Great news! On our site there is an opportunity pronounceany German text... To do this, simply highlight a German text or word anywhere on our website and click on the bottom right button "Play"(white triangle in a black circle). You will then hear the text spoken in German. We advise you to use this function in the section of our website Phrasebook.
Features of reading consonants:
1) The letter h at the beginning of a word or root is read as an aspirated x: Herz (heart). In the middle and end of words, it is not read, but serves to lengthen the previous vowel: fahren (to go), froh (cheerful, joyful).
2) The letter j is pronounced like y, and in the combinations ja and ju, the Russian ear hears me and yu: Jahr (year), Juni (June).
3) The letter I is always softened when reading: Blume (flower).
4) The sound r most Germans pronounce with a burr: Regen (rain).
5) The letter s before or between vowels is read as z: Sonne (sun), lesen (read).
6) The letter ß is read as c: groß (large).
7) The consonants k, p, t are pronounced with some aspiration: Park (park), Torte (cake), Ko † fer (suitcase).
8) The letter v is pronounced like f: Vater (father). Only in rare cases (most often in borrowed words) is it pronounced as in: Vase (vase).
9) The letter w is read as a Russian sound in: Wort (word).
10) Double consonants are read as single, but at the same time they shorten the vowel in front: Sommer (summer), Mutter (mother).
In German, not every consonant has a corresponding letter. In some cases, they resort to letter combinations:
1) The combination of letters sp at the beginning of words and roots reads like shp: Sport (sport).
2) The combination of letters st at the beginning of words and roots is read as pc: Stern (star).
3) The combination of letters ck reads as k: backen (oven).
4) The combination of letters chs is read as ks: sechs (six).
5) The combination of letters ch reads like x: Buch (book), machen (to do).
6) The combination of letters sch reads like w: Schule (school), Schwester (sister).
7) The combination of letters tsch is read as h: deutsch (German).
8) The combination of letters qu reads as q: Quark (cottage cheese).
The German alphabet has specific letters with two dots on top (Umlaut):
1) The letter ä is closest to the Russian e: Mädchen (girl).
2) The letter ö reads something like ё: schön (beautiful).
3) The letter ü reads almost like yu: Müll (garbage).
Vowel combinations:
1) The letter combination ie is read as long and: Bier (beer).
2) The letter combination ei reads like ah: Heimat (Motherland).
3) The letter combination eu reads like oh: heute (today). \
4) The letter combination äu reads like oh: Bäume (trees).
5) Doubling a vowel indicates the length of the sound: Tee (tea), Paar (steam), Boot (boat).
In some ways, German is akin to Russian. In German, pronunciation also mutes voiced consonants at the end of words, despite possible misunderstandings. So, for example, it is impossible to tell a (Rad) wheel from a (Rat) tip by ear.
Features of reading at the end of words:
1) The ending -eg is pronounced indistinctly in some regions of Germany: Kinder (children).
2) At the end of words -ig is read as ih: wichtig (important).
Emphasis features:
1) The stress in German usually falls on the first syllable: Ausländer (foreigner), aufmachen (open). The exceptions are words borrowed from other languages: Computer. There are a lot of such borrowings in the German language.
2) If the word has an unstressed prefix (be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, miss-), then the stress is shifted to the next syllable: verkaufen (to sell), bekommen (to receive).
3) The suffix -tion (read as zion) always pulls the stress on itself: Kommunikation (communication, connection).
Exercise 1
Practice pronunciation of the following words, and at the same time learn their meanings:
Strand (beach), Reise (travel), Leute (people), Zeit (time), Frühling (spring), Herbst (autumn), Fleisch (meat), Fisch (fish), Wein (wine), Kaffee (coffee), Zwieback (crouton), Radieschen (radish), richtig (correct), Schule (school), Volk (people)
Julia Grosche, "German for Beginners"
Now is the time to reinforce this skill on the other hand - to learn how to write German letters by hand. Moreover, not printed letters, namely written ones.
What is it for?
- First, by writing words with our hand, we connect motor memory to the learning process. This is a valuable resource when learning a foreign language, and you should definitely use it!
- Secondly, you are not learning German for virtual purposes, but for real life. And in real life, you may really need to fill out some forms, questionnaires in German, perhaps handwritten applications, etc.
And you will be partly right: of course, these are the same letters, but, as it should be for original cultures, there are some peculiarities in the German written script. And it is useful to know them in order to be able to read what is written when faced.
And many people have handwriting that is far from the school norm, to put it mildly. And in order to disassemble this kind of handwritten "fonts", it is important to have your own writing skill, which has evolved through different situations - writing in a hurry, on scraps of paper, in awkward positions, on a blackboard with chalk or a marker, etc. But most importantly, you need to clearly understand an original that each handwriter subjects to his own individual changes. This original will be discussed further.
German written fonts
At the moment there are several written German fonts that are used for teaching in elementary school, and, accordingly, are applied later in life. In Germany alone, for example, several "standards" are valid, adopted at different times. In some Länder there are clear guidelines for the use of a particular font in primary school, in others they rely on the choice of the teacher.Latin script(Lateinische Ausgangsschrift) was adopted in Germany in 1953. In practice, it does not differ much from its predecessor in 1941, the most noticeable is a new type of capital letter S and a new cursive spelling of letters X, x (the horizontal dash in the center has also disappeared from the capital X), plus the "loops" have been eliminated - in the center of capital letters E, R and in the connecting lines (arcs) of the letters O, V, W and Ö.
The GDR also made adjustments to the elementary school curriculum, and in 1958 the written script Schreibschrift-Vorlage was adopted, which I do not show here, as it repeats the above version almost one-on-one, except for the following innovations:
- new cursive lowercase t (see next font)
- slightly changed spelling of the letter ß (see in the next font)
- the right half of the X, x is now slightly separated from the left
- dots over i and j become dashes, similar to dashes over umlauts
- the horizontal bar from the capital Z has disappeared
School writing font(Schulausgangsschrift):
The FRG also went in the direction of simplification, having developed their own version of such a font in 1969, which they called - "simplified". The innovation and feature of this font was that all connecting lines were brought to one level, to the more correct "line" of small letters.
Simplified Written Font(Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift):
In general, this is not the same as the "school" font above, although there are some stylistic similarities. By the way, the dots over i, j have been preserved, and the strokes over the umlauts, on the contrary, have become more like dots. Notice the lowercase letters s, t, f, z (!) And also ß.
It is worth mentioning another option, under the fundamental name "base font" (Grundschrift), all the letters of which, both lowercase and uppercase, are more like printed ones, and they are written separately from each other. This version, developed in 2011, is being tested in some schools and, if adopted at the national level, could replace the three above-mentioned fonts.
Austrian written fonts
For completeness, I will give two more variants of the uppercase German alphabet, which are used in Austria. I will leave them without comments, for an independent comparison with the above fonts, drawing your attention to only a couple of features - in the 1969 font in lowercase t and f, the bar is written the same (with a "loop"). Another feature no longer concerns the alphabet itself - the spelling of the number 9 differs from the version we are used to.Austrian school font 1969 year:
Austrian school font(Österreichische Schulschrift) 1995 year:
Which written German font should you use?
With such a variety of "standard" fonts, a reasonable question - which one to follow in writing? There is no definite answer to this question, but some recommendations can be made:- If you are studying German with the aim of applying it in a specific country, such as Austria, choose between the written samples of that country. Otherwise, choose between the German options.
- For those who are independently learning German at a conscious age, I would recommend the "Latin" written script. This is a true classic and traditional German writing. It will not be difficult for an adult to master it. One way or another, you can try each of the above options and choose for yourself the one that you like best.
- For children who are just learning how to write letters, and it is important to teach them faster, you can choose between "school" and "simplified" fonts. The latter is arguably the preferred choice.
- For language learners in a general education school, this issue is not particularly important, you need to follow the pattern that the teacher or textbook gives (and requires). Typically, in our schools, this is a "Latin" script. Sometimes - his GDR modification of 1958, which is given by the way the lowercase t is written.
- You must decide on the type of German script that you will follow in writing. Try different options and make your choice.
- You must learn how to hand-write all the letters of the alphabet, uppercase and lowercase. Review the lesson, then practice writing all the letters of the alphabet (in order) for memory. In the self-test, carefully compare each of your strokes with the sample. Repeat this point until you make a single mistake - neither in the spelling of the letters, nor in their order.
Any language starts with an alphabet, and German is no exception! To learn to read German correctly, you must first become familiar with all German letters and sounds.
The German alphabet is a Latin-based alphabet with 26 letters:
A a[a], B b[bae], C c[tse], D d[de], E e[uh], F f[eff], G g[ge], H h[Ha], I i[and], J j[iot], K k[ka], L l[email], M m[Em], N n[en], O o[O], P p[peh], Q q[ku], R r[er], S s[es], T t[te], U u[y], V v[fau], W w[veh], X x[X], Y y[upsilon], Z z[tset].
German alphabet (listen)
Listen to the alphabet:
There are also three umlauts in the German alphabet (Ä, Ö, Ü).
Listen to umlauts:
Umlauts (two dots above vowels) denote a qualitative change in the sounds u, o, a.
The correct pronunciation of sounds in words with and without umlauts is very important, since the meaning of the word depends on it. For example, the word "schon" is pronounced firmly, with the sound "o" and means "already", while the word "schön" has a softer sound, close to the Russian "ё", and means "pleasant, sweet". Pay attention to the signs above the vowels to avoid misunderstandings!
To speak German correctly, pay attention to the pronunciation of the German umlauts:
At the beginning of the word and after the vowels, the umlaut “ä” is read like the sound “e”, after the consonants: like “e. To pronounce the umlaut “ö” correctly, the position of the tongue should be like with “e”, and the position of the lips should be like with “o”. Thus, a sound will be released that is vaguely similar to the Russian "yo". By the way, "e" can also be called an umlaut, because this is a qualitative change in the sound "e" in Russian. So, in order to pronounce umlaut ü, the position of the tongue should be the same as for “and”, and the position of the lips should be as for y. You will get a sound that is somewhat similar to the Russian "u".
Umlauts are not so easy not only to pronounce, but also to type. If you do not have a German keyboard layout, you can use the generally accepted character substitution:
ä - ae
ö - oe
ü - ue
Another unusual sign of the German language is the ligature (that is, the combination of letters) "escet" (ß).
Most often, "escet" is equated with the letters "ss", however, in addition to the sound [s] denotes the longitude of the previous sound, so you should not replace "ß" with "s" - "ss" signals the brevity of the previous sound, which is important to remember when studying the rules reading.
Like the umlauts, the "escet" is not part of the alphabet and is taken out of it. However, in dictionaries, these letters obey the alphabetical order: Ää follows Aa, Öö - after Oo, Üü - after Uu, ß - after "ss".
The rules for reading German words are quite simple and obey simple rules, and therefore there is no transcription in the German language - it appears only for some complex words that most often came to German from other languages.
The stress is placed in front of the stressed syllable, and the long sound is indicated by the colon.
From sound to letter. Learning to read in German
In German, different letters can give the same sound. The table below will help you figure out which letters and letter combinations are read the same in German.
Remember! A syllable that ends in a vowel is considered open: da. A closed syllable ends with a consonant: das.
| Sound | Pronunciation | Letter | Position in the word | Examples of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [a] | [a] | a | in a closed syllable | das |
| ah |
in open syllable |
|||
| [s] | [With] | s | at the end of a word and after long vowels | das, Naß |
| [z] | [h] | s | before and between vowels | Saat |
| f | Faß | |||
| ff | in the middle and end of a word | paff | ||
| v | at the beginning and middle of a word | Vater | ||
| [v] | [v] | w | at the beginning and middle of a word | was |
| [n] | [n] | n | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | nah, an |
| nn | wann | |||
| [d] | [d] | d | at the beginning and middle of a word | das |
| t | At the beginning, middle and end of a word | Tat | ||
| tt | In the middle and end of a word | Satt | ||
| d | at the end of a word | Sand | ||
| [c] | z | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | Zahn | |
| tz | in the middle and end of a word after short sounds | Satz | ||
| [b] | [b] | b | at the beginning and middle of a word between vowels | Bahn |
| p | at the beginning and middle of a word | paß | ||
| pp | in the middle and end of a word after short sounds | knapp | ||
| b | at the end of a word and before a consonant | ab | ||
| [m] | [m] | m | at the beginning and middle of a word | Mann |
| mm | Damm | |||
| [g] | [G] | g | at the beginning and middle of a word | Gast |
| [ŋ] | [n] | ng | in the middle and end of a word after a short sound | Sang |
| [ŋk] | [nk] | nk | in the middle and end of a word after a short sound | Bank |
| k | at the beginning and middle of a word | kann | ||
| ck | in the middle and end of a word after a short sound | Sack | ||
| g | at the end of a word | Tag | ||
| [kv] | qu | Quant | ||
| [cop] | x | Axt | ||
| [i] | [and] | i | in a closed syllable | Ist |
| i |
in open syllable |
|||
| ie | ||||
| ieh | ||||
| ih | ||||
| [u] | [y] | u | in a closed syllable | und |
| [y:] | u |
in open syllable |
rufen | |
| uh | Uhr | |||
| [ə] | [uh] | e | in the final syllable | Tasse |
| [R] |
r | at the beginning of a word or syllable | Rat | |
| rr | after consonant, short vowels and long | Paar, Brust | ||
| [r] | [a] | r | at the end of a word | Vater, wir |
| [ɜ] | [uh] | e | in a closed syllable | Bett |
| [ɜː] | [eh:] | ä | in open syllable | Käse, Bär, |
| [e:] |
e |
in open syllable |
Rede, Weg, Tee, sehen | |
| [ʃ] | [w] | sch | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | Schuh |
| [ʃt] | [PC] | st | at the beginning of a word | Strasse |
| [ʃp] | [shp] | sp | at the beginning of a word | spät |
| [ay] | ei | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | ein, mein, | |
| [O:] | o, oo | in open syllable | Brot, Boot, | |
| [o] | [O] | o | in a closed syllable | oft |
| [x] | [X] | ch | after short sounds a, o, u | Fach, doch, Buch |
| [ç] | [huh] | ch | after short sounds | ich, recht, weich |
| g | in the -ig suffix | ruhig | ||
| [j] | [th] | j | at the beginning of a word before vowels | ja |
| [ay] | j | before vowels a, o, u in French. borrowing | Journal, Jargon | |
| g | before vowels e, i in French. borrowing | Ingenieur | ||
| [pf] | pf | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | Pfad, Apfel, Kampf | |
| [Oh] | eu | at the beginning, middle and end of a word | Euch, neun, neu, Räume |
Lesson assignments
Try to put your knowledge into practice by doing the following exercises. Do not be afraid to peep at the table, over time all sounds will be remembered, and the need for prompts will disappear by itself!
Exercise 1. Read the following words:
Mein, liegen, Freunde, Tasche, Tag, jetzt, Jacke, spielen, stehen, wachsen, zusammen, Stunde, Träume, täglich, ruhig, schon, Bitte, Spaß, selten, ziemlich, oft, neun, Brot, die, Baum, Naß.
Listen to:
Answers to Exercise 1.
Mein [mayn], liegen ['li: gen], Freunde [; freunde], Tasche [' tashe], Tag [sic], jetzt [ect], Jacke ['yake], spielen [' spi: flax], stehen ['shte: en], wachsen [' waksen], zusammen [tsu'zamen], Stunde ['shunde], Träume [' trome], täglich ['taglikh], ruhig [' ru: ich], schon [sho: n], Bitte ['bite], Spaß [shpa: s], selten [' selten], ziemlich ['tsimlikh], oft [oft], neun [noyn], Brot [brot], die [di:], Baum [baum], Naß [on: s].
German is one of the European languages spoken by 120 million people. If you know him, you can communicate freely with Germans, Austrians, Swiss, residents of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. These are not all countries where many speak the Heine and Nietzsche languages. Learning any language starts with the alphabet, and German is no exception.
How many letters are there in the German alphabet?
The German alphabet consists of 26 letters. It is also based on Latin, but has its own characteristics. Characters such as umlauts (dotted vowels, for example: Ä-ä, Ü-ü, Ö-ö) and the ligature ß make the language special.
The language of Kafka and Mann has a phonetic base. If you study the sound system, it will be clear how the word is spelled, and its graphic representation will not cause obstacles in pronunciation.
How many vowels are there in the German alphabet?
Vowel letters in German 8, they make twice as many sounds.
Vowels in German can be long and short, the duration of vowels can change the meaning completely. As in most European languages, there are also diphthongs in German:
- Ei - (ah);
- Ai - (ah);
- Ie - long (and);
- Eu - (oh);
- Äu - (oh);
- Au - (ay).
Vowels in words create open and closed syllables. In an open syllable or conditionally closed, when the form of a word changes, the syllable can become open again.
How many consonants are there in a German letter?
There are 21 consonant letters in the German alphabet.
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bb | (bae) | Subject to the same orthoepic norms as the analogous sound in Russian (b) | |
| Cc | (tse) | Participates in combinations ch and chs; before e and i in some cases one "c" is pronounced as (ts). In borrowings, it can act as (s) | |
| Dd | (de) | Like Russian (d) | |
| Ff | (f) | Gives sound (f) | A similar sound in German is given by the letter "v" |
| Gg | (ge) | Sounding like (r) | At the end of a word in the vicinity of ig sounds like (xy), close to (uh) |
| Hh | (Ha) | Sounds like (x) | Often in words it is indicated only in writing, one of the unpronounceable consonant letters of the language. It is often reduced between vowels and at the absolute end of a word. |
| Jj | (iot) | Sometimes as (dz) or (h) | |
| Kk | (ka) | Pronounced traditionally as (k) | In -ck remains sound (k) |
| Ll | (e-mail) | Pronunciation is similar to Russian (l) | |
| Mm | (Em) | Gives sound (m) | |
| Nn | (en) | Gives sound (n) | |
| Pp | (pe) | Gives a sound (n) | |
| (ku) | Usually as (k) | If in conjunction with qu, the sound comes out (kv) | |
| Rr | (er) | Slightly burr (r) | At the end of a word can be transformed into (a) |
| Ss | (es) | (h) at the beginning of a word | At the end of the word it is stunned to (s) |
| Tt | (teh) | Gives sound (t) | |
| Vv | (fau) | Gives sound (f) | In borrowing it gives a sound (in) |
| Ww | (ve) | Gives sound (in) | |
| Xx | (X) | (ks) | |
| Yy | (upsilon) | Gives sounds (y) and (y :) | |
| Zz | (tset) | Traditionally gives a combination of sounds (mc) |
Features of consonants and their combinations in German
- The letter C forms an affricate with h - ch (хь) or (с);
- chs gives sound (ks);
- before e and i in some cases one "c" is pronounced as (ts).
Other cases are no less interesting:
- The proximity of the letters Sch gives the sound (w).
- The affricate ph gives rise to the sound (f).
- The combination of letters ts is pronounced as (ts). The ligature ß (escet) stands apart, which expresses a short sounding of a sound similar to Russian (c). It traditionally stands in the middle of a word or at the end of it.
- DT or TH give the same sound (t).
- The tsch letter combinations are similar to the sound (h).
- And Z or TZ give rise to the sound (c).
German alphabet and speech. 15 interesting facts
- Until about the 12th century, runic writing was widespread in Germany.
- Since the 15th century, the Schwabacher script has spread, which belongs to the Gothic style of writing. It was widespread until the beginning of the last century. However, in the century before last, it began to be supplanted first by a fracture, and later by an antiqua. They were officially recognized only after the 1918 Revolution.
- Since the 1920s, the Zütterlin typeface has become popular.
- In 1903, a special telephone directory was published for reading German words by sound. Initially, they tried to convey letters in numbers, but this was a difficult to remember way.
- In military affairs, when encrypting the ligature ß and the affricate ch were replaced by letter combinations.
- During the reign of Hitler, attempts were made to revive the imperial script, but the idea did not take root.
- The stress in German usually falls on the first syllable. When there is an unstressed prefix in a word, the stress is shifted to the second syllable.
- All nouns in German writing, regardless of their place in the sentence, are capitalized.
- The word "girl" in German is neuter. And this is not an isolated case: such inconsistencies are often encountered in the language.
- Some phraseological units in German are funny when translated directly. The phrase that we would translate as “You have a pig!” Means that the person was called lucky. With the words "This is not your beer!" Germans remind each other not to get involved in other people's business.
- The word "fraer", which is considered jargon in Russian speech, came from German. They call the groom.
- The longest German word still used in speech and writing is 63 letters long.
- The Germans often use the words “treasure”, “Romeo” and even “stallion” as affectionate words in relation to their beloved.
- John Gutenberg printed the first book on his machine, not in German, but in Latin. The famous Bible in German translation appeared 10 years later.
- German could become the official language in the United States. After the civil war, English won by chance at a meeting of Congress. One more vote was given for him than for the German language.
Related Videos
The German alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet with diacritics for vowels ( ä , ö , ü ) and the letter ß not used in other languages. There are alternative spellings for these letters: ae, oe, ue, ss, but when they are used, unambiguity is lost.
2. Transliteration
Some of the German letters are transmitted into Russian unambiguously:
| b | → b | n | → n | t | → T | ||
| d | → d | p | → P | w | → v | ||
| f | → f | q | → To | x | → cop | ||
| g | → G | r | → R | y | → and | ||
| m | → m | ß | → With | z | → c |
3. J
Combinations j + vowel transmitted in this way:
At the beginning of a word and after vowels ja → I am, jä (je) → e, jo → yo, jö → yo, ju → Yu, jü → yu: Jähns → Jens, Jül → Yul;
After consonants ja → ya, jä (je) → th, jo → oh, jö → ё, ju (jü)→ ew: Lilje → Lilier.
Before a consonant and at the end of a word j → th.
4. Vowels and their combinations
German diphthongs are transcribed according to the following rules: eu → Oh, ei → ah, ie → and... A common tradition of transmitting eu (ei) → Hey (her) is considered obsolete today, although many names and surnames are transmitted according to these rules: Reuter → Reuters, Geiger → Geiger.
After vowels e (ä ) → eh, i → th... At the beginning of a word e (ä , ö ) → eh, ü → and.
In other cases, vowels are transmitted by transliteration: a → a, e (ä ) → e, i → and, o → O, ö → e, u → at, ü → Yu, y → and.
5.S, C, H
Letter combinations sch, chh, ch, ph, rh, th in transcription are transmitted, respectively: sch → w, chh → xr, ch → X, ph → f, rh → R, th → T.
Combinations tsch, zsch and chs wholly belonging to one syllable are transmitted according to the rules tsch (zsch) → h, chs → cop: Achslach → Axlach, Zschopau → Chopau... Sometimes the components of these letter combinations refer to different syllables, in which case they are transmitted independently: Altschul → Altshul.
Before the front vowels ( i, e, in borrowings also y) With → c: Cilli → Cilli... In other contexts c → To: Carl → Charles.
Before letters p and t at the beginning of a word or part of a compound word s → w: Spree → Spree... Before vowels, a single s → s, otherwise s → With.
Between a vowel and a consonant (or between a vowel and e) h omitted in transcription. In other provisions h → X.
Tradition to transmit everywhere h → G today it is considered obsolete, but many names and surnames are transmitted precisely according to this rule: Tannhäuser → Tannhäuser, Heisenberg → Heisenberg.
The "transcriptor" cannot divide German words into syllables and compound words into parts.
6. Consonants
Letter combinations gk and tz transmitted according to the rules gk → G, tz → c.
Doubled ll transmitted in different ways, depending on the position in the word:
Between vowels ll → ll: Ellerbach → Ellerbach;
At the end of a word and between consonants ll → ll: Tellkoppe → Tellkoppe;
In other positions ll → l or eh.
Before vowels l → l, before consonants and at the end of words l → eh.
In German names and titles v → f: Volkmar → Volkmar... But in names of foreign origin v can be transmitted via v: Crivitz → Krivits.
The "transcriptor" always transmits v how f.
7. Doubled letters
Doubled (long) German vowels are always transmitted as one: Klopeinersee → Klopeinerze.
Doubled German consonants are transmitted as doubled consonants and in transcription if they are in a position between vowels or at the end of a word. In other positions, the doubled German consonant corresponds to one consonant letter of the transcription: Blatt → Blatt, Schaffran → Saffron.
Letter combination ck corresponds to kk in position between vowels, otherwise ck → To: Becker → Becker, Dick → Dick.
