The German Alphabet, Sounds & Spelling

Overview

• The German alphabet has 26 letters, the same as English.
• Plus three Umlaute (ä, ö, ü) and one special letter, ß (Eszett). Together these make 30 signs.
• German spelling is very regular. Once you know the rules below, you can read almost any word aloud correctly.
• Use the player above to listen to every letter, then come back to the notes below.

The alphabet with letter names

Extra signs: Ä ä (äh), Ö ö (öh), Ü ü (üh), ß (Eszett or "scharfes S").

Vowels: long and short

• Vowels can be long or short. The length changes the meaning: Staat (state, long a) and Stadt (city, short a).
• A vowel is usually long when it is doubled (Boot, Tee, Saal), followed by h (Zahl, Uhr, gehen), or followed by a single consonant (Tag, Hof, Boden).
• A vowel is usually short before two or more consonants (Hund, Tisch, Mutter, Bett).
• ie is always a long ee: Liebe, Brief, Wien. ei is the eye sound: nein, eins, Zeit. They are often mixed up, so remember: the second letter says the sound.

Umlaute: ä, ö, ü

• If you cannot type them, write ae, oe, ue (schoen, fuer). This is common in email addresses and on keyboards without a German layout.
• Umlauts often mark the plural: der Apfel – die Äpfel, das Buch – die Bücher.
• Do not skip the dots: schon (already) and schön (beautiful) are different words.

The letter ß (Eszett)

• ß is a sharp s sound, like in Straße, heißen, groß, Fuß.
• Use ß after a long vowel or a diphthong: Straße (long a), heiß (ei). Use ss after a short vowel: Wasser, muss, essen.
• In capitals write SS (STRASSE), or the capital ẞ if needed.
• In Switzerland and Liechtenstein only ss is used.

Consonants with special sounds

The German R

• At the start of a syllable, R is made at the back of the throat, a bit like softly gargling: Rose, rot, Radio.
• At the end of a word or syllable, R becomes a light -a sound: Vater, Lehrer, hier, Uhr.
• A rolled R (like in Spanish or Italian) is also understood, especially in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Diphthongs

Final-consonant hardening

• At the end of a word or syllable, b, d, g are pronounced as p, t, k.
• Tag sounds like "Tak", Hund like "Hunt", Urlaub like "Urlaup", Rad like "Raat".
• In the plural the sound returns because the consonant moves before a vowel: Tage (g), Hunde (d).
• The ending -ig is pronounced as the soft ch: wichtig, ruhig, fertig.

Word stress

• Most German words are stressed on the first syllable: ARbeit, WASser, FREUNDlich.
• Separable prefixes are stressed: ANkommen, AUFstehen.
• Non-separable prefixes (be-, ge-, ver-, er-, zer-, ent-) are not stressed: beKOMmen, verSTEhen.
• Many foreign words are stressed late: hoTEL, stuDENT, muSIK.

Spelling your name

• Wie schreibt man das? (How do you spell that?) – Mein Name ist Meier: M-E-I-E-R.
• Können Sie das bitte buchstabieren? (Can you spell that, please?)
• Noch einmal, bitte. (Once more, please.) – Langsamer, bitte. (Slower, please.)
• Doppel-L = LL, Doppel-S = SS. Großes A = capital A, kleines a = small a.
• For emails say: at (@), Punkt (.), Bindestrich (-), Unterstrich (_).

Spelling alphabets

On the phone Germans use a spelling alphabet. Two versions are common.

Example: Meier = M wie Martha, E wie Emil, I wie Ida, E wie Emil, R wie Richard.

Capital letters

• All nouns start with a capital letter: der Tisch, die Stadt, das Kind, die Freude.
• Also capitalised: the first word of a sentence, names, and the formal Sie (you) with Ihnen, Ihr.
• Not capitalised: verbs, adjectives, and languages used as adjectives (deutsch).
• Compare: Ich lerne Deutsch. (language, noun) – Das ist deutsch. (adjective).

Common mistakes

• Saying W like English w. Say it like v: Wasser = "Vasser".
• Saying V like English v. Usually say f: Vater = "Fater".
• Saying Z like English z. Say ts: Zeit = "Tseit".
• Mixing up ei and ie: nein (eye) and Liebe (ee).
• Reading ch with a hard k sound. Use the soft ich or the rough Buch sound.
• Dropping the umlaut dots and changing the word: schon vs. schön, fur vs. für.
• Pronouncing final -g as in English: Tag ends in k.

Practice

1. Read aloud, then check with the player: Schule, Straße, Zeitung, Mädchen, Vogel, Wasser, Quark, Pferd.
2. Spell your first name and your last name in German, using the letter names.
3. Spell your email address aloud with at, Punkt, Bindestrich.
4. Say these pairs and hear the difference: schon / schön, Hölle / Hülle, Bett / Beet, Staat / Stadt.
5. Tongue twister for ch and sch: Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische.