Language/German/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

The german alphabet and special sounds, explained in english sounds.

Letter	A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
IPA of Name	/aː/	/beː/	/t͡seː/	/deː/	/eː/	/ɛf/	/ɡeː/	/haː/	/iː/	/jɔt/; /jeː/	/kaː/	/ɛl/	/ɛm/	/ɛn/	/oː/	/peː/	/kuː/; /kveː/	/ɛʁ/	/ɛs/	/teː/	/uː/	/faʊ̯/	/veː/	/ɪks/	/ˈʏpsilɔn/; /ʏˈpsiːlɔn/	/t͡sɛt/

Letter	Ä ä	Ö ö	Ü ü	ẞ ß
IPA of Name	/ɛː/	/øː/	/yː/	/ɛsˈt͡sɛt/, /ˈʃaʁfəs ɛs/

The German alphabet contains 26 Letters, as well as four more letters (but for some reason they are not part of the regular alphabet)

It's really hard to describe it in letters, but I'll give it my best try:

1. A, this is like the a in garden. It's way more dark and deeper than the english a.
2. B, sounds like beh
3. C, sounds like tseh
4. D, deh
5. E, an e like in "exit", but a little longer and more open pronounced
6. F, sounds much like the English letter F
7. G, like Gordon
8. H, ha, like the English "huh?" sound, once more more open though
9. I, like in impress or "in", more open
10. J, the letter is called jot, pronounced as yot, the sound itself is y
11. K, kah
12. L, ell
13. M, emm
14. N, enn
15. O, almost like English o, but like the a before, more dark and deeper, it's not a swinging sound, it's pronounced kind of lazy, you don't say oh, but ooo
16. P, peh
17. Q, this has two used sounds, the first is kweh, the other is kuh, the u again a dark sound. Further explanation: The German sound of "Q-Tip" would be Kjuh-Tip, if you skip that j in the middle, you got it
18. R, err, the English R I'd write down phonetic as Rw. For example Richard sounds to German speakers like Rwicharwd. German doesn't have that w-swing, between words it bends more to an A than W. In the beginning its like rr, like a you do a horny sound.
19. S. ess
20. T, teh
21. U, as all the other vowels, it is deep and dark sounding, the German phonetic of the English U would be "juh", you must skip that j sound from the beginning
22. V, fau (au is a dipthong, a double sound, i explain further later)
23. W, weh
24. X, iks (a little bit like eeks, but the i does not equal ee entirely, it's a shorter and harder sound)
25. Y, üpsilonn / ipsilonn (Ü explanation coming soon)
26. Z, tsett

I heavily advice you to listen to the sounds in YouTube videos. It's almost impossible to describe them properly. You must get a sense for it yourself. Nevertheless, here comes the four letters which are part of regular words, but aren't part of the alphabet.

1. ß, this one is like a double s, it does not have a big writing, it only exists in the small form, if you have to write it in big, you do SS instead.
2. ö, if you make an O sound, put your tongue more forward to your lower teeth and sharpen your lips a bit
3. ü, probably the hardest one for English speakers,try it the same way as explained in Ö
4. ä, this comes close to the English a sound, but doesn't swing in voice so much, it's darker, it's almost like if you wondering "eeeehm?" The tongue does not go forward here, but rather a bit upward, not too much though

Now we are coming to Diphthongs and special sounds, which are very important. If two or three certain letters come together, they form a new sound.

1. Sch, is exactly the same like English sh. It is NOT like English "school", but it's like "shit"
2. Ch, this sound doesn't exist in English, it's a throaty one, imagine a cat making it's angry sound, like a cat roar/hiss, not so much pressure on it though
3. St, mostly becomes a spoken sch
4. ie, this only occurs in the middle of a word, never at beginning, it is called the "long i" or sometimes "mute e", so it's basically like a longer pronounced i
5. Ei, sounds a 100% like the English i
6. Ai, again like i
7. Au, is like a ow, like the sound you make if you hurt yourself
8. Äu, is like oi
9. Eu, the same again, oi
10. ee, is a longer stretched German e sound
11. aa, is a longer stretched German a sound

Now for some useful examples.

• Das Haus (the house) sounds like dass hows
• Der Baum (the tree) sounds like dare bowm
• Das Tier (the animal) sounds like dass teer
• Der Mais (the corn) sounds like dare mice
• Das Paar (the pair) sounds like dass pahr
• Der Bär (the bear) sounds like dare bare (but the R sound is heavier)
• Die Straße (the street) sounds like dee shdrrahseh
• Vier (four) sounds like fear (but the R comes close to an A, so it could also be described as German fia)

Again, I strongly suggest you to watch various videos of it. I recommend you the YouTube channel "Deutsch für euch".

For example: