The German Alphabet (das deutsche Alphabet)

In this lesson, you will learn the German alphabet, what the letters sound like, and how they are written.

The German Alphabet

The German alphabet contains some notable differences compared to English, but it’s relatively simple to learn.

Letters in the English alphabet are also found in German. While some letters are pronounced quite similarly to English, some differ slightly.

However, there are four more letters in the German alphabet that English does not have (ä, ö, ü, and ß). Three of these are known as Umlaut (ä, Ä, ö, Ü, ü), while the other is known as Eszett or scharfes S (ß).

❗ Do not confuse the letter ß (Eszett) with the Greek letter β (beta).

If your keyboard does not contain ä, ö, ü, and ß, you can use ae, oe, ue, and ss instead, respectively. However, it is still possible to write them:
Alt + 0196 = Ä
Alt + 0228 = ä
Alt + 0214 = Ö
Alt + 0246 = ö
Alt + 0220 = Ü
Alt + 0252 = ü
Alt + 0223 = ß

German is spoken as a mother tongue in Germany and European countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Austria.

❗ The ß letter is no longer used in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Instead of the ß, an ss is written there.

Uppercase	Lowercase	IPA	Example
🔊 A	a	[a:]	🔊 Apfel
🔊 B	b	[be:]	🔊 Banane
🔊 C	c	[tse:]	🔊 Couch
🔊 D	d	[de:]	🔊 Deutsch
🔊 E	e	[e:]	🔊 Elefant
🔊 F	f	[εf]	🔊 Fisch
🔊 G	g	[ge:]	🔊 Gitarre
🔊 H	h	[ha:]	🔊 Haus
🔊 I	i	[i:]	🔊 Igel
🔊 J	j	[jοt]	🔊 Joghurt
🔊 K	k	[ka:]	🔊 Kaffee
🔊 L	l	[εl]	🔊 Liebe
🔊 M	m	[εm]	🔊 Mann
🔊 N	n	[εn]	🔊 Nagel
🔊 O	o	[o:]	🔊 Orange
🔊 P	p	[pe:]	🔊 Pinguine
🔊 Q	q	[ku:]	🔊 Quiz
🔊 R	r	[εr:]	🔊 Rot
🔊 S	s	[εs]	🔊 Sonne
🔊 T	t	[te:]	🔊 Tee
🔊 U	u	[u:]	🔊 Uhr
🔊 V	v	[fau:]	🔊 Vogel
🔊 W	w	[ve:]	🔊 Wolke
🔊 X	x	[iks]	🔊 Xylofon
🔊 Y	y	[ypsilεn]	🔊 Yak
🔊 Z	z	[tsεt]	🔊 Zebra
🔊 Ä	ä	A-Umlaut	🔊 Bär
🔊 Ö	ö	O-Umlaut	🔊 Öl
🔊 Ü	ü	U-Umlaut	🔊 Fünf
🔊 ẞ	ß	Eszett	🔊 Fuß

❗ All letters of the German alphabet have the same article: das.
das A
das B
das C and so on

Diphthongs in German

A diphthong (meaning “two sounds” in Greek), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable.

There are four diphthongs in the German alphabet: EI, IE, AU, and EU. By learning to pronounce these four letters in German, you can speak more fluently and with a better accent.

ie

The combination of the German letters “i” and “e” produces a sound similar to the English word “sheep”.

🔊 viel	much
🔊 sieben	seven
🔊 Liebe	love
🔊 wie	how
🔊 Wien	Vienna

ei

“ei” diphthong is pronounced like the y in the English word “my.”

🔊 ein	a
🔊 arbeiten	to work
🔊 dein	your
🔊 heiße	be called
🔊 Wein	wine

au

Au produces a sound similar to “ow” in the English word “now“

🔊 blau	blue
🔊 Frau	woman
🔊 bauen	built
🔊 Bauer	farmer
🔊 Auge	eye

eu (äu)

The combination of the letters “e” and “u” gives a sound like the “oy” in the English word “boy”

🔊 heute	today
🔊 euere	yours
🔊 neu	new
🔊 freuen	be happy
🔊 Euro	euro
🔊 Fräulein	young lady

Consonant Combinations in German

There are a few combinations of consonants that generate specific sounds in German. These are tsch, dsch, sch, ch, sp, and st.

tsch

The combination of the letters “tsch” produces a sound similar to “ch” in the English word “which“

🔊 Deutsch	German
🔊 Deutschland	Germany
🔊 Dolmetscher	interpreter

dsch

🔊 Dschungel

jungle

sch

sch generates a sound of “sh” like in the English word “show”

🔊 Schule	school
🔊 Tisch	table
🔊 Türkisch	Turkish

chs

The combination of “chs” produces a sound similar to the letter “x”.

🔊 sechs	six
🔊 Fuchs	fox
🔊 Wachs	wax

ch

🔊 ich	I
🔊 mich	me
🔊 Nacht	night

ck

🔊 Stück	piece
🔊 Sticker	sticker
🔊 Picknick	picnic

st

🔊 start	to start
🔊 Stadt	city
🔊 Straße	street

sp

🔊 Sport	Sports
🔊 Spanien	Spain
🔊 spielen	to play