"P" is pronounced the same as its English equivalent, only with slightly less release of air.
"B" is pronounced no differently from in English - when it precedes a vowel. But "b" hardens to a "p", when "b" occurs at the end of a word or syllable, or before an "s" or a "t".
"Ch" is a German sound which causes English speakers severe problems as it does not occur naturally in the English language, and varies in sound depending on its position in the word and the sound which precedes it.
1. "Ch" following the sounds "a", "o", "u", or the diphthong "au" The Scots are at a distinct advantage here however, as the sound required is the one heard in "Loch Ness". Or imagine the rasping guttural sound made in the back of your throat before you spit!
ach! (oh!) Bach (stream) Krach (noise) Loch (hole) Tochter (daughter) mochte (liked) Buch (book) Tuch (cloth) Bauch (stomach) Rauch (smoke)
2. "Ch" following "e", "i", "ä", "ö", "ü", the diphthongs "eu" or "äu" and the consonants "l", "n" or "r". Whereas "ch" in the previous instance was a sound formed in the back of the mouth, this is one formed in the front of the mouth. Imagine saying the English words "humour" or "humane", but breathe with the tip of the tongue touching the back of the lower front teeth.
Click on the icon to listen to the following pairs of words:
7. Differentiating between "ch" and "ck" One of the most common mistakes made by English students of German is to confuse the German "ch" and "ck" sounds.
Bach (stream) Backpulver (baking powder) Mechthild (girl's name) meckern (to complain) Buch (book) Buckel (hunchback) roch (smelled) Rock (skirt) Ernst Bloch (philosopher) Schreibblock (writing pad)
Sometimes the two sounds occur in the same word:
glücklich (happy) schrecklich (dreadful)
Mechthild und Eckhard machen schrecklich Krach (Mechthild and Eckhard are making a dreadful din.)
8. "Ch" at the beginning of a word The sound "ch" at the beginning of a word causes its own problems. It indicates a word which has been imported from a foreign language, and thus can be pronounced in two ways. The ch-words which have been imported from French tend to be pronounced like the English word "champagne":
Chance (chance) Champagne (champagne)
The "ch" sound in some other words is pronounced like a "k":
Christ (Christian) Charakter (character) Chor (choir) Chamäleon (chameleon)
And yet other words beginning with "ch" have the sound pronounced like the "ch" in "loch":
chinesisch (Chinese) Chimära (chimera)
The beginner should not worry about this discrepancy in the "ch" sounds at the beginning of words. German-speakers themselves, particularly if they come from different countries, often disagree on the matter!
"T" is pronounced the same as its English equivalent, only with slightly less release of air.
"D" is also pronounced no differently from in English - but only when it precedes a vowel.
But "d" is pronounced as a "t", when "d" occurs at the end of a word or syllable, or before an "s" or a "t".
Hunde (dogs) Hund (dog) wenden (to turn) Wand (wall) leider (unfortunately) Leid (suffering) landen (to land) Land (country) baden (to bathe) Bad (bath)
Note that the letter combination "dt" is always pronounced as "t":
Stadt (city) Städte (cities)
"K" is pronounced the same as its English equivalent, only with slightly less release of air.
"G" is also pronounced no differently from in English - when it precedes a vowel.
But "g" hardens to a "k", when it occurs at the end of a word or syllable, or before an "s" or a "t".
In the English sounds "gn" and "kn", only the second consonant is pronounced (i.e. "sign", "know".
In German however, both consonants are pronounced, although both the "g" and the "k" are spoken as a brief soft explosion in combination with a more dominant "n". Gnom (gnome) Gnade (mercy) Knie (knee) Knecht (vassal) Kneipe (pub) Knopf (button) Knabe (boy) Narbe (scar) Knechte (vassals) Nächte (nights) Knobel (dice) nobel (nobel) Knie (knee) nie (never) Knoten (knot) Noten (notes)
The German letter "h" is always clearly pronounced at the beginning of a word, or when a word beginning with "h" appears as a second element in a compound noun.
Haus (house) hier (here) Heim (home) Haupt (head) Bahnhof (station) Hochhaus (block of flats)
But if an "h" occurs in the middle of a word on the other hand, it is not pronounced and the preceding vowel is lengthened:
The pronunciation of the German "y" depends on the position of the letter in the word. If it is positioned within a word it sounds just like "ü" - which English-speakers invariably forget!
If "y" stands at the beginning or end of a word, then it is pronounced in exactly the same way as it is in English:
Hobby (hobby) Yoga (yoga) Party (party) Handy (mobile phone)
The only exception to this is the word for "y" - "Ypsilon" - where the word gets pronounced as "ü".
2. The letter "j" The letter "j" is always pronounced like the "y" in the English word "yes". In fact, most words beginning with "y" in English (and some with beginning with the letter "i" are spelt with a "j" when taken over into German.
The pronunciation of the German letter "l" is one of the ways by which non-native speakers give themselves away. As a general rule, the German "l" sounds much lighter and also flatter than the English "l" - it is quite close in sound to the English "million" or "billion".
As you pronounce it, try lightly touching the tip of your tongue behind the top of your front teeth whilst making the rear of your tongue lie lower than normal in the mouth: alleine (alone) hell (bright) wild (wild) Fräulein (young lady) Polen (Poland) Teil (part) Unheil (disaster) Schal (shawl) Leute (people) lallen (to mumble drunkenly
At the end of a word the German sound "ng" is pronounced as one nasal sound only, just like the English "long" or "wing".
English speakers often forget that the same rule applies in the middle of a German word too! Therefore the word "singen" (= "to sing" is pronounced "sing-en" - not "sin-gen" or "sing-gen". Do not be tempted to pronounce the "g" as a separate sound!
lang (long) länger (longer) fangen (to catch) England (England) Lunge (lung) Sänger (singer)
The combination "nk" however should always be pronounced as two separate sounds, nasal "n" + "k", exactly as it is in English (i.e. "thin-king".
The "pf" letter combination is very common in German, but not in English where "stepfather" is one of the few instances. In German, both consonants need to be pronounced as a combined sound, although the "p" is spoken as a brief soft explosion in combination with a more dominant "f".
No other sound in German separates the native from the non-native speaker - and no other sound is more inclined to regional variation! When it is positioned before a vowel, "r" can sound quite guttural, as if the speaker were gargling!
drei (three) frei (free) grau (grey) Frau (woman) Brauerei (brewery) Sprache (language) warum (why) Strand (beach)
At the end of a word however, the "r" is hardly pronounced at all - much as in the English words "beer" and "fear". Bier (beer) Jahr (year) Schwester (sister) Kinder (children)
jünger (younger) die jüngere (the younger) Meer (sea) Meere (seas) clever (clever) der clevere (the clever)
When it comes before a vowel, the German "s" is pronounced like an English "z". When it comes at the end of a word it is pronounced like an English "s".
Reise (travel) Reis (rice) Preise (prices) Preis (price) Gläser (glasses) Glas (glass) Lose (lots) Los (lot)
A double s ("ss" or "ß" is always pronounced like an English "s".
This sound is written "ss" when the preceding vowel in a word is short. It is written "ß" following a long vowel or diphthong - i.e. after "ei", "ey", "ay", "eu", "äu" and "au". Schloss (castle) wissen (to know) weiß (white) dreißig (thirty) Strauß (ostrich) größer (bigger)
The German sound "sch" always equates to the English "sh" at the beginning of "show" or "short": Scheck (cheque) Schlaf (sleep) komisch (strange) Fisch (fish)
2. The "sp" and "st" combinations When they occur at the beginning of a word, both "sp" and "st" are pronounced "schp" and "scht". This means that the "s" sounds like the "sh" at the beginning of "show" and "short":
Straße (street) Stein (stone) Stadt (city) Stoff (material) Sport (sport) Speisekarte (menu) Spiel (game) Sparkasse (savings bank)
BUT when "sp" and "st" occur at the end or in the body of a word, they are pronounced as they would be in English. This means that "sp" is pronounced as in the English word "lisp" and "st" as in the word "lost".
N.B. It is not just English speakers who have problems in this area. Many German-speakers have trouble with the "v" sound in English, saying "wery" and "wideo"instead of "very" and "video"!
The letter "z" is always pronounced like the "ts" sound in the English words "lots" or "cats".
This can be hard for an English speaker to get used to, particularly when the sound occurs at the beginning of a word. Try to think of how we say the "tsetse" fly in English!
zwei (two) zwölf (twelve) Zug (train) Zimmer (room) Ziel (destination) Zelt (tent) Herz (heart) Salz (salt)
The "tz" sound in German is also pronounced "ts". Click on the icon to listen to and practise the following pairs of words containing the German "tz" sound:
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