A1 · GRAMMAR
Alphabet and Pronunciation
German is largely read as it is written. There are many letters similar to English, but some letters and letter combinations produce different sounds. Once you learn these differences, you can correctly read new words you see.
In this lesson
1. Similar to English
ö and ü are similar to German sounds not common in English, while ä sounds like 'e'.
schön · müde · Mädchen
beautiful · tired · girl
2. ß = ss
ß is pronounced like a double 's'.
Straße
street
3. Different consonants
v = f, w = v, z = ts, j = y.
Vater · Wasser · Zeit · ja
father · water · time · yes
4. Letter combinations
ei = ay, ie = long i, eu/äu = oy, sch = sh.
mein · Liebe · neu · Schule
my · love · new · school
5. sp / st at the beginning
At the beginning of a word, sp = shp, st = sht.
Sport · Straße
sport · street
💡 Listen to the audio with the 🔊 next to each example and repeat out loud. Pronunciation sticks by hearing, not just reading.