Chapter#1 Pronunciation and Cognates – Part I

Letter Name of Letter in German

A Ah
B bay
C Tsay
D Day
E Ay
F Eff
G Gay
H Hah
I Ee
J Yawt
K Kah
L Ell
M Emm
N Enn
O Oh
P Pay
Q Koo
R Air
S Ess
T Tay
U Oo
V Fow
W Vay
X Ix
Y Uepsilon
Z Tset

Note: The German words end with voiceless consonant sounds. The final letter may be a voiced
consonant, but it is pronounced voiceless. Primarily, 3 German consonants are affected by this :

Voiced Consonant Voiceless Example Pronunciation Meaning

Consonant
Counterpart
B (bay) P (pay) Gib Geep Give
D (day) T (tay) Kind Kint Child
G (gay) K(kah) Tag Tuck Day

Pronunciation of Consonants

1. Bb
 It is pronounced like in english in beginning or middle of word
 Example
German Word Pronunciation Meaning
Boot Bote Boat
Bellen Bell-en Bark
Oben Oh-ben Up there, above
Farbe Far-beh Color

 At the end of the word, “b” changes into voiceless counterpart “p”
 Example:

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Korb Corp Basket
Gib Geep give

2. Cc

The sound of “C” is like the sound of “k” in english

 Example:

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Camping Kem-ping Camping
Charakter Kah-rahk-tuh Character

3. Dd

In the beginning or middle of a word, the sound of “D” is same like the sound of “d” in english

 Example:

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Dumm Doom Dumb
Das Duss That
Beide Bye-deh Both
Wieder Vee-duh Again

 At the end of the word, “d” changes into voiceless counterpart “t”
 Example:

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Bad Baht Bath
Hand Hahnt Hand

4. Ff
This consonant has same sound as in English.

 Example:

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Faul Fowl Lazy
Schaf Shahf Sheep

Exercise for practice :

Pronounce the following words –

German Word Pronunciation Meaning

Boot Boot Boat
Bank Bahnk Bank
Aber Ah-buh But
Beste Bes-tuh Best
Dort Dort There
Dies Dees This
Danke Dahn-kuh Thanks
Leider Laai-duh Unfortunately
Fallen Fah-lun Fall
Darf Dah-rf May
Werfen Wer-fuhn Throw
fretag Free-tahk Friday