![]() Similar Words: German Pronunciation Pitfalls Similar Words Zeit (TSITE), like ts in “cats” never like an English soft z (as in “zoo”) In some foreign, non-Germanic words with v, the v is pronounced as in English: Vase (VAH-suh), Villa (VILL-ah) When it precedes a vowel ( Hund), the h is pronounced. Once you have mastered diphthongs and grouped consonants, the next thing to note is how to pronounce other letters and letter combinations found within the German words, for example, at the end of a German word ” D “is usually a hard “ t “sound in German, not English’s soft “ D“sound.Īpart from this, the fact is that English and German words are often identical or similar in spelling can lead to pronunciation errors Letters in Words Schön (pretty), die Schule (school) – The German sch combination is never split, whereas sh usually is ( Grashalme, Gras/Halme but die Show, a foreign word).Īt the start of a word, the s in sp/st has a sch sound as in English “show, she.” sprechen(speak), stehen (stand)ĭas Theater (tay-AHTER), das Thema (TAY-muh), topic – Always sounds like a t (TAY). If this is difficult for you, an f sound will work, but try to do it!ĭas Alphabet, phonetisch – Some words formerly spelled with ph are now spelled with f: das Telefon, das Fotoĭie Qual (anguish, torture), die Quittung(receipt) – Although ch doesn’t usually have a hard k sound, there are exceptions: Chor, Christoph, Chaos, Orchester, Wachs (wax)īoth letters are (quickly) pronounced as a combined puff-sound: das Pferd (horse), der Pfennig. TIP: If no air is passing over your tongue when you say a ch-sound, you aren’t saying it correctly. Otherwise it is a palatal sound as in: mich (me), welche (which), wirklich (really). ![]() Here are more examples of paired consonants: Grouped ConsonantsĪfter a, o, u and au, pronounced like the guttural ch in Scottish “loch” – das Buch(book), auch (also). In standard German, the st combination at the beginning of a word is always pronounced like scht and not like the st found in English “ stay” or “ stone.” So a German word such as Stein (stone, rock) is pronounced schtine, with an initial sch-sound, as in “ show.” An example of this would be st, a very common combination of the consonants s and t, found in many German words. German also has many common grouped or paired consonants that have a consistent pronunciation as well. Häuser (houses), Europa (Europe), neu (new) Here are more examples of German Diphthongs: Diphthongsīei (at, near), das Ei (egg), der Mai (May)Īuch (also), das Auge (eye), aus (out of) The diphthong au in German always has the sound OW, as in English “ ouch.” The au is also part of the German word autsch, which is pronounced almost the same as “ ouch” in English. ![]() The Complete Guide to Learn German Pronunciation German DiphthongsĪ Diphthongs (comes from the Greek word di which means two + phthongos which means sound or voice)a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (as in coin, loud, and side).Īn example would be the au combination. It is helpful to know, for instance, what diphthongs and paired consonants are. Now that you know how to the alphabets sound in German Pronunciation, let’s talk about some terminology. The German Alphabet and its Pronunciation Before the start, it is always advisable that you should know all the German Alphabets, follow the link below To know them, you should be able to pronounce even the German words correctly, which you have never seen. It is always important that you should know how the German Pronunciation works (e.g., the German ei - as in nein - spelling is always sounded EYE, whereas German ie - as in Sie - always has the ee sound.) In German, rare exceptions are usually foreign words from English, French or other languagesĪny German student should learn the sounds associated with some spelling as soon as possible. This means that the German words almost always sound like the spell- with consistent sounds for any given spelling. ![]() German is more phonetically compatible language than English.
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