Die Laute des Deutschen

Spelling(s)	Nearest equivalent(s) in English	Examples (practice carefully)
LONG VOWELS
a (+ 1 cons.), ah, aa	like a in father	Wagen, aber, Saal, Sahne
e, ä (+ 1 cons.), eh, ee, äh	like ay in say, but no off-glide to ee (Note: some pronounce long ä as lengthened e as in bed)	beten, sehnen, Seele, Bäder, ähnlich
i (+ 1 cons.), ih, ie	like ee in see, but tenser	wir, ihn, diese, Sie
o (+ 1 cons.), oh, oo	like oa in boat, but no off-glide to oo	rot, Zone, Bohne, Boot, Soße
u (+ 1 cons.), uh	like oo in zoo, but no off-glide	gut, Ruhe, suchen
ö (+ 1 cons.), öh	like ay in say said with lips frozen in oh shape	Röte, hören, Höhle
ü, y (+ 1 cons.), üh	like ee in see said with lips frozen in oo shape	Güter, Gemüse, fühlen, Physiker
SHORT VOWELS
a (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like u in cut but think a in father at same time	Mann, Tante, Tasse, am
e, ä (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like e in bet	Bett, sechs, Männer, Gäste
i (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like i in bit	bitte, mit, finden
o (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like au in caught but with rounder lips and short	Sonne, von, wollte
u (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like oo in book	Butter, muss, um
ö (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like e in bet said with lips frozen in short German o	Hölle, gönnen
ü, y (+ 2 cons.) or in 1-syll wd	like i in bit said with lips frozen in short German u	Würmer, müsste, füllen, Idylle
final -e, e in unstressed syll	neutral; between e in bet and i in bit ; smile to say it! Don't let jaw drop, or Germans will hear -er. (see below under r and -er)	bitte, Mäuse, beginne, gefahren
DIPHTHONGS
au	like ow in cow, but off-glide is more like o than oo	kauen, Maus, Haus
eu, äu	like oy in boy, but with lips rounded throughout	Heu, streuen, Häuser, Mäuse
ei	like ey in eye, but off-glide is more like Engl ay	heißen, meinen, fein
CONSONANTS	Most are similar to English, except note the following important differences:
z, tz, c in ci, ce, cä	like ts, or like z in pizza	zehn, Zar, putzen, Cäsar, Celsius
ch (after back vowels a, o, u, au)	like ch in Scots loch; sounds like clearing throat (say k without touching in throat, using friction)	Bauch, Buch, machen
ch (after front vowels ä, e, i, ü, ei, eu)	like h in huge, said with more friction (tongue close up against hard palate)	riechen, rächen, dich, Deich, Seuche, Süchte
g	always like g in go, never ‘soft’ as in gem	gehen, ging, Gabel
j	always like y in yet	ja, Jahr, Koje
l	always ‘clear’tip of tongue on top of mouth at teeth; almost like ll in million, with no y sound	will, soll, milde, Tal
qu	like kv in kvetch	Quelle, Quittung
r	either trilled with the uvula or pronounced like a g, but not quite touching in the throat so that air escapes with audible friction (i.e., like a voiced German ch); r is rarely tongue-trilled anymore	Karre, rot, Jahre
vowel + r	after a vowel, like an uh sound	wir, wer, geworden
final -er	sounds like uh or aw, with jaw well dropped	bitter, Häuser, oder (cf. above under -e for bitte, Mäuse)
s (+ any vowel)	sounds like English z in lazy (s is the only way to write this sound!)	Sie, lesen, Seele, Saal
initial sp- or st	sounds like English sh + p or t, with rounded lips	Sport, Spitze, starten, still (BUT Mist as Engl mist)
(see note below for ss vs. ß)
sch	like English sh in ship, but with rounded lips	Schi, mischen, schade
tsch	like ch in church	Quatsch, Tschechien
v = f	both like f in fish (except in some foreign words, German v = English v)	Fisch, Vater, von (all like f) (BUT Vase, like English v)
w	like English v in very	Wagen, will, Wolle, Woche

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