This covers how letters and vowels actually sound when speaking German. For letter names used when spelling something out loud (like "A for Anton"), see Alphabet & Spelling instead - that is a different skill.
Every German vowel (a, e, i, o, u) has a short and a long version. Length changes the meaning of words, so it is not a minor detail.
| Vowel | Short sound | Long sound | Example pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | like "u" in "cup" | like "a" in "father" | Stadt (city) / Staat (state) |
| e | like "e" in "bed" | like "ay" in "say" (no glide) | Bett (bed) / Beet (garden bed) |
| i | like "i" in "sit" | like "ee" in "see" | bin (am) / Biene (bee) |
| o | like "o" in "pot" | like "o" in "so" (no glide) | offen (open) / Ofen (oven) |
| u | like "u" in "put" | like "oo" in "food" | Mutter (mother) / Mut (courage, long u) |
Umlauts are not decorations - they are distinct vowel sounds. Getting them wrong changes the word.
| Letter | How to say it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ä / ä | like "e" in "bed" (short) or "ai" in "air" (long) | Männer (men), spät (late) |
| Ö / ö | round your lips as if saying "o," but say "e" - like French "eu" | können (can), schön (beautiful) |
| Ü / ü | round your lips as if saying "u," but say "ee" - like French "u" | müde (tired), für (for) |
Practical trick: say the plain vowel (o or u), freeze your lips in that shape, then try to say "e" or "ee" without moving them.
| Letters | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ei / ai | like "eye" | mein (my), Mai (May) |
| ie | long "ee" (not a diphthong - just long i) | Sie (you), viel (much) |
| au | like "ow" in "how" | Haus (house) |
| eu / äu | like "oy" in "boy" | neu (new), Häuser (houses) |
The classic trap: ei sounds like English "eye," while ie sounds like English "ee" - opposite of what the letter order suggests to an English speaker.
| Letters | How to say it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ch (after a, o, u) | a rasping sound in the back of the throat (like Scottish "loch") | Bach, Buch |
| ch (after e, i, ä, ö, ü, or a consonant) | a soft hiss, tongue near the roof of the mouth | ich, nicht |
| sch | like English "sh" | Schule |
| sp / st (at the start of a word) | pronounced "shp" / "sht" | Sport, Stadt |
| z | like "ts" in "cats" | Zeit |
| v | usually like English "f" | Vater |
| w | like English "v" | Wasser |
| j | like English "y" | ja |
| r | a soft, throaty sound (not the English tongue-tap r), often nearly silent at the end of a word | Uhr |
| final b, d, g | devoiced to p, t, k at the end of a word | Hund sounds like "hunt" |
Cross-checked against the Goethe-Institut A1 practice materials.