German IPA

Standard German is easier to read aloud than French or English, because the spelling mostly tells the truth. The trouble is that "mostly" hides about a dozen sounds English does not have, and spelling will not teach you any of them. IPA will.

This page covers Standard German (Bundesdeutsch) as dictionaries such as the Duden transcribe it: the vowels, the diphthongs, the consonants by manner, then stress and a short note on Austria and Switzerland.

Every symbol comes with a real word. If IPA itself is new, start with Learn IPA; the charts are at Learn IPA: charts. Spelling-to-sound rules, and a listening drill, live on the German alphabet page.

Vowels: pairs, not single sounds

German vowels come in pairs. Each pair has a long, tense member (marked with ː) and a short, lax member. The two differ in length and in quality, and a swap changes the word. The a pair is the exception: /aː/ and /a/ differ mainly in length.

Miete (rent) and Mitte (middle) are the pair to drill. English speakers hear one vowel and a spelling quirk; Germans hear two different words.

Length is mostly predictable

Exceptions exist, but this rule gets you most words right on first sight.

The letter ß does the same job for s. It follows a long vowel or a diphthong, so Maße /ˈmaːsə/ (measures) differs from Masse /ˈmasə/ (mass) by length alone, and the spelling shows it. Both are an unvoiced /s/; the ß is a spelling signal, not a separate sound. More on it in the alphabet page.

Ö and ü: the sounds English lacks

This is the same /y/ as French tu, and the same trick works: tongue for /i/, lips for /u/. The common error is flattening ü to /uː/ or /iː/. Mütter and Mutter are different words, and so are schon (already) /ʃoːn/ and schön (beautiful) /ʃøːn/.

The ä question

Spelled ä, the long vowel is /ɛː/ in careful speech: Käse /ˈkɛːzə/, spät /ʃpɛːt/. The short one is plain /ɛ/: Hände /ˈhɛndə/.

In everyday speech many Germans, especially in the north, pronounce long ä as /eː/, so Bären (bears) and Beeren (berries) sound the same. Learn /ɛː/ for the Duden, expect /eː/ from people.

Schwa and the vocalised r

Two reduced vowels carry most of the unstressed syllables in German.

The ɐ is the "vocalised r". The final -er is not an English "er" and not a rolled r: it is a short, open, central vowel, more open than the schwa above and close to the vowel of British "cut", said unstressed.

The same sound turns up after long vowels, written /ɐ̯/ (the small arc means it is a glide, not a syllable): Tür /tyːɐ̯/, Uhr /uːɐ̯/, er /eːɐ̯/. After a short vowel, the Duden writes the consonant instead: Wort /vɔʁt/, dort /dɔʁt/. In relaxed speech that r often vocalises too ([vɔɐ̯t]), but /ʁ/ is the safe target.

Endings in -en, -el and -em are often a syllabic consonant with no vowel at all, written with a small bar under it. Sprechen is /ˈʃpʁɛçn̩/, Löffel /ˈlœfl̩/. This is the Duden's standard form, not a sloppy one. The schwa stays after a vowel or a nasal: gehen /ˈɡeːən/, bekommen /bəˈkɔmən/.

Diphthongs

The reverse spelling, ie, is not a diphthong at all but the long vowel /iː/: Liebe /ˈliːbə/.

Consonants by manner

Stops

German aspirates /p t k/ at the start of stressed syllables, as English does. This is the one place where English habits are right, so keep them.

Final devoicing

So Rad (wheel) and Rat (advice) are both /ʁaːt/. The way to know the spelling is to find a form where the consonant is no longer final: Räder, Rates. If you are unsure whether a word ends in -d or -t, add an ending and listen.

Fricatives: the ich-Laut and the ach-Laut

English has no sound for either of these, and German treats them as one phoneme in two positions.

The ich-Laut /ç/ is the "h" of English "huge" or "hew", with more hiss. The ach-Laut /x/ is Scottish "loch": air scraped through the back of the mouth.

Same letters, different sound, decided by the vowel before. That is why Buch /buːx/ becomes Bücher /ˈbyːçɐ/ in the plural. Two quirks to remember:

• The diminutive -chen always takes /ç/: Mädchen /ˈmɛːtçən/.
• The ending -ig is /ɪç/ in standard German speech: König /ˈkøːnɪç/. When a vowel follows, the g comes back: Könige /ˈkøːnɪɡə/. In southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland [ɪk] is normal: [ˈkøːnɪk].

The other fricatives:

After a vowel, h is silent and just lengthens the vowel: gehen /ˈɡeːən/, sehr /zeːɐ̯/.

The affricates

The z is not an English z. It is the "ts" of "cats", and it can start a word: Zeit begins with the same sound that ends "cats". The /pf/ is a /p/ and an /f/ pushed out as one sound. Practise on Pferd (horse): lips closed, then release straight into /f/.

Nasals and the liquid

The r

The standard German r is the uvular /ʁ/, made at the back of the mouth, a lot like the French r but usually lighter and often voiceless after /p t k/. rot /ʁoːt/, Straße /ˈʃtʁaːsə/.

It is not the English r, and not a rolled r. Gargle without water, then voice it lightly. If you cannot get it, a rolled tip-of-the-tongue r is understood across the German-speaking world and will not stop anyone helping you. Many Germans in the south and in Switzerland use it themselves.

Remember what happens at the end of syllables: after a long vowel, and in the ending -er, the r vocalises to /ɐ/ (see above), so Uhr is /uːɐ̯/ and Lehrer ends in a vowel, not a consonant.

Tricks of connected sound

The glottal stop

In careful Standard German, every vowel-initial word, and every stem that starts with a vowel inside a word, begins with a glottal stop /ʔ/: a tiny catch in the throat, the "uh-oh" of English. In fast speech it softens to a creak or disappears, but you should say it.

The Duden leaves it out at the start of a word, where it is predictable, and writes it inside words; this page writes it everywhere in the examples below so you can see where it goes.

• Eis /ʔaɪ̯s/, Apfel /ˈʔapfl̩/
• beachten /bəˈʔaxtn̩/ (to notice): the catch separates be- from achten, so the two vowels are not run together.
• Verein /fɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯n/ (club): the catch after the prefix keeps ver- and ein apart.

This is what stops German words from smearing into one another. Vor allem (above all) is two words because you can hear the catch; without it, it becomes a mumble.

ʃt and ʃp at the start of a stem

At the start of a word or a stem, st and sp are pronounced /ʃt/ and /ʃp/, not as spelled.

Inside a word, st and sp keep the normal /st/ and /sp/: Fest /fɛst/, Wespe /ˈvɛspə/. The rule only applies at a stem boundary, so verstehen (prefix plus stem) is /fɛɐ̯ˈʃteːən/ too.

Stress

German stress falls on the root syllable, usually the first in native words.

• Vater /ˈfaːtɐ/, Frühling /ˈfʁyːlɪŋ/
• Prefixes like be-, ge-, ver-, er-, zer-, ent- are never stressed: verstehen /fɛɐ̯ˈʃteːən/, bekommen /bəˈkɔmən/.

Separable prefixes are the opposite. They carry the stress: anrufen /ˈanʁuːfn̩/ (to phone), aufstehen /ˈaʊ̯fʃteːən/ (to get up).

A few prefixes can be either, and the stress changes the verb: ˈumfahren /ˈʊmfaːʁən/ (to knock over) versus umˈfahren /ʊmˈfaːʁən/ (to drive round). Stress is the only difference. Loanwords often stress the last syllable (Student /ʃtuˈdɛnt/, Musik /muˈziːk/), but not always (Elektrik /eˈlɛktʁɪk/), and the dictionary mark shows you.

Austria and Switzerland

Standard German is not one accent. The vowels and the consonant inventory above hold across all three countries; the differences are in details.

Austria (and much of southern Germany):

Switzerland:

Swiss Standard German is the register of writing, school and the news; the everyday spoken dialects (Schwyzerdütsch) differ far more.

The Duden's main transcriptions follow the German standard, and so do most courses. If your target is Vienna or Zurich, you do not need different symbols, only a different ear.

What to learn first

1. Length and quality: Miete / Mitte, Staat / Stadt, Bett / Beet.
2. ü and ö: schön, Tür, Küche.
3. ch: ich and Buch are the same letters and two sounds.
4. Final devoicing: Hund /hʊnt/, Tag /taːk/.
5. The glottal stop and /ʃt/ /ʃp/: Eis, Stein, Sport.

Everything else is either the same as English or easy to pick up once those five are in your mouth. For the spelling side, see the German alphabet; for a guided route through the symbols, Learn IPA.