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Pronunciation
Dark Vowels Invading

2 Formal German
Formal English
Vocabulary
Grammar Points
2
2
2
3
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Formal German
1.(fast) Mann, da war was los, Donnerstag um acht am Flussufer!
2.(slowly, ´ indicates a short vowel) Mánn, da war wás los, Dónnerstag úm ácht am
Flússufer!
3.(distinguishing sets) Mahn/Mann, rote/Rotte, Mus/muss

Formal English
1. Man, the river shore was really bustling on Thursday at 8!
2. Man, the river shore was really bustling on Thursday at 8!
3.(distinguishing ) admonish!/man, red ones/gang, jam/must
sets

Vocabulary
German English Notes
Mann man noun masculine; means
“husband” when used
with a possessive
pronoun
2 mahnen to admonish verb weak verb
toll great adjective
so so adverb "so" as a conjunction
would be "also"!
rote red one(s) adjective
Rotte gang noun feminine
Mus sauce, jam, mousse noun neuter
muss must conjugated verb 1st person singular or 3rd
person singular form of
"müssen"

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Mein Mann arbeitet hier. My husband works here.

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Ich finde diesen neuen Film wirklich toll.
Wieso ist das so?
Kann man ich das rote Kleid zu den blauen
Schuhen anziehen?
Eine Rotte Wildschweine hat gestern Abend auf
der A2 einen Serienunfall verursacht.
Gib mir bitte das Apfelmus!
Jeder, der hier wohnt, muss die Müllgebühr
bezahlen.
Man muss auch mal etwas wagen.
Ich muss den Film nicht unbedingt sehen.
I think the new movie is really great.
Why is that so?
Can I wear that dress together with the blue shoes?
(Implied: do they match?)
A gang of wild boars caused a serial accident on
highway 2 last night.
Please give me the apple sauce!
Everybody living here has to pay the garbage fee.
You have to risk something sometime.
I don't absolutely have to watch that movie.

Grammar Points
Today we will look at the dark vowels. These are the ones written as A, O and U. Each of them can be
short or long. Vowels in German are always short when they are followed by a double consonant and
they are always long when they are followed by an H (which is silent, just marking the long vowel).
When there is only one consonant following the vowel, it will sometimes be short and sometimes long.

The German vowel A has a very clear sound when it's long: Aaaaaaah. A German dentist will make
you say „aaaah" because it gets you to open the mouth as wide as possible. In some varieties of
English, this will correspond to the sound in „father". In German, this sound can be found in the word
3 „Wagen" for example.

The short German A does not have an English equivalent, so you will just have to listen carefully and
imitate it. As an example, there's the word „Mann".

Distinguish: Mahn- / Mann!

The German vowel O is actually not just one vowel: there are two variations, just like in many other
languages. One is exactly like the O in „draw" when it's long, or like in „shock" when it's short, so this
vowel is easy for English speakers. In German, you can find this sound in the word „toll" for example.

The other kind of O is harder to grasp for English speakers because English speakers typically
combine it with a U sound, for example in the word „go". This is a rounded O, and in German, this
vowel stands on its own: for example in „so" (long) or „Moral" (short).

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Most often, the German long O is pronounced rounded (as in „so") and the German short O is
pronounced not rounded (as in „toll").

Distinguish: rote / Rotte! (first one is rounded and long, second non-rounded and short)

Finally, let's look at the U. There is a long U, as in „U-Bahn", and there's a short U as in „unter". Many
will know the long U sound from the English word „boot", but again there are varieties of English that
don't use this exact sound. The short U is comparable to the English U sound in „book".

Distinguish: Mus / muss

The most important thing for German vowels is not to make a diphtong out of them. If you draw it out,
you can split the O in „go" into O and U. If that's possible with your German vowels, they are off.
They need to be one pure sound only.

Practise today's sample sentence until you think you can say it perfectly. Then record yourself and
compare to the speaker. Or, if you have a German friend, ask him to say if you sound German.

It is much more effective to focus on the pronunciation of one sentence than to focus on the
pronunciation of all German sentences. If you try to get all of them perfect at the same time, you are
not likely to succeed. But if you can master the pronunciation of just a few select phrases like the ones
4 we are present here, and you can pronounced them just like a native speaker, then you have a working
model for everything else you may want to say in German. You are building a frame of mind that you
can switch to whenever you want to pronounce German perfectly.

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