What are the extra letters in the German alphabet?

Beyond the 26 Latin letters, German has three umlauted vowels — ä, ö, ü — and the ß (eszett), which is a sharp 's' equivalent to 'ss'.

How do you pronounce the German umlauts?

ä is like the 'e' in bet; ö is lips rounded for 'oh' while saying 'eh'; ü is lips rounded for 'oo' while saying 'ee'. ö and ü have no English equivalent and take a little practice.

What is the ß and when is it used?

ß (eszett or scharfes S) is a sharp 's' sound, equivalent to 'ss', used after long vowels and diphthongs — for example Straße (street) and groß (big). Switzerland writes 'ss' instead.

Is German pronunciation hard?

Not especially — German is largely phonetic, so spelling reliably tells you the sound. The main things to learn are the umlauts, ß, and that w sounds like 'v', v like 'f', and z like 'ts'.

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The German Alphabet & Pronunciation: A Beginner's Guide

German uses the same Latin alphabet as English plus four extra characters: the umlauts ä, ö, ü and the ß (eszett). The good news is that German is largely phonetic — once you know the sounds, you can read almost anything aloud. Here's the alphabet and the pronunciation that matters.

The alphabet plus four

German has the 26 Latin letters, plus three umlauted vowels (ä, ö, ü) and the ß (eszett, a 'double s'). That's it for the alphabet.

German spelling is consistent: the same letter combination almost always makes the same sound. Learn a handful of rules and your reading-aloud will be reliable.

The umlauts and ß

Like the 'e' in bet — Mädchen, Käse.

Round your lips as if to say 'oh' but say 'eh' — schön, können. No English equivalent.

Round your lips for 'oo' but say 'ee' — über, für, München.

ß (eszett)

A sharp 's' sound, equivalent to 'ss' — Straße (street), groß (big).

Consonants that differ from English

Pronounced like an English 'v' — Wasser is 'VAH-ser', wie is 'vee'.

Usually like an English 'f' — Vater is 'FAH-ter', vier is 'feer'.

Always 'ts' — Zeit is 'tsait', zehn is 'tsayn'.

Like an English 'y' — ja is 'yah', Jahr is 'yar'.

A soft, breathy sound after e/i (ich) or a harder throaty one after a/o/u (Bach).

Often made at the back of the throat, softer than the English r — rot, Reise.

Vowel combinations

Sounds like English 'eye' — nein (nine), mein (mine).

Sounds like 'ee' — vier (feer), Bier (beer). The opposite of ei.

eu / äu

Sounds like 'oy' — neu (noy), Häuser (HOY-zer).

sch

Like English 'sh' — Schule (SHOO-luh), Tisch (tish).

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