German in bite-sized chunks

Lesson 1: Pronunciation and useful phrases

This first lesson will give you an overview of how German is pronounced. German pronunciation is very regular, hence it makes sense to explain all the rules. For this reason, this first lesson will be more extensive than the rest. You don't need to learn all this by heart, just read it for a basic idea of what German should sound like and then refer to it whenever you're unsure of how something should be pronounced. For the purpose of examples of various sounds and letters, I shall be using the following words and phrases, most of which you will find useful to know: Hallo! Hello! universal greeting literally: "good day", greeting used throughout the day, more formal than "Hallo" Good evening! Good night! only used when taking leave of somebody, assuming that somebody will go to bed now exact counterpart of "Au revoir"; formal Bye! less formal than "Auf Wiedersehen" Thanks Please; Here you are; You're welcome - used on a variety of occasions: when asking somebody to do something, when giving him something and as reply to "Danke". How are you? formal; literally means 'how goes it you?' and the 'you' is formal, like French 'vous' How are you (today)? informal; the 'you' is like French 'tu' good, well not so good/well I cannot complain - I'm quite well literally: Am I disturbing?; said e. g. when you go somewhere and you'd like to talk to somebody but you're not sure whether he's occupied

Guten Morgen! Good morning! Guten Tag! Guten Abend! Gute Nacht! Auf Wiedersehen! Tschss! Danke Bitte Wie geht es Ihnen? Wie geht es dir (heute)? Gut Nicht so gut Ich kann nicht klagen Stre ich?

Sprechen Sie Englisch? Deutsch Franzsisch Ja Nein Prost! Quatsch!

Do you speak English? German French Yes No Cheers! said when having a drink together; shortened form of Latin 'prosit' Nonsense!

Excuse me; I'm sorry - literally: "apology". Said both when trying to get somebody's attention and when you have made a mistake. NOT Entschuldigung! said when somebody tells you about something that you didn't have any influence on, e. g. when somebody in his family died. Texas New York Mythos Computer Caesar Vater Vase Texas New York myth computer Caesar father vase

In order to hear one of these words and phrases pronounced, just click on it. This also applies to the latter parts of this lesson, when the same words will be used to illustrate all aspects of German pronunciation.

German uses the same alphabet as English, with the following additions: , , and . The sound of the letters is not always the same as in English though. It is mainly the vowels and the r that sound different. Since German didn't undergo the vowel shift that makes English vowels so different and French and Spanish didn't undergo that shift either, it is always better in cases of doubt to assume that a German vowel is pronounced like a French or Spanish one, rather than an English vowel.

1.1 Vowels and vowel combinations

Here's a list of all vowels and vowels combinations, an explanation of how they sound and a sample:

Spelling Sound

Example(s) Hallo, Guten Tag, Guten Abend, Gute Nacht, Ja, Ich kann nicht klagen, Franzsisch, Quatsch, Texas, Vater, Vase Nein Auf Wiedersehen Guten Morgen, Gute Nacht, Auf Wiedersehen, Wie geht es dir heute, Sprechen Sie Englisch, Entschuldigung, Texas Wie geht es dir heute, Deutsch Wie geht es dir heute, Nicht so gut, Ich kann nicht klagen, Entschuldigung Auf Wiedersehen, Wie geht es Ihnen Nicht so gut, Prost, New York, Mythos Guten Tag, Gut, Entschuldigung

like a in "father" or French "il a"

ai and ei both sound the same, though ei is the ai or ei more common spelling. The sound is like the y in English "my". au like ow in "how" or ou in "house". as in French, e can convey three different sounds, though many people are unaware of that. The three sounds can be found in the French phrase "mais menez": 1st somewhat like the a in "and", 2nd like the a in "about", 3rd, and most difficult for an English speaker, a clear e sound that is part of "hay" - but "hay" has an additional y sound at the end.

eu or u like oy in "boy" i ie o u like i in "in" or ee in "meet", depending on length. always a long i sound like ee in "meet" as in French, there are two variations: open o like in "porte" or closed o like in "eau". like ou in French

this sound is like the first e in French "mre". In crosswords or the like, is always spelled ae, so whenever a foreign-borrowed word contains an Caesar ae, it's pronounced with the same sound (native German words don't contain the combination ae) either like French eu as in "beurre" or like French "eux". Spelled oe in crosswords and the Stre ich, Franzsisch like. like u in French. Spelled ue in crosswords and the like very rare in German words. It's usually pronounced as in the language from which the Tschss Mythos

word was borrowed, e. g. in "Baby"(borrowed from English) it's pronounced as i, whereas in "Mythos"(borrowed from Greek) it's pronounced as . In case of doubt, pronounce as .

1.2 Consonants and consonant combinations

Now for the consonants. Fortunately most of them are like in English. I will just provide explanations for those that are different or may be different. Spelling Sound c Example(s)

very rare, mostly in foreign words, where it may sound as k or ts. In most cases where there is a c in Englisch Computer, Caesar words, it has been replaced by a k in German words. in this combination, c is very common. ch is pronounced in two different ways, neither of which exist in French or English (unless you count the Scottish way of saying "loch"). If ch is preceded by a "light" vowel such as e or i or by a consonant, it is pronounced as in "Stre ich" or "Sprechen Sie Englisch". If ch is preceded by a "dark" vowel such as a, o or u, it is pronounced as in "Gute Nacht". "kk" doesn't look nice to a German eye, so whenever that would have to be written, we spell "ck" instead. No change of sound. g is always pronounced as in the English word "garden", never as in "gentle" two cases: either h is preceded by a vowel or not. If it is preceded by a vowel, it can't be heard and instead prolongs the vowel. If it is not preceded by a vowel, it can always be heard (unlike in French). pronounced like y in "year". pronounced as a combination of English c and v (which would be k and w in German). Guten Morgen, Wie geht es Ihnen, Gut Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen, Wie geht es Ihnen, Wie geht es dir heute Ja Quatsch

ch

Stre ich, Sprechen Sie Englisch, Gute Nacht

ck

h j qu

Guten Morgen, pronunciation varies depending on the region and the Auf Wiedersehen, speaker. It may be frontal, lingual (rolled) or uvular. In no Stre ich, case does it fuse with the vowel as in English "her"; it's Sprechen Sie always pronounced as a clear r. Englisch,

Franzsisch, Prost, Caesar, Vater pronounced like s in "rose", that is, a sound that English speakers would usually write as a z. When it is not followed by a vowel, it is pronounced like an English s. Auf Wiedersehen, Nicht so gut, Prost, Texas, Mythos, Caesar, Vase

v w y

in words of Romance origin, it is pronounced as in English. In words of Germanic origin, it is pronounced as Vater, Vase f. always pronounced like an English v. very uncommon as a consonant, too, limited to foreign words and always pronounced as in English. pronounced like ts as in "cats". Practise to say this combination as the beginning of a word. The c in Caesar has the same sound, actually Caesar would have to be written as "Zsar" in phonetic German. pronounced like an English s. In crosswords, ss replaces , but ss also exists in normal spelling. pronounced exactly like "sh" in English Auf Wiedersehen New York

Caesar

or ss

Tschss Entschuldigung, Sprechen Sie Englisch, Deutsch, Franzsisch

sch

sp

when sp occurs as a combination within a word (not at the Sprechen Sie end of a word or when two words are combined to form a Englisch compound), it is pronounced as a combination of sh and p Stre ich, Prost when sp occurs as a combination within a word (not at the (no sh + t end of a word or when two words are combined to form a combination in compound), it is pronounced as a combination of sh and t Prost)

st