The German alphabet and pronunciation
das Alphabet
The German alphabet has 26 letters plus three umlauts (ä, ö, ü) and ß; several letters sound different from English: W = V, Z = TS.
W sounds like “v”, V sounds like “f”, Z sounds like “ts”. Your English reading habits will fight you here, and your eyes will lie. The whole alphabet, the letter pairs ch · sch · ei · ie, and how to spell your name out loud on the phone.
Why this comes first
ShortcutTwo letters fix most of it: W sounds like English v, V sounds like English f. One reminder word: Volkswagen = FOLKS-vah-gen.
The most expensive mistake at the start of a language is memorising a word with the wrong sound. You read the letters the English way, the word settles in your head like that; months later a German says “Wasser” and it does not match the word you know, so you think you did not understand. But you know the word — you just do not know its sound.
Wasser
not “WOSS-er” → VAH-sa · water
Vater
not “VAY-ter” → FAH-ta · father
Zeit
not “zeet” → TSITE (rhymes with “bite”) · time
Good news: German is read the way it is written — there is no word-by-word chaos like English (through, though, tough, cough). Once you have the rules in place, you can read a word you have never seen and get it right.
Eight letters that do not sound the way you expect
Do not memorise the whole table; start with these eight. Nearly every everyday word contains at least one of them.
| Letter | Sound it makes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| W | English v | Wasser · wo · Wein → VAH-sa · voh · vine |
| V | English f | Vater · vier · viel → FAH-ta · feer · feel |
| Z | ts — as in “cats”, one sound | Zeit · zehn · Zimmer → tsite · tsayn · TSIM-a |
| J | English y, as in “yes” | ja · Jahr · jung → yah · yahr · yoong |
| S | Before a vowel: z | Sonne · sagen · Sie → ZO-nuh · ZAH-gen · zee |
| R | From the back of the throat, not English “r” | Rot · at the end almost an a: Vater → FAH-ta |
| C | Almost never alone | Always in a pair: ch · sch · ck |
| H | After a vowel it is silent and just lengthens the vowel | gehen · Jahr · sehr → GAY-en · yahr · zair |
Two of them get mixed up all the time: W sounds like English v, V sounds like English f. Reminder: Volkswagen = FOLKS-vah-gen. Both letters sit in the same word, and both follow their rule.
If you are looking for the English “w” sound, German does not have a letter for it: W is “v”. And if you are looking for “z”, look at the letter S — the letter Z never sounds like z.
Sonne und Zeit
ZO-nuh unt tsite (sun and time)
Three umlauts and ß
English has neither umlauts nor ß, so these four are new. Nothing to fear: the umlauts are just familiar vowels with a twist, and ß is simply a sharp s.
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ä | Open e — like the “e” in “bed” | Mädchen · spät · Käse |
| ö | Say “ay” (as in “day”) with your lips rounded as for “oh” | schön · können · hören |
| ü | Say “ee” with your lips rounded as for “oo” | über · Tür · müde |
| ß | Sharp s — called “Eszett” | Straße · groß · heißen |
If your keyboard has no umlauts, you can write them out and it is not counted wrong: ä → ae, ö → oe, ü → ue, ß → ss. Writing Strasse instead of Straße is accepted even in official letters. Switzerland never uses ß at all.
An umlaut is not decoration, it changes the meaning: schon (already) ≠ schön (beautiful) · Mutter (mother) ≠ Mütter (mothers).
Letter pairs — this is where the real rule is
German pronunciation is settled in this table. These are not exceptions, they are the rule itself: every time they appear, they give the same sound.
| Spelling | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ei | eye | nein · Zeit · mein → nine · tsite · mine |
| ie | long ee | bier · vier · Liebe → beer · feer · LEE-buh |
| eu · äu | oy — as in “boy” | heute · Leute · Häuser → HOY-tuh · LOY-tuh · HOY-za |
| au | ow — as in “cow” | Haus · auch · Frau |
| sch | English sh | Schule · schön · Tisch → SHOO-luh · shurn · tish |
| sp · st (at the start of a word) | shp · sht | Sport · Stadt · sprechen → shport · shtat · SHPREKH-en |
ei and ie are the pair English speakers mix up most — English spelling has trained you to expect the opposite (“receive”, “believe”). The rule is simple: read the second letter by its English name. ei → the letter I, “eye”; ie → the letter E, long “ee”. That is why Bier (beer) and Bein (leg) sound different.
| Spelling | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tsch | English ch, as in “church” | Deutsch · tschüss → doych · chüss |
| ck | hard k | Zucker · Ecke → TSOO-ka · EK-uh |
| qu | kv | Qualität → kvah-li-TAYT |
| pf | p and f together | Apfel · Kopf |
| ng | one nasal sound, no hard g — as in “singer”, not “finger” | Zeitung · lange |
| -ig (at the end of a word) | ikh — a soft ch | richtig · fertig → RIKH-tikh · FER-tikh |
ch — one spelling, two sounds
The sound learners fear most. The rule is actually one line: the vowel in front decides.
| Vowel in front | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a · o · u · au | Rough sound from the throat — like the end of Scottish “loch” or “Bach” | Buch · auch · Nacht · doch |
| i · e · ä · ö · ü · ei · eu and consonants | Soft, hissy sound at the front of the mouth — like the “h” in “huge” | ich · nicht · Milch · München |
| At the start of a word chr · ch | usually k | Christian · Chaos · Charakter |
Many learners say ich as “ick” or “ish”. Neither is right. Hold your tongue as if you were about to say “ee”, then just push air out — the hissy sound that comes out is correct. In northern Germany the sound sometimes drifts toward “ish”, and that is accepted.
If the soft ch will not come, shape your mouth for “ee”, but instead of vibrating your vocal cords, just whisper a strong breath.
Ich möchte Milch.
ikh MURKH-tuh milkh — all three are the soft “kh”
Stress and the names of the letters
- In German words the stress falls on the first syllable: Vater · arbeiten · Zeitung.
- In separable verbs the stress is on the prefix: aufstehen · anrufen · einkaufen.
- In inseparable prefixes the stress is not on the prefix: verstehen · bezahlen · erklären.
- In words of foreign origin the stress is usually at the end: Student · Universität · Restaurant.
On the phone or at an office you will be asked to say your name letter by letter — that is called buchstabieren. Knowing the names of the letters pays off right here.
Wie schreibt man das?
How do you spell that?
Können Sie das bitte buchstabieren?
Could you spell that, please?
| Letter | Name | Letter | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ah | N | enn |
| B | bay | O | oh |
| C | tsay | P | pay |
| D | day | Q | koo |
| E | ay | R | err |
| F | eff | S | ess |
| G | gay | T | tay |
| Letter | Name | Letter | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| H | hah | U | oo |
| I | ee | V | fow (as in “cow”) |
| J | yot | W | vay |
| K | kah | X | iks |
| L | ell | Y | ÜP-si-lon |
| M | emm | Z | tset |
Umlauts are not called “a-umlaut”; you say the sound itself, ä · ö · ü. ß is called “Eszett”.
What you just learned
By the “read the second letter” rule, the word B___n is pronounced “bine”.
Show the answer
ei. The pair ei is read “eye”. ie, by contrast, is a long “ee”.
The letter V in “Vater” is read with the English v sound.
Show the answer
False. In German the letter V is read with the English f sound: FAH-ta. The letter that gives the v sound is W.
In German, the ending “-er” at the end of a word is usually pronounced with a full English “r” sound.
Show the answer
False. The ending -er at the end of a word or syllable (for example Lehrer, Wasser) is pronounced like a short “a” (a vowel r).
Traps
Reading W and V the wrong way round
One word solves both: Volkswagen = FOLKS-vah-gen. The V at the start is f, the W in the middle is v. As long as you remember this word, you will not mix them up.
Wo wohnst du?
voh vohnst doo — Where do you live?
ich → “ick” or “ish”
German ch is never the “ch” of “church” — that sound only appears in the spelling tsch (Deutsch). ich · nicht · Milch are all read with the soft, hissy “h” sound.
Ich spreche nicht viel Deutsch.
soft “h” in the first three words, English “ch” at the end
Reading the s at the start of a word the English way
An s before a vowel gives a z sound: Sonne = ZO-nuh, sieben = ZEE-ben, Sie = zee. But if the word starts with sp- or st-, it becomes sh: Sport = shport.
Reading the final -er as “er”
The -er at the end of a word sounds almost like an open “a”: Vater = FAH-ta, Lehrer = LAY-ra, aber = AH-ba. Saying the English “-er” with a hard r sounds foreign at once.
Leaving a final b · d · g soft
At the end of a word b → p, d → t, g → k: Kind = kint, Tag = tahk, gelb = gelp. The spelling does not change, only the sound hardens.
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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tap the words
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tap the words
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tap the words
Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- The surprising consonants: w=v · v=f · z=ts
Wasser → VAH-sa · Vater → FAH-ta · Zug → tsook. Three letters, three surprises.
w → v · v → f · z → ts
- Letter pairs give one sound
ei → eye (Bein → bine) · eu/äu → oy (neun → noyn) · ie → long ee (vier → feer) · sch → sh.
ei → eye · eu → oy · ie → ee
- st/sp at the start are read sht/shp
At the start of a word Sport → shport, Straße → shtrah-suh. In the middle of a word s-t stays as it is.
Sport → shport
- At the end of a word b·d·g harden
Kind → kint · Tag → tahk. Soft in writing, hard in sound.
Kind → kint
Reading Wein with an English w, as “wine”
vine
German w is English v; the English w sound does not exist in German.
Reading Zug as “zug”
tsook
z = ts, and a final g = k.
Reading the ch in ich and Buch the same way
Soft and hissy after a front vowel (ich), from the throat after a back vowel (Buch)
The vowel in front picks the sound of ch.
Thinking ß is a B
ß = the ss sound; write ss if your keyboard lacks it
Straße = Strasse. It has nothing to do with B.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
How is Wasser pronounced?
How is vier (four) pronounced?
Which one contains the ei sound?
How does Sport begin?
Why is the ch in Buch different from the one in ich?
How do you write Straße if your keyboard has no ß?
Practice done — –
To finish the topic, take the full test: score 60% and it is marked as done on your level path.
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Pronunciation pocket card
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
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