German Pronunciation for Singers

Guide to German Pronunciation

For Singers

by Cliff Lamere 3 Mar 2010, revised Feb 2016

Unlike American English, the German language is very consistent in its pronunciation and much easier than English for foreigners to learn, even though it has some sounds we don't have in English. Since citizens of the United States and England may pronounce some vowels differently, the pronunciations below will only work for choral singers familiar with American English.

For me, the key to learning a new language is to learn how to pronounce it as correctly as possible. That way, the small amount of vocabulary I know will be understood by the citizens in the country I might visit. Communication by speaking or singing is very difficult without good pronunciation.

Note: German nouns are always capitalized.

Understanding the Sound Descriptions Used on this Webpage

American English Description I Use	American English Sound	American English Description I Use	American English Sound

ah	as in Blah	nğ	soft ng as in Singer
aw	as in Saw	ō or Ō	long 'o' as in Hope
ā or Ᾱ	long 'a' as in Ace	oo	as in Moon
ē or Ē	as in Here	ow	as in Cow
e or eh	as in Set	oy	as in Toy
hh	exhaled sound of CH	ř	almost silent
i or ih	as in Sit	uh	as in But
ī or Ī	as in Pipe	û or Û	as in Put or Push

Some German sounds are not present in English. Click on the speaker icons to hear some of the unique German sounds.

In the columns below titled "In American English, Sounds Like:", the syllable which is emphasized (stressed) is shown in capital letters. For each German vowel, consonant, or combination of letters, two examples are given for each pronunciation.

G E R M A N V O W E L S

A German vowel is usually LONG:

1) if it is followed by a single consonant

2) if two of the same vowel are next to each other (aa, ee, oo)

3) if it is followed by an h (as long as the h is silent, which it usually is)

4) if it is at the end of a word, and it is not an e (and it is not stressed)

5) if the letter e is followed by an r (but the r is not at the end of a word that has two or more syllables)

Single Vowels

Single Vowel	American English Sound	Comment	Example (English Word)	In American English, Sounds Like:

A	ah	as in Father Short a sounds almost the same.	aber - Hand (but - hand)	AH-ber ~ hahnt
E (long)	ā	1) when e is followed by h 2) when e is followed by an r, especially at beginning of a word (er-, ver-, zer- and her-), but not -er at the end of a multi-syllabic word 3) when the vowel is doubled (ee). See EE below.	sehr - mehr (very - more) wer - heraus (who - out)	zār ~ mār vār ~ hār-OWS
E (short)	eh	as in Sell	Bett - wenn (bed - when)	bet ~ ven
E (final letter of a word)	eh, uh	Should sound like eh sound in Get, but often said like A in Ago.	Leute - Hause (people - house)	LOY-teh ~ HOW-zeh
I (long)	ē	as in Machine	Ire - Irak (Irishman - Iraq)	Ē-reh ~ ē-RAHK
I (short)	i, ih	as in Sit	immer - Wille (always - will)	IM-er ~ VILL-eh
O (long)	ō	as in Hope	Ofen - oder (stove - or)	Ō-fen ~ Ō-der
O (short)	aw	like aw sound in Offer	offen - Gottes (open - God)	AW-fen ~ GAW-tess
U	oo (long)	as in Tune	Uhr - Stuhl (clock - stool)	oor ~ shtool
U	û (short)	as in Push	Hund - Suppe (dog - soup)	hûnt ~ ZÛP-eh

Vowel Followed by an H Gives it a German Long Vowel Sound

Combination	American English Sound	Comment	Example (Meaning)	In American English, Sounds Like:

AH	ah		Gefahr - Sahn (danger - cream)	geh-FAHR ~ zahn
EH	ā		geht - mehr (goes - more)	gāt ~ mār
IH	ē		ihn - ihr (him - your)	ēn ~ ēr
OH	ō		ohne - Ohr (without - ear)	Ō-neh ~ ōr

Combinations of E and I (almost always sounds like the English name of the second letter)

Combination	American English Sound	Comment	Example (Meaning)	In American English, Sounds Like:

EI	Long I (ī)	as in Heidi	Heilige Geist (Holy Ghost)	HĪ-lig-eh gīst
IE	ē	as in Piece	wieder - lieben (again - to love)	VĒ-der ~ LĒ-ben
IE	sometimes ē-eh	I and E are sometimes sounded separately if IE is at the end of the word (but not Sie or Glorie)	Linie (line)	LĒN-ē-eh

Other Double Vowels

Vowels	American English Sound	Comment	Example (Meaning)	In American English, Sounds Like:

AA	ah		Staat - Saal (state - hall)	shtaht ~ zahl
AU	ow	like ow in Cow	Baum - glauben (tree - to believe)	bowm ~ GLOW-ben
EE	ā		Beet - Meer (flower bed - sea)	bāt ~ mār
EU	oy	like oy in Toy	Leute - Deutschland (people - Germany)	LOY-teh ~ DOYTSH-lahnt

Vowels with an Umlaut (double dot above the letter)

Vowel(s)	American English Sound	Comment	Example (Meaning)	In American English, Sounds Like:

Ä (long)	ā	like in Aid	Jäger - sägen (hunter - saw)	YᾹ-ger ~ ZᾹ-gen
Ä (short)	eh	like in Met	Männer - Hände (men - hands)	MEN-er ~ HEN-deh
ÄU	oy	---	Fräulein - Häuser (Miss - houses)	FROY-līn ~ HOY-zer
Ö (long)	eř	with almost no R sound	Flöte - schön (flute - beautiful)	FLEŘT-eh ~ sheřn
Ö (short)	uh	---	Stöcke - Öffnung	SHTUH-keh ~ UHF-nûnğ
Ü (long)	--	shape lips to say the U in Tune, but say Ē	über - Tür (above - door)	(top table)
Ü (short)	--	like U in put or push	Brücke - Stück (bridge - piece)	BRÛK-eh ~ Shtûk (middle table)

G E R M A N C O N S O N A N T S

Consonants have basically the same sound as in English, with the exceptions shown below.

Consonants Which May Sound Different in German

Single Consonant	American English Sound	Comment		In American English, Sounds Like:

C	TS	before i or e at beginning of word	circa (circa)	TSIR-kah
C	K	other than above	Cape (cape)	CAH-peh
G	hard as in Go (except as part of NG)	never like a 'j' as in Giraffe or Gin	Glas - Ginster (glass - broom)	glahs ~ GIN-ster
H	H	but silent following a vowel (see also TH below)	gehen - Lehrer (go - teacher)	GᾹ-en ~ LᾹR-er
J	Y		ja - Jude (yes - Jew)	yah ~ YOO-deh
QU	KV (never Q alone)		Qualität - quieken (quality - squeal)	kvah-lē-TᾹT ~ KVĒ-ken
S	Z or S	Z before a vowel	Suppe - Geist (soup - ghost)	ZÛP-eh ~ Gīst
V	F		Vater - Vorschule (father - nursery school)	FAHT-er ~ FOR-shoo-leh
W	V		Wagen - vorweg (cart - beforehand)	VAH-gen ~ for-VᾹK
Y	many sounds	As a vowel, mainly ih and like ü. Same as in English if at the beginning or end of a word.	Hymne - Yoga (hymn - yoga)
Z	TS		Zimmer - Zucker (room - sugar)	TSIM-er ~ TSÛK-er

Consonants That Change Their Sound at the End of a Syllable or Word

Consonant	American English Sound	Comment	Words	In American English, Sounds Like:

B	becomes P		lieben - lieb (to love - kind)	LĒ-ben ~ lēp
D	becomes T		lieder - lied (songs - song)	LĒD-er ~ lēt
G	becomes K		Vogel - Sieg (bird - victory)	FŌ-gel ~ zēk
G	HH	G is like H in Hubert at end of a word if it is after an i	windig - fertig (windy - finished)	VIN-dihh ~ FᾹR-tihh

Double Consonants

Double Consonant	American English Sound	Comment	Words	In American English, Sounds Like:

CH	SH (or K)	at beginning of a word	Chemie (chemistry)	shā-MĒ (kā-MĒ in South Germany)
	similar to a strong H	after vowels a, o, u, and au (sounds like H in Hubert)	ach - Tochter (oh! - daughter)	(to keep it simple, ignore all boxes except first)
	SH	the rest of the time	sich - recht (oneself - right)	zish - resht
NG	as in SINGER	not as in the English word finger	Finger - Hunger (finger - hunger)	FINĞ-er ~ HOONĞ-er (don't use hard g)
SCH	SH	---	Schule - schief (school - crooked)	SHOO-leh ~ shēf
PF & PS	pronounce both letters	---	Pfeffer - Psychologie (pepper - psychology)	PFEF-er ~ psē-KŌ-lō-gē (g as in geese)
SP	SHP	at beginning of a word	Spiel - Speise (game - food)	shpēl - SHPĪ-zeh
ST	SHT or ST	Normally ST, but SHT at beginning of a word and also in middle of word if it is a compound word that includes a word that begins with ST	stehen - verstehen (stand - understand)	SHTᾹ-en ~ fār-SHTᾹ-en
SS or ß	S	SS is sometimes used in place of ß and vice versa. Name of ß is Eszett [ESS-tsett]	Strasse - gross (street - large)	SHTRAH-seh ~ grōs
TH	T	the H is always silent in TH	These - Apotheke (thesis - pharmacy)	TᾹ-zeh ~ ah-pō-TᾹ-keh

Hear German pronounced.

Forvo - You type in a word, do a search, then click on the word to get multiple people pronouncing it.

Paul Joyce - Has audio files to demonstrate how to pronounce vowels and consonants.

Let me help you learn how to pronounce other languages.

   German   (this webpage)

   Italian

   Latin     (comparison of Ecclesiastical Latin and Classical Latin)

   Spanish (American)

Visitors since 2 Mar 2010

2017 visitors by 14 Jan 2016