Das deutsche Alphabet: Aussprache
A ah Anton N enn Nordpol
B bay Berta O oh Otto
C tsay Caesar P pay Paula
D day Dora Q koo Quelle
E ay Emil R err Richard
F eff Friedrich S ess Samuel
G gay Gustav T tay Theodor
H hah Heinrich U oo Ulrich
I ee Ida V fow Viktor
J yot Julius W vay Wilhelm
K kah Kaufmann X ix Xanthippe
L ell Ludwig Y ipsilon Ypsilon
M emm Martha Z tset Zacharias
ä [Ärger] long as in cape: spät, schläft, Mädchen
ö [Ökonom] round the lips and say "oy": Öl, schön, hören
ü [Übermut] round the lips and say "oe": für, grün, fünf
ai like ai in aisle: Mai
au like ow in how: Auto, Haus, Frau, kauft
ei like ei in height: Eis, ein, heiss, nein
ie like ie in recieve: anbieten, wieder, Dieter
eu like oi in oil: Freund, Deutsch, heute, neun
(also same as äu, as in Häuser)
kn, pf both letters are pronounced: Knabe, Knie, Pferd, Pfennig
ph like f: Photo, Physik
qu like kv: Quelle, Quartier
sp like shp at the beginning of a syllable: Sport, spielen
st like sht at the beginning of a syllable: Stock, stehen
th h is silent as in Thomas: Theater, Rothenburg
b like p at the end of a word: Dieb
d like t at the end of a word or syllable: Kind, Wind
g always pronounced hard as in go: gehen, Geld
s like z in zone before a vowel: See, sehen
A vowel is long in German 1) when it is doubled (das Haar);
2) when it comes before h (der Sohn); 3) when an ie dipthong (wieder);
and 4) before a single consonant that is followed by another vowel (eben).
A vowel is short 1) when it comes before two or more consonants (besser);
2) in the endings -el, -er, and -en (der Finger); 3) in prefixes such as
be-, ge-, ver-, and zer- (beschreiben); and 4) the letter e at the end of the word
(die Katze)
To listen to other words and phrases, check out the following:
click here