The German alphabet and pronunciation: letters, umlauts, ß and eight sound rules.

The letters and their names

You need the letter names to spell your name, an email address or a street, which comes up in the first lesson and in the Goethe A1 speaking test. The pronunciation column uses English-style spelling.

The ones Indian learners mix up most: E (eh) vs I (ee), J (yot), V (fow) vs W (veh), and Z (tsett).

ä, ö, ü and ß

• ä: like the "e" in "bed" (Käse, Männer).
• ö: say "e" as in "bed" or "ay", then round your lips (schön, Köln).
• ü: say "ee", then round your lips as for "oo" (für, München).
• ß (Eszett): a sharp "ss", used after a long vowel or ei/au (Straße, heißen). After a short vowel, write ss (Wasser, muss). Switzerland always writes ss.

The umlaut changes the word: schon (already) vs schön (beautiful), Mutter (mother) vs Mütter (mothers). Without a German keyboard, write ae, oe, ue, ss: Muenchen, Strasse. That is also how umlauts appear in many passports and forms.

Eight sound rules

Two more patterns: s before a vowel sounds like English z in most of Germany (Sonne, Salz), and the ending -er sounds like a short "a" (Lehrer, Wasser). The h after a vowel is silent and only makes the vowel long (gehen, Uhr).

Word stress

Most German words are stressed on the first syllable: AR-beit, KIN-der, AN-rufen. Two common exceptions: verbs with be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp- stress the syllable after the prefix (be-ZAH-len, ver-STE-hen; see the separable verbs guide), and many foreign words stress the end (Uni-ver-si-TÄT, Stu-DENT).

Spelling your name aloud

On the phone, Germans spell with a word for each letter: A wie Anton, B wie Berta. The official spelling table (DIN 5009) switched to city names in 2022 (A wie Aachen, B wie Berlin), but you will hear both. Useful phrases:

• Wie schreibt man das?How do you spell that?
• Können Sie das bitte buchstabieren?Could you spell that, please?
• Mein Name ist Sharma: S, H, A, R, M, A.
• Das schreibt man mit Doppel-S.With a double s.

Sounds you already know from Hindi

The sounds with no Hindi match are ö, ü and the soft ch in ich; practise those with audio.

Common mistakes

1. Not Wasser with an English wBut "Vasser"German w = English v.
2. Not Vater with an English vBut "Fater"v is usually f.
3. Not Wien and Wein said the sameBut Wien = "Veen", Wein = "Vine"Read the second letter: ie = ee, ei = eye.
4. Not Zug with an English zBut "Tsook"z = ts, and final g = k.
5. Not Sport as in EnglishBut "Shport"sp at the start = shp.
6. Not schon for "beautiful"But schönThe umlaut changes the meaning.

Exercises

Answer, then open the answer.

1. Which means "wine": Wein or Wien?
   Show answer

   Wein ("vine"). Wien is Vienna.

2. How does the w in Wohnung sound?
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   Like English v.

3. How does the v in Vogel sound?
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   Like f: "Fogel".

4. How does the z in Zimmer sound?
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   ts: "Tsimmer". Hindi त्स.

5. How does st in Stadt sound?
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   sht: "Shtatt".

6. Throaty or soft ch? Nacht
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   Throaty (after a).

7. Throaty or soft ch? nicht
   Show answer

   Soft (after i).

8. What sound ends Freund?
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   t: final d sounds like t.

9. ß or ss? Stra__e, Wa__er
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   Straße (long vowel), Wasser (short vowel).

10. Write without umlauts: Düsseldorf, Größe
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    Duesseldorf, Groesse

11. Which syllable is stressed? verstehen
    Show answer

    The second: ver-STE-hen.

12. Spell JUNG aloud, letter by letter.
    Show answer

    yot, oo, enn, geh

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