German Pronunciation Guide for English Speakers
German spelling is quite regular, so once you know the sounds, you can read most words aloud correctly. This guide covers the sounds that cause the most trouble for English speakers.
Vowels and umlauts
German vowels are short or long. A doubled vowel or a vowel before a single consonant is often long. The umlauts ä, ö and ü are separate sounds: ä is close to the vowel in English "bed", ö is like the vowel in "bird" without the r, and ü is like "ee" said with rounded lips. See the German alphabet.
The ch sound
There are two sounds. After a, o, u and au, ch is a rough sound like Scottish "loch" (Buch, ach). After e, i, ä, ö, ü and consonants, it is a soft hiss (ich, Milch). See pronunciation of ch.
Diphthongs ei, ie and eu
ei sounds like English "eye" (Eis). ie is a long "ee" (Liebe). eu and äu sound like "oy" (heute, Häuser). See ei and ie.
s, z, w and v
s before a vowel is "z" (Sonne). z is "ts" (Zeit). w is like English "v" (Wasser). v is usually "f" (Vater), but in loanwords like Vase it is "v". See s, z, w and v.
sch, sp and st
sch is "sh" (Schule). At the start of a word, sp is "shp" (Sport) and st is "sht" (Stadt). The letter r is usually a soft sound at the back of the throat, though pronunciation varies by region.
Stress and rhythm
German words usually stress the first syllable, including most words with prefixes such as be-, ge- and ver-. Loanwords and words ending in -ieren often stress a later syllable. Sentence stress usually falls on the most important word, often at the end of the clause.
Tips for practice
- Shadow native recordings sentence by sentence.
- Use the speaker buttons in the vocabulary and grammar pages to hear words.
- Record yourself and compare with the original.