German pronunciation: umlauts, ch, sch and more

German is spelled quite regularly, which makes it easier to pronounce than English. Once you know the handful of letter combinations below, you can read almost any word aloud. The sounds that give learners the most trouble are the umlauts and the ch.

Umlauts: ä, ö, ü

Letter	Sound	Example
ä	like the "e" in "bed" (long: "air")	Käse, Mädchen, Länder
ö	say "e" with rounded lips	schön, Köln, öffnen
ü	say "ee" with rounded lips	über, Tür, müde

For ü, say ee and keep your tongue in place, then round your lips as if to whistle. For ö, say e (as in "bed") and round the lips the same way. Umlauts matter for meaning: schon (already) and schön (beautiful), Mutter (mother) and Mütter (mothers). If your keyboard has no umlaut keys, write ae, oe, ue instead.

The two ch sounds

Sound	After	Description	Example
ich-Laut	e, i, ä, ö, ü, consonants	a soft hiss, tongue near the palate	ich, Milch, Mädchen
ach-Laut	a, o, u, au	a rough sound from the back of the throat	ach, Buch, Nacht, auch

The ich-Laut is like the "h" in "huge" with more friction. The ach-Laut is like the ch in Scottish "loch". In the diminutive -chen, the ich-Laut is always used: Mädchen, Brötchen. At the start of some foreign words, ch is pronounced "k" (Chor, Christ) or "sh" (Chef).

Sch, sp and st

sch is always "sh": Schule, schnell, Fisch.
sp and st at the start of a word or syllable are pronounced "shp" and "sht": Sport, sprechen, Stein, Straße, verstehen.
Elsewhere they are plain: Fest, Wespe, Lust.

The letter ß

The ß (Eszett) is a sharp "s", as in "pass". It comes after long vowels and diphthongs: Straße, heiß, groß. After a short vowel, you write ss: Wasser, muss, dass. In Switzerland, ß is not used at all, and people write ss.

V, w, z and j

Letter	Sound	Example
w	English "v"	Wasser, wir, wohnen
v	usually "f"	Vater, viel, vor
z	"ts"	Zeit, Zimmer, tanzen
j	English "y"	ja, Jahr, jung
s	"z" before a vowel	Sonne, sehen, Suppe

Words from other languages keep their original v: Vase, Klavier, Visum.

Final devoicing

At the end of a word or syllable, voiced consonants become voiceless. They are spelled as before but sound different.

Spelling	Sounds like	Example
-b	p	Urlaub ("Urlaup")
-d	t	Hund ("Hunt"), Kind ("Kint")
-g	k	Tag ("Tak"), Weg ("Wek")

In the plural, the sound returns, because the consonant is no longer at the end: Hunde with a d, Tage with a g. If you are unsure how to spell a word, form the plural and listen.

Long and short vowels, and ie vs ei

A vowel is long before a single consonant or before h: Bahn, Tag, sehen. It is short before two consonants: Mann, Bett, Stadt. A doubled vowel (Boot, Meer) is also long.

Spelling	Sound	Example
ie	long "ee"	Liebe, Brief, spielen
ei	like English "eye"	Eis, mein, Zeit
eu, äu	like "oy" in "boy"	neu, Freund, Häuser
au	like "ow" in "cow"	Haus, auch, Baum

The rule of thumb: the second letter gives the sound. In ie you hear the e sound, and in ei you hear the i sound, as in English "eye". Mixing them up changes the word: Wien (Vienna) and Wein (wine), Bier (beer) and Beil (hatchet).

Common mistakes

Pronouncing ü as "oo". Tür is not "toor". Round the lips and say ee.
Using the hard ch everywhere. Say ich with the soft sound, not "ick" or "ach".
Saying "st" and "sp" as in English. Straße is "Shtrasse".
Saying w like English "w". Wasser starts with a "v" sound.
Reading ei as "ee" and ie as "eye". It is the opposite.
Voicing final consonants. Hund ends with a "t" sound.

Practice

Read each word aloud, then choose the best answer.

Now practise on real words from der, die or das, or try introducing yourself out loud.