | like 'ts' in "bits" before 'i' and 'e'; like 'k' in "kid" otherwise "ck" usually shortens the vowel before | d | like 'd' in "dog" |
| f | like 'ph' in "phone" | g | like 'g' in "go"; like 'sh' in "shoot" but closer to the back of the throat when after an "i" at the end of a word | h | ; h : like 'h' in "help" |
| j | like 'y' in "yoga" | k | like 'c' in "cat" | l | like 'l' in "love" |
| m | like 'm' in "mother" | n | like 'n' in "nice" | p | like 'p' in "pig" |
| qu | like "kv" in "kvetch" or "bank vault" or like "qu" in "quest". "Q" is always used with "u" in German. | r | Like 'r' in "arm". Terminal 'r' becomes a vowel like 'a' in "hall" but with the hint of an 'r' sound. 'r' beginning a word or syllable is pronounced from the back of the throat, almost as in French. In southern Germany (Bavaria), Austria and Switzerland, the 'r' is rolled as in Spanish in all positions except the initial. | s | like 'z' in "haze" |
| v | like 'f' in "father"; in some words like 'v' in "victory" | w | like 'v' in "victory", never like 'wh' in "whisky" | x | like 'cks' in "kicks" |
| z | like 'ts' in "bits" | ß transcribed as ss | like 's' in "was" |
Common diphthongs and other digraphs
Note: these combinations are not always used as diphthongs. At syllable boundaries and sometimes even in a syllable, they are spoken as separate vowels (e.g. soeben — zoh-AY-ben)
- au
- like 'ow' in "how"
- ae
- transcription for 'ä' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
- ah
- like 'a' in "bar", longer than 'a'.
- äu
- like 'oy' in "boy"
- ei
- like 'i' in "wine"
- eu
- like 'oy' in "boy" (with some exceptions, such as the German words Museum and Eureka, in which all vowels are pronounced separately)
- eh
- long 'e'
- ie
- like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i'.
- ieh
- like 'ee' in "week", longer than 'i', fundamentally no difference to 'ie'.
- oe
- transcription for 'ö' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
- oh
- similar to "oo" in "floor"
- ue
- transcription for 'ü' or 'y' if not available on a keyboard or in URLs
- uh
- like 'ou' in "youth" (without any hint of the "y" sound), longer than 'u'.
- ch after 'a', 'o' and 'u'
- (IPA: x) like 'ch' in Scottish "loch", spoken in the throat, like 'j' in Spanish
- ch after 'i', 'e' and consonants
- (IPA: ç) like 'h' in "huge" - many Germans do not perceive the two "ch" sounds to be different, but there is a difference between the "h" sound and the "ch" sound(s)
- ch at the beginning of a word
- like 'ch' in "character"; in the North it is often pronounced like "sh" (e.g. China is /keena/ in Bavaria and /sheena/ in Hamburg)
- ck
- like 'ck' in "blocking"; though some words have a long vowel preceding the ck - e.g. Mecklenburg is properly pronounced with a long e
- ng
- like 'ng' in "singing", never like 'ng' in "finger"
- ph
- like 'f' in "fish"
- sch
- like 'sh' in "sheep"
- sp at the beginning of a word
- like 'shp' in "fish pool" ; in the extreme north: like sp in sports
- ss
- like 'ss' in "sass"; in contrast to 'ß', makes the preceding vowel shorter. Also used as transcription for 'ß' in URL or on foreign keyboards.
- st at the beginning of a word
- like 'sht' in "ashtray" ; in the extreme north like "st" in stand