Introduction

Learning the German alphabet is important when you decided to learn German language, because the letters and pronunciation are not completely the same like in the English alphabet.

Aside from learning the basic common German words, it is better if you have a full idea of the proper pronunciation because it will helps you learn the words faster.

So, in this article, you will learn the German letters with the proper pronunciation. 

Do not worry if you can’t perfect the pronunciation at the beginning. It takes time and practice before you get better at it.

German Alphabet with Pronunciation

The German alphabet has 26 regular letters which are the same in the English alphabet, but they have extra letters that are only in the German language, the 3 Umlaute, and 1 special letter.

We will be discussing first the 26 regular letters. Then, later will be the Umlaute and the special letter.

In order for you to easily understand them, I will give some vocabulary examples together with the letters.

Let’s begin….

A – is pronounced as “ah” , a German example will be ‘Apfel‘ (apple), ‘Ameise’ (ant)

B – is pronounced as “beh“, like ‘Ball’ (ball), ‘Baby‘ (baby)

C – is pronounced as “tse“, German example is ‘Computer‘ (computer)

D – is pronounced as “deh“, German example is ‘Drücker‘ (printer)

E – is pronounced as “e“, like “Ente” (duck)

F – is pronounced as ” ef “, German example is ‘Frosch‘ (frog)

G – is pronounced as “geh“, German example is ‘Gitarre‘ (guitar)

H – is pronounced as “hah“, German example is ‘Hund‘ (dog)

I – is pronounced as “ee“, German example is ‘Insel‘ (island)

J – is pronounced as “yot“, German example is ‘Joghurt‘ (yogurt

K – is pronounced as “kah“, German example is ‘Känguru (kangaroo)

L – is pronounced as “el“, German example is ‘Limonade‘ (lemonade)

M – is pronounced as “em“, German example is ‘Maus‘ (mouse)

N – is pronounced as “en“, German example is ‘Nase‘ (nose)

O – is pronounced as “oh“, German example is ‘Ohr‘ (ear)

P – is pronounced as “peh“, German example is ‘Polizei‘ (police)

Q – is pronounced as “kuh“, German  example is ‘Qualle‘ (jellyfish)

R – is pronounced as “er“, German example is ‘Ring‘ (ring)

S – is pronounced as “es“, German example is ‘Sonne‘ (sun)

T – is pronounced as “teh“, German example is ‘Taxi‘ (taxi)

U – is pronounced as “u“, German example is ‘Uhr‘ (clock/watch)

V – is pronounced as “fau“, German example is ‘Vogel‘ (bird)

W – is pronounced as “vie“, German example is ‘Wasser‘ (water)

X – is pronounced as “iks“, German example is ‘Xylofon‘ (xylophone)

Y – is pronounced as “üpsilon“, German example is ‘Yoga‘ (yoga)

Z – is pronounced as “tset“, German example is ‘Zebra‘ (zebra)

If you will notice, the letters “J, Q, V, W, Y, and Z” have different pronunciations from the English alphabet.

That is the reason why you need to learn the German alphabet and pronunciation at the very beginning of your German language course for you to be able to read and speak correctly the German word.

The German Umlaut

There are only 3 German Umlaute, and these have “two dots on the top of the letter”.

The 3 Umlaut are, Ää, Öö, and Üü. 

Only vowel Ä, Ö, and Ü are considered Umlaute. There is no ‘E’ Umlaut. Only Ä, Ö, Ü.

How to Pronounce Ä, Ö and Ü Umlaute?

The Ää is pronounced as “ae“, which sounds like ‘age‘ or ‘day‘ in English. The German example would be ‘ Äpfel‘ (apples)

The Öö is pronounced “oe“, which sounds like ‘flirt‘ or ‘girl‘ in English. The German example is ‘Öl’ (oil)

And lastly, the Üü is pronounced as “ue“, which sounds like ‘blew’ in English. The German example is ‘über’ (over/about)

What if I do not have Umlaut on my Keyboard?

If you do not have the letter Umlaute on your keyboard, you may use “ae” for Ä, “oe” for Ö, and “ue” for Ü.

Some people also do not know how to read it, so better you know these as an alternative for Umlaut.

The “ß” Letter

I call it a special letter because it’s a very unique letter and you can only see it in the German language.

I know it looks like a letter ‘B’ but it’s not.

The “ß” is pronounced as “ess tset“, German example is ‘tschüß’ (bye).

Bear in mind that you cannot use it at the beginning of a word and it has no small letter.

You have to be careful when reading or writing the ‘ß’ since sometimes it’s really confusing to read.

What if I do not have “ß” on my Keyboard?

If you don’t have the letter ß on your keyboard or you find it hard to write, you can use “ss” (double ‘s’) as ß.

You can also watch this video for you to hear how to pronounce the letters properly.

The German Vowels: How to Pronounce them?

There are proper ways how to pronounce the vowels in the German Alphabet.

You might make a mistake in reading German words if you don’t fully understand how to pronounce them.

Let’s take a look at some of those that you need to learn.

au – is pronounced like ‘aw‘, in English is ‘wow’, and the German examples are: ‘blau‘ (blue), and ‘Maus’ (mouse).

äu/eu – is pronounced like “oi“. German examples are “Häuser” (houses) and “Deutsch“.

ei – is pronounced like “ay“. In English is “ice” . German examples are “nein” (no), “Einstein” and “Preis” (price)

ie – is pronounced like “ee“. German example is “Lied” (song)

The German Consonant: How to Pronounce them?

It is also important if you will learn how to pronounce the German consonant combinations.

ch – is pronounced like “loch”  but the back of your tongue must press the air out of your mouth. German examples are “mich” (me), and “machen” (to make). 

If you hear some people saying “ich” as “ik” or “ish”, don’t be surprised. It is also correct.

sp / st – When it appears at the beginning of the word, the “s” is pronounced as “sh” , like in “spielen” (to play) and “Stadt” (city)

sch – this is pronounced as “sh” and German example is “schreiben” (to write)

tsch – it is pronounced like “choose” in English. German examples would be “tschüß” (goodbye), “Rutsch” (slide). 

How to Learn German letters and Pronunciation easier and faster?

The only way to learn the German alphabet is to practice and repeat. 

Yes!! Learning them through practice and repetition will be so boring BUT it is a very effective way to learn them easily and in the long term.

Oh yah! You can also try to read some children’s storybooks or watch some Youtube videos with subtitles. You have to pay attention to how they speak or deliver the words, especially with Umlaut.

I remember when I was self-studying German, I always watch some short videos on Youtube with subtitles. Then, I will copy how the actor/actresses speak. 

Summary

To wrap up this article, I want to summarize the important thing you have to remember about the German Alphabet.

• The German alphabet has 26 regular letters, 3 Umlate, and 1 special letter.
• Only Ä, Ö, and Ü Umlaute. There are no “E” or “I” Umlaut.
• Letter “J” is pronounced as “yot”
• Letter “Q” is pronounced as “kuh”
• Letter “V” is pronounced as “fau”
• Letter “W” is pronounced as “vie”
• Letter “Y” is pronounced as “üpsilon”
• Letter “Z” is pronounced as “tset”
• The “ß” cannot be used at the beginning of a word and it has no small letter.

So, that is the German alphabet. It is not that hard to learn, right? 

Start practicing and use those letters in creating your German sentences.