German pronunciation for English speakers: ü, ö, ch, r, z and more
German pronunciation is more regular than English: the same letters are pronounced the same way in almost every word. English speakers need to learn a handful of new sounds, mainly ü, ö, the two ch sounds and the German r, and to unlearn a few English reading habits, such as pronouncing w as in water. Everything else is close to English.
Letters that English speakers misread
These letters are not difficult to say. They are simply pronounced differently from English, and the English habit tends to win at first.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| w | English v | Wasser, wohnen, Wien |
| v | English f (in German words) | Vater, viel, vergessen |
| z | ts, as in cats | Zeit, zehn, Pizza |
| s before a vowel | English z | Sonne, Suppe, lesen |
| sch | English sh | Schule, schnell |
| sp, st at the start of a word | shp, sht | Sport, Straße, verstehen |
| j | English y | ja, Juni, jetzt |
| ß | ss | Straße, groß |
| ei | English eye | mein, Zeit, Wein |
| ie | English ee | Bier, sie, Liebe |
| eu, äu | English oy | heute, Deutsch, Häuser |
ei or ie?
A simple trick: pronounce the second letter as its English name. In ei the second letter is i, so you say "eye": mein. In ie the second letter is e, so you say "ee": Bier. Wien (Vienna) and Wein (wine) differ only in this.
In words borrowed from other languages, v is often pronounced like the English v: Vase, Klavier, Video. Learn these as you meet them.
The umlauts: ä, ö, ü
ä is the easy one. Short ä sounds like the e in bed (Männer), and long ä is close to the vowel in air without the r (Käse).
ü and ö are the sounds that need real practice, because English has nothing quite like them. Both are made by combining the tongue position of one vowel with the lips of another.
For ü, say a long English ee, as in see, and keep saying it while you round your lips as if to whistle. Your tongue should not move. The result is the vowel in über, müde, Tür.
For ö, say the vowel in say or the e in bed, and round your lips in the same way. That gives the vowel in schön, hören, können.
Getting these right matters, because umlauts change meanings. Practise with pairs that differ only in the umlaut:
schon / schönalready / beautiful
Mutter / Müttermother / mothers
Kuchen / Küchencake / kitchens
fordern / förderndemand / support
The two ch sounds
German has two sounds written ch, and which one you use depends on the vowel before it.
After a, o, u and au, ch is made at the back of the mouth, like the Scottish loch or a soft clearing of the throat: Buch, Nacht, auch, kochen.
After e, i, ä, ö, ü, after consonants and at the start of a word, it is made further forward. Put your tongue in the position for the y in yes and push air through without using your voice. It is a soft hiss: ich, nicht, Milch, Mädchen. Many English speakers replace it with sh or k. Neither sounds right, so this one is worth a few minutes of practice.
The ending -ig is pronounced with the same soft hiss in standard German: König, wichtig, zwanzig. In southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland you will often hear -ik instead, and both are correct.
The German r
At the start of a syllable, standard German uses an r made at the back of the mouth, close to a light gargle: rot, Reise, warum. It is much softer than many learners think. If you cannot produce it at first, a light version of the ch in Buch with your voice switched on comes close. Some regions roll the r with the tip of the tongue, and you will be understood either way.
After a vowel, the r almost disappears. The ending -er sounds like the short a at the end of sofa: Lehrer, Vater, besser. Bier sounds close to "bee-a". Learners who pronounce every r clearly sound very foreign, so this is an easy improvement.
Long and short vowels
German vowels are either long or short, and the spelling usually tells you which. A double consonant after the vowel means short: Stadt, kommen, Butter. A double vowel or an h after the vowel means long: Staat, Boot, Sohn, fahren.
The difference can change the meaning, so pay attention to it from the start. Stadt (city) has a short a, Staat (state) a long one.
Final consonants and word stress
At the end of a word or syllable, b, d and g lose their voice and sound like p, t and k. Hund ends with a t, Tag with a k, halb with a p. In the plural the original sound comes back: Hunde, Tage.
Most German words are stressed on the first syllable of the stem: ARbeit, SPRAche, WOHnung. Many borrowed words are exceptions: faMIlie, universiTÄT, reliGION. The unstressed prefixes be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer- and ent- never take the stress: beZAHlen, verSTEhen. Separable prefixes, by contrast, are always stressed: ANrufen, AUFstehen.
How to practise
Listen first and copy second. Short, natural dialogues with audio are ideal, because you hear the same sounds in context many times. Record yourself reading a sentence, compare it with the original, and repeat. Spend most of your time on the sounds that change meaning: ü, ö, the long and short vowels, and the soft ch.
The dialogues on this site have audio and an English translation for every line. In der Bäckerei and Nach dem Weg fragen are good ones to start with.
Written by: Fatih Ün, German teacher · Last updated: