A German Pronunciation Guide
With DANGERS to Avoid!
In this third part of our German Pronunciation Guide, we offer more tips and point out some hidden dangers caused by interference from English.
Letter Sounds in Words
Previously, we showed you how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet and certain letter combinations in German. Now we want to concentrate on how to pronounce other letters and letter combinations found within German words. For instance, a "d" at the end of a German word usually has a hard "t" sound in German, not the soft "d" sound of English. That is just one example of the many possible pitfalls found in the chart below.
Similar Words
In addition, the fact that English and German words are often identical or very similar in spelling can lead to pronunciation errors. We'll show you some mistakes you can avoid in the second chart below, but here are two "dangerous" examples: bomb/Bombe and pizza/Pizza. The German word for bomb is pronounced BOM-bah (the "b" is not silent and the final "e" is sounded). A German pizza sounds like PITS-uh, not PEET-sa!
Here are some more examples of German pronunciation pitfalls:
Letters in Words | ||
Spelling | Aussprache | Beispiele / Examples |
final b | p | Lob (LOHP) |
final d | t | Freund (FROYNT), Wald (VALT) |
final g | k | genug (guh-NOOK) |
silent h | - | gehen (GAY-en), sehen (ZAY-en) |
When h follows a vowel, it is silent. When it precedes a vowel (Hund), the h is pronounced. | ||
German th | t | Theorie (TAY-oh-ree) |
German v | f | Vater (FAHT-er) |
In some foreign, non-Germanic words with v, the v is pronounced as in English: Vase (VAH-suh), Villa (VILL-ah) | ||
German w | v | Wunder (VOON-der) |
German z | ts | Zeit (TSITE), like ts in "cats"; never like an English soft z (as in "zoo") |
Similar Words | ||
Wort | Aussprache | Comments |
Bombe | BOM-buh | The m, b, and e are all heard |
Genie | zhuh-NEE | The g is soft, like the s sound in "leisure" |
Nation | NAHT-see-ohn | The German -tion suffix is pronounced TSEE-ohn |
Papier | pah-PEER | Stress on the last syllable |
Pizza | PITS-uh | The i is a short vowel because of the double z |
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