The German Alphabet
The German alphabet has 26 letters, just like English, plus 4 special characters:
- ä (a-umlaut) - pronounced like 'e' in 'bed'
- ö (o-umlaut) - round your lips to say 'o', but say 'e'
- ü (u-umlaut) - round your lips to say 'u', but say 'ee'
- ß (eszett/sharp s) - represents 'ss' sound
Pronunciation Tips
Vowels: German vowels can be long or short. Long vowels are held longer, short vowels are clipped.
- Long: Bahn (train) - 'ah' sound held
- Short: Bann (spell) - 'a' sound clipped
Key consonant differences:
- w - pronounced like English 'v': Wasser (water)
- v - usually pronounced like English 'f': Vater (father)
- z - pronounced like 'ts': Zeit (time)
- j - pronounced like English 'y': ja (yes)
Examples
- Ich heiße Maria. (My name is Maria.)
- Wie heißen Sie? (What is your name?)
- Das ist schön. (That is beautiful.)