Belongs to the Germanic group of languages with 121 million speakers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Italy, France, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Australia, South Africa and Namibia.
Earliest monuments German writing date back to the 8th century AD. and represent fragments of an epic poem, Song of Hildebrand- magical attractiveness and shine German language, recorded in a Latin manuscript. Small Latin-German dictionary, Abrogans, dated 760
The emergence of German literature dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries. These were poems, epics and novels. A well-known example is the epic poem Nibelungenlied(Song of the Nibelungs) and Tristan Gottfried from Strasbourg. The language of these works is now known as mittelhochdeutscheDichtersprache (Middle High German). During this period, official documents began to appear on German and there is a gradual displacement of the Latin language.
Types of German writing
High German (Hochdeutsch)
High German began to acquire the status of a literary language in the 16th century. This process began with Martin Luther's translation of the Bible in 1534. The language he used, based in part on colloquial forms of German, became the standard for writing.
Swiss German (SchweizerdeutschorSchwyzerdutsch)
A variety of German, spoken by 4 million people in Switzerland, occasionally appears in novels, newspapers, personal letters and diaries.
Regional dialects of German, or Mundarten. They also appear from time to time in written form: mainly in “folk” literature and comics, such as Asterix.
German handwriting font styles
Fracture
Fraktur was used for printing and letters from the 16th century to 1940 The name “Fraktur” (German: Fraktur) comes from the Latin phrase “ broken font". It is so named because its decorative, sinuous strokes (squiggles) break the continuous line of the word. In German it is usually called deutsche Schrift (German font).
Fraktur was also used for other languages: Finnish, Czech, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.
Note
The second case of lowercase letters appears at the end of a syllable, except for the following combinations: ss, st, sp, sh and sch, while the first case is written in all other cases. Symbol? ( scharfesS or Eszett) is a combination of s and z, or a combination of two types of s. But the origin of this symbol is still debated.
Example of text written in Fraktur font
Sütterlin font
This kind font was created by the Berlin draftsman L. Sutterlin (1865-1917), who modeled it on the basis of the handwritten font used in the ancient German office. This font trained in German schools from 1915 to 1941 The old generation still uses it.
Modern German alphabet |
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Example text
Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Wurde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Bruderlichkeit begegnen.
Listen to the text recording
Translation
All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and must act towards each other in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
German alphabet was created on the basis of the Greco-Roman alphabet, table German alphabet includes: lowercase and uppercase letters German alphabet, pronunciation German alphabet, transcription of letters German alphabet. Why is it worth learning the German alphabet? A clear knowledge of the German alphabet and transcriptions is a key factor when using dictionaries, writing and reading texts. Everything is very simple, because in order to master the German language, you should also know the German alphabet in order to be able to read and quickly navigate the dictionary. In addition, when talking on the phone, you can often hear the following phrase: “buchstabieren Sie bitte!”, which means approximately the following: “I can’t understand your foreign pronunciation, please spell it,” which once again proves the need to study the German alphabet. We will talk about the spelling of the German language and the main rules of reading on the pages of our website, but now we will return to the German alphabet itself. Letter names, i.e. the sounds that we pronounce when naming the letters of the German alphabet, as well as in English, differ significantly from other languages and the original ones - Latin. Just like for English and French, the basis for the German alphabet is the Latin letters: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z, besides them there are also umlauts : Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü and ligature ß. In total we get 26+3+1= 30 characters. I would like to note that umlauts and ligatures are not considered letters, so the correct answer to the question “how many letters are there in the German alphabet?” will be - 26. The English and German alphabet have a lot in common, since the languages have the same roots and belong to the same language group. If you are familiar with the English alphabet, then learning the German alphabet will be much easier. Despite the fact that the sounds of letters in the two languages are different, reading the letters of the German alphabet is much easier than the English ones. The table of the German alphabet presents the Russian and classical versions of transcriptions. The Russian version is not entirely correct and rather serves as a hint. Most letters of the German alphabet have a constant sound correspondence, so transcription is not used as often as in English. We invite you to master the German alphabet with the help of a fun video at the end of the article. Thus, we became acquainted with the German alphabet, as well as the umlauts of the German language.
Letters of the German alphabet
German alphabet pronunciation chart
Umlauts Ä, Ö, Ü.
Umlauts or umlauts?
The question often arises of how to write correctly "umlauts" or "umlauts"? In fact, it’s true both ways, everything will depend on how you read the word "Umlaut". The word is used more often "umlaut", let’s take it as truth.
So, what is an umlaut if not a letter?
Omitting scientific terms and definitions, umlaut can be called a sound phenomenon that consists in changing the sound and timbre of vowels.
There are three umlauts in German Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü.
As you can see, they are distinguished from ordinary vowels by the presence of two dots above the letter.
In order to correctly pronounce the sounds of the German alphabet when reading umlauts, remember the following rules:
- Ä. If you see this symbol after a vowel or at the beginning of a word, it will read “E”, and if it comes after a consonant, then “E”.
- O. Tongue in position as when pronouncing “E”, lips as when pronouncing “O”
- Ü. Tongue in position as when pronouncing “I”, lips as when pronouncing “U”
A few examples:
Die Hande
Die Ähre
Österreich
Zwölf
Wunderschön!
Die Übung
Zu küssen
Kuhl
Die Manner
Hauser
Die Hofe
Die Bucher
Die Gäste
As individual characters, the umlauts are read like this:
- "ä" - a-umlaut
- "ü" - u-umlaut
- "ö" - o-umlaut
More about umlauts:
- In some cases, for example if there is no German keyboard layout, umlauts can be replaced with digraphs (two letters):
ä – ae
ü – ua
ö–oe
- In the German alphabet, umlauts come immediately after the corresponding vowel letters, which will come in handy when searching for dictionary entries.
- How to insert an umlaut character if there is no German keyboard layout? Besides buying a keyboard, there is another way:
Ä – Hold down the “Alt” key and press “0228” one by one
Ü – Hold down the “Alt” key and press “0252” one by one
Ö – Hold down the “Alt” key and press “0246” one by one
At the same time, do not forget to switch the keyboard layout to English.
Ligature ß (es-cet)
Another sign that requires special attention is German alphabet is esset. This is not exactly a letter, an esset is a ligature, or, more simply put, a sign that combines two letters “ f" And " S»:
f+s= ß
In words, esset is read as a long “ WITH" For example: weiß – weiss, groß – gross, Straße [strasse]
A few examples:
der Floß
der Fuß
die Größe
der Gruß
das Maß
die Muße
die Straße
die Soße
der Stoß
More about the ß sign:
- "scharfes s" – second name of ß
- If you do not have a German keyboard layout, ß can be safely replaced with ss.
- For the case when you doubt whether to write “ss” or “ß”, there is a rule: the esset is written only after long vowels, in other cases the double S is written.
When sorting dictionary entries, "ß" is equivalent to double "S".
The ß figure is used only in Germany and Austria; in other countries it is replaced by “ss”.
On June 25, 2008, the capital letter “ß” was included in the technical standards. Before this, for 130 years there had been debate about whether the Germans needed a large esset. Let me remind you that ß can be either in the middle or at the end of a word.
Let's look at the material with the pronunciation of letters of the German alphabet:
And another video to reinforce the letters of the German alphabet:
An important aspect of learning any language is pronunciation - start German with phonetics. The Germans have a very bad attitude towards incorrect pronunciation. There were examples when a person who spoke correctly and fluently, but with some accent, was asked by officials to go learn German, which they say is necessary for him to get a normal job. About pronunciation - there is a fundamentally different position of the speech apparatus; if you “tune” it, it will turn out very well.
Different foreign languages use different sets of sounds - the main difference lies in the position of the tongue. In Russian, the position of the tongue is predominantly raised, while in German the root of the tongue and the middle part are pressed down.
The vowel sounds of the German language have two features:
1. At the beginning of a word or root, vowels are pronounced with a strong attack, reminiscent of a light click, which gives German speech a jerky sound that is not characteristic of the Russian language.
2. Vowels are divided into long and short, which explains their greater number compared to the Russian language.
Long vowels are pronounced more intensely than the vowels of the Russian language, and do not change their character throughout the entire duration of sounding. The consonant sound following a long vowel is freely adjacent to it, as if with a slight pause. When transmitting German sounds in Russian letters, the length of vowels is indicated by a colon after the corresponding letter.
Short vowels are pronounced more briefly than Russian vowels. The consonant sound following the short vowel is closely adjacent to it, as if cutting it off.
The stress in German falls, as a rule, on the root of the word or on the prefix, that is, on the first syllable. When a word is changed, the stress does not change. The pronunciation of German words is conveyed in this manual in Russian letters without the use of generally accepted transcription signs. The transcription of the word and the stressed vowel are highlighted in different fonts. This transcription allows (with some exceptions) to pronounce German words and sentences quite correctly.
Video on the topic:
In this video lesson, you will become familiar with the German alphabet, learn interesting facts related to it, and also be able to complete a self-test exercise. Each language has its own special sound system, which must be familiarized with, since a person who does not have the correct pronunciation will not be able to correctly perceive foreign speech by ear and will not be able to be correctly understood. The German language has 42 sounds, which are written using 26 letters of the Latin alphabet. The German language has 15 simple vowel sounds, 3 complex two-vowel sounds (diphthongs) and 24 consonants.
How to learn German pronunciation using German tongue twisters.
What is the most important thing in learning foreign languages? Lexicon? Grammar? Speech speed? In general, all of these answers are correct, but there is one thing that immediately catches your eye if a person speaks a non-native language - pronunciation. It is almost impossible to learn perfect pronunciation if you start learning a foreign language late. The situation with German is complicated by the fact that many sounds have a very unusual sound for the Russian ear. This is the reason for the appearance of the famous Russian accent. If the accent is not strong and does not interfere with understanding, no problem. The answer is simple - train. From this video you will learn how to learn perfect German pronunciation using German tongue twisters!German letters and their names
In German-Russian dictionaries, as well as in German language textbooks, you can find an alphabet where the names of German letters are written in Russian: A - A, B- bae,C- tse, D- de etc. Let’s say right away that this is some kind of convention in order to at least somehow, approximately, convey the names of the letters. You and I will learn the German letters in the alphabet correctly from the very beginning, listening and repeating after native speakers and watching their articulation on video.The modern German alphabet consists of 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, the names of which, as in other languages, differ from purely Latin ones. Watch the following video (you can do it once, for reference, we will come back to it later):
As you may have noticed, in addition to the alphabet there are three more letters with two dots above them - umlauts(or umlauts) Ä, ä; Ö, ö; Ü, ü, as well as the symbol ß, called in Russian ligature esset: combining s (es) and z (ts) into one. In theory, similar to our letter ё, these additional characters should be included in the alphabet, since each of them either represents a separate sound or affects the sound of letters next to it. However, in most cases they are not considered part of the alphabet, and almost every German speaker will name only 26 letters when asked to tell the alphabet.
That is, formally these three umlauts and eszet are not included in the German alphabet, but two dots above the letters are diacritic, indicating that the letter should be read differently. Accent is another example of a diacritic. For example, in German texts you can find the following spelling of the word “cafe”, borrowed from French - Cafe.
When learning the German alphabet, four additional letters are still named, added to the alphabet at the very end, or even included in it (Ä - after A, Ö - after O, Ü - after U and ß - after S). And when listing umlaut letters within the alphabet, many say not the actual names of these letters, but the sounds they make, for example, instead of “a-umlaut” for ä they will say “e”. Don't let any of this surprise you.
For study purposes, we will put 4 additional letters (Ää, Öö, Üü and ß) after the main alphabet and will pronounce their names, that is, we will do everything according to the same rules as for the main 26 letters of the alphabet.
German alphabet with transcription
Ideally, to correctly read words in any foreign language, you need to know phonetic transcription. In general, this is a separate big topic, and at the initial stage of language learning it can be difficult to understand - there is too much new information. If you have already studied other languages and are familiar with transcription symbols, this section will not be difficult for you; if not, you can read it at once and try to pronounce the sounds as written, but you do not need to memorize all this. This information in one form or another will be found constantly in dictionaries and educational materials, and gradually you will master transcription without much effort. At the initial stage, you don’t need to focus too much on this.In the table below, using transcription signs (in square brackets), we write down how the names of the letters of the alphabet sound in German. Let's note some of the most general points:
- The colon [:] after a vowel means that it is long and is pronounced noticeably longer than a Russian vowel. If there is no colon after the vowel, then the sound is short and pronounced shorter than Russian.
- pronounced closed, similar to “e” and “e” in the words “these”, “shadows”
- Consonant sounds [d], [t], [l], [n] alveolar, they are pronounced differently than in Russian - the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveoli (convex tubercles behind the upper teeth), and not against the teeth as in Russian.
- German sounds [b], [d], [g] are a little quieter than their Russian counterparts:
[d] - something between Russian [d] and [t],
[b] - as the average between Russian [b] and [p],
[g] - as the average between [g] and [k]. - The sign before vowels [’] in this case is not an accent, but a designation of that feature of German pronunciation, which is called hard attack. Try to pronounce the Russian word “Ah!” with effort and annoyance. and you will understand the essence - we prepare the air for intense exhalation, but hold it in the larynx just before pronouncing the sound. Like a slight cough. Please note that all German vowels at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable are pronounced this way.
| Letter | Letter name | Features of pronouncing the sounds of letter names | |
| A | a | ['a:] | a: pronounced like the Russian “a”, but drawn out. Remember about [’] here and below |
| B | b | b sounds like the middle between Russian "b" and "p" | |
| C | c | ||
| D | d | d - the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveoli, and not against the teeth; the sound is average between Russian "d" and "t" | |
| E | e | ['e:] | e: pronounced closed, similar to "e" and "e" in the words "these", "networks" |
| F | f | ['ɛf] | ɛ is similar to the "e" in the word "this"; for f the muscles are tighter than for "f" |
| G | g | g - does not sound as loud as Russian, like the average between Russian “g” and “k”. Please note that the name of the letter sounds neither like the Russian “ge”, but also not like “ge” - German g, unlike Russian, is not softened | |
| H | h | h - like the sound of exhalation without noise, or like when we breathe on glass | |
| I | i | ['i:] | i: pronounced like the Russian “i”, but drawn out |
| J | j | j - approximately like "th"; ɔ - short, clearer than the Russian “o”; t - alveolar and aspirated | |
| K | k | k - tense, aspirated | |
| L | l | ['ɛl] | l - average between Russian “l” and “l”, the tip of the tongue is pressed to the alveoli |
| M | m | ['ɛm] | m - more intense than the Russian sound "m" |
| N | n | ['ɛn] | n - the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveoli, and not against the teeth |
| O | o | ['o:] | o: pronounced drawlingly with strongly protruded, tense lips |
| P | p | p - tense, aspirated | |
| Q | q | u: - like the Russian “u”, but drawn out; the letter sounds like "ku-u", but not "qu" | |
| R | r | ['ɛr] | r - see footnote* |
| S | s | ['ɛs] | s - muscles are tenser than for the Russian "s" |
| T | t | t - tense, aspirated, the tip of the tongue is pressed to the alveoli | |
| U | u | ['u:] | u: pronounced like the Russian "u", but drawn out |
| V | v | aʊ̯ - resembles the “ay” in the word “pause” | |
| W | w | v - like the Russian “v”, not to be confused with the English sound [w], who studied | |
| X | x | ['ɪks] | ɪ is somewhat similar to the average between Russian short "e" and "s" |
| Y | y | ['ʏpsɪlɔn] | ʏ - pronounce it like [ɪ], but slightly round the lips; stressed syllable first |
| Z | z | ts - like “ts”, but with aspiration and greater muscle tension | |
| Ä | ä | [’a:’ʊmlaʊ̯ t], [ɛ:] | ʊ like the “u” in the word “joke”; ɛ: - like the “e” in the word “this”, but drawn out** |
| Ö | ö | [’o:’ʊmlaʊ̯ t], [ø:] | ø: pronounced like , but the lips protrude strongly, as in |
| Ü | ü | ['u:'ʊmlaʊ̯ t], | y: pronounced like , but lip position like German |
| ß | ['ɛstsɛt] | the name is made up of the names of the letters s and z; second syllable stressed | |
* There are three ways to pronounce the German consonant [r]. One of them resembles the Russian “r”, however, it is the least common and it is better to forget about it right away. The other two are “burry”, they are recommended to learn and practice the skill. One option reed, denoted by [ʀ] is similar to the sound of gargling, another, posterior lingual fricative, denoted [ʁ], is played through the gap between the back of the tongue and the palate, with the participation of the voice. Often students first master this particular [ʁ], and then practice the more “purer” [ʀ]. In addition, there is also a vocalized R, more similar to the sound [a], but still it is R. It is designated [ɐ].
** For umlauts, the table shows two alternative options for “letter names” (separated by commas). Learn the first (i.e. "a-umlaut", "o-umlaut", "u-umlaut"), and keep the second in mind.
Now, armed with the theory, it’s time to practice pronouncing the names of letters after native speakers. In the next video, you can not only listen to the German names of letters, but also observe the articulation of the speaker. This will help you pronounce sounds correctly.
Repeat each letter as many times as necessary to pronounce it as closely as possible. First we work on the quality of pronunciation of letter names. Check the table. By the way, in this example R sounds more vocalized - like a vowel similar to [a].
Test yourself by watching another version of reading the German alphabet, with slight differences in pronunciation. Pay special attention to the letters R and Y, try to learn how to reproduce this particular version of their names later. Here [ʀ] is reed-like, and [ʏ] is more pronounced.
In the next step, try to memorize the entire alphabet and retell it without errors. A little tip: when pronouncing the letters of the alphabet, call them in groups, it will be easier to remember, for example, like this: ABCD EFGH IJKL MNOP QRST UVW XYZ ÄÖÜ ß.
Another way to group the letters of the alphabet is shown in the video at the very beginning of the lesson. Perhaps that option is more suitable for you, try it. One way or another, watch that video at least one more time, listening carefully to the pronunciation of the letter names.
So, what should you strive for in this lesson and what results should you achieve:
- Be able to correctly name individual letters of the German alphabet in any order. To make sure of this, you can make 30 paper cards (one for each letter of the alphabet, including additional ones), mix them and, pulling them out in random order, name the letter, referring to the table and video. If there are no errors with any letters, this goal has been achieved.
- Be able to tell the German alphabet in any of two directions: name all the letters in order, both from beginning to end, and in the opposite direction - from end to beginning, correctly and without hesitation.
Learning any language begins with the basics, namely its alphabet. Some people have been familiar with it since school, but even those who have never learned it but have some knowledge of English will find it easy to figure it out. The fact is that these two languages are similar in many ways, moreover, they contain the same characters as English, but their pronunciation is different. Therefore, phonetics will not seem too difficult.
All characters are based on the Latin alphabet. In total it has 26 letters. It is worth noting that the German alphabet and pronunciation are easier than English. Grammar may be difficult to understand at first, but this will not be a big problem.
For Russian-speaking citizens, it is comfortable to study in Russian, the table of which is presented below.
Why is it worth learning German?
Connection with tourism
As you know, in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg, people speak predominantly German. However, knowing the German alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, you can also easily communicate with people from Liechtenstein, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, northern Italy, eastern Belgium and some other countries.
German language is important for tourism
New useful acquaintances
You should be more confident in a foreign country. Knowing the language will greatly simplify communication with local residents. Knowing the language for beginners with pronunciation, you can easily meet new people, learn their character and interests.
Education and self-development
Many people strive to become more educated, expand the range of their knowledge and skills, and what could be better in this matter than learning one or more foreign languages? It is worth noting that not only the quantity is taken into account, but also the level of mastery of them. The alphabet in German with pronunciation will help solve this problem.
Work abroad
It's no secret that even the minimum wage in Europe can exceed Russian standards. With knowledge of at least one foreign language, you can choose more than one prestigious profession, or try to open your own. Russian-speaking citizens will benefit from the German alphabet with Russian pronunciation.
Educational literature
Approximately 18% of the world's books are published in German. Of these, only a tiny part has been translated into Russian. Reading works in their original form allows a person to enrich himself with invaluable knowledge, learn more about the culture of a given country, and better understand the specifics of its language. The German alphabet with pronunciation will help you appreciate the fullness of works of art.
Consonants. Pronunciation
For beginners with pronunciation, it is advisable to remember such an important nuance that all German consonants are hard. The voiced ones are slightly muffled in pronunciation. The final consonant of the word is completely deafened.
Phonetics offers clear examples for analysis. The word dieb is thief. As can be seen from the transcription, the letter “d” is semi-voiced, and “b”, since it is at the very end, is significantly muted.
- The letter “h” at the root or the first one in a word is read as “x” with a little aspiration. For example, herz, which translates as heart. Inside and at the end, it lengthens the vowel that comes before it: fahren - to go; froh – cheerful or joyful.
- The letter "j" is similar to the Russian "y". It is worth remembering the phrases “ja” and “ju”, which sound like “ya” and “yu”. For example, jahr, which translates as year or juni - June.
- The letter “l” is always slightly softened: blume – flower.
- The letter “s” preceding the vowel is converted into the sound “z”: sonne - sun, verb lesen - read.
- The letter "ß" is pronounced like "s". For example, groß – big.
- The consonants k, p, t should be pronounced with a slight aspiration: park - park, torte - cake, ko†fer - suitcase.
- It is important to note that the letter “v” is read not as “v”, but as “f”: vater - father. However, in borrowed words it can be pronounced as “in”: vase - vase.
- The letter “w” should be pronounced by analogy with the Russian “v”: wort – word.
- You should remember a small rule: double consonants sound like single consonants, shortening the vowel in front of them: rennen - rush, sommer - summer, mutter - mother.
Letter "r". Pronunciation Features
The German alphabet with pronunciation will help you master the alternative pronunciation of "r".
- If she begins a word, the sound will be a little burry and drawn out, like the Russian sound [x], but in this case the voice will play a direct role.
- Another pronunciation option is possible if the letter is at the beginning of the word. The sound will become more rolling and front-lingual [r].
- Toward the middle of the word, the [r] becomes much quieter, but still audible.
- It is worth noting that at the tail of the word the letter loses its original sound and is transformed into a vocalized [α], which is closer to a vowel.
The German alphabet with Russian pronunciation provides an opportunity to practice comparative analysis. For example, in the word der rabe, which means raven, the sound [r] is predominantly loud and rolling. In the verb to teach – lehren, this sound will be more muffled, but will not lose its color. As for the word spectator - der zuschauer, in its example you can see how [r] turns into a vocalized [α].
Pronunciation of vowels
To convey the Russian letters ya, ё and yu, the German language uses special letter combinations ja, jo, ju. They are able to most accurately convey the sound of analogue letters. For example, we can consider a couple of Russian names: Yura - Jura and Yasha - Jascha.
As for double vowels, they are read with one long sound. For example, eel – der Aal [a:l]. In the transcription you can see that the sound [a] is prolonged. The remaining vowels are read using the same principle: tee – tea; raar – pair; boot - boat.
If the vowel is located at the beginning or at the root of the word, the sound will be much sharper and harder, giving German speech a rougher character, abrupt phrases in comparison with the usual Russian speech. You can trace this intonation in the word der Alter [altә].
Letter combinations in vowels and consonants
The alphabet in German with pronunciation has its disadvantages. Not every sound is optimally described by a letter. Sometimes, to achieve the desired result, you have to resort to combining certain characters of the alphabet:
- The combination of letters “ie” is converted into the drawn-out sound “i”. For example: bier – . And if you swap these symbols - “ei”, you get a short sound “ai”: heimat - homeland.
- In combination with “u” the letter “e” makes the sound “oh”: heute – today. The same sound can be obtained by combining the letter “ä” with “u”: bäume – trees. The features of this symbol will be discussed further.
- The letter combination “sp” at the root or beginning of a word should be pronounced as “shp”: sport, which in translation means sport.
- There is another sound similar to this - “piece”. It is formed by combining the letters "s" and "t" by analogy at the beginning or root. Example word: stern – star.
- The pure sound “sh” is formed using three letters at once: s, c, h, coming in a row one after another. As an example: schule - school, schwester - sister.
- The letter combination “ck” is pronounced like a short “k”: backen – oven. This sound also has variations: “ks” and “kv”. The first of them is formed by three letters: c, h, s. For example: sechs – six. And the sound “kv” can be obtained by combining two elements “q” with “u”: quark - cottage cheese.
- It is impossible not to note such sounds as “x” and “ch”. They are an integral basis of the German language. As a rule, combining “c” and “h” you can get a dull “x”: buch - book, machen - to do. And to get a short “h” you will need 4 letters at once: t, s, c, h. This combination is used in one very useful word: deutsch - German.
Unusual characters and their pronunciation
The German alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, the table of which is shown below, has specific letters that have a cap in the form of two dots. These characters also have their own pronunciation. For example, the sound of the letter “ä” is more similar to the Russian sound “e”: mädchen - girl.
The next letter is ö. It is very reminiscent of “ё” from the Russian alphabet and is read exactly like it. Example word: schön – beautiful.
And the last character is “ü”, by analogy with “yu”: müll - garbage.
Features of stress
In German, stress usually falls on the first syllable. In words with an unstressed prefix, the stress moves to the next syllable. As an example, consider the suffix –tion. It will always be stressed and pronounced like, where “i” is a short slipping sound, and the emphasis falls on “o”.
As for the letter combinations “ts”, they form the sound “ts”. For example, you can take the foreign word kommunikation, which means connection or communication.
Words where the stress falls on the first syllable: ausländer - foreigner or aufmachen - to open. An exception to the rule is the common borrowing from foreigners of the word computer and others.
It is worth noting words with the presence of an unstressed prefix, these include: be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, miss-. The stress in words with such prefixes will be shifted to the next syllable. For example: verkaufen – sell, bekommen – receive.
Simple words to practice pronunciation
The German alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, a table for practicing simple words of which is presented below, allows you to practice reading them, while at the same time expanding your vocabulary.
- strand – beach;
- reise – journey;
- leute – people;
- zeit – time;
- frühling – spring;
- herbst – autumn;
- fleisch – meat;
- fisch – fish;
- wein – wine;
- kaffee – coffee;
- zwieback – cracker;
- radieschen - radish;
- richtig – correct;
- schule - school;
- volk - people.
German alphabet with pronunciation in Russian: table, phonetics updated: June 3, 2019 by: Amazing-world!
