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 in the dictionary. In addition, when talking on the phone, you can often hear the following phrase: "buchstabieren Sie bitte!", Which means something like this: "I can not 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 site, and now we will return to the German alphabet itself. Names of letters, 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. Same as for English and French the basis for the German alphabet are 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 and the ß ligature. In total we get 26+3+1= 30 characters. I want to note that umlauts and ligatures are not considered letters, so the correct answer to the question “how many letters are in the German alphabet?” will be - 26. The English and German alphabets have a lot in common, since the languages ​​\u200b\u200bhave 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 denoting letters in the two languages ​​are different, reading the letters of the German alphabet is much easier than reading English. The table of the German alphabet shows the Russian and classical 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 offer you to learn the German alphabet with the help of funny video at the end of the article. Thus, we got acquainted with the German alphabet, as well as the umlauts of the German language.

Letters of the German alphabet

Pronunciation table of the German alphabet

Umlauts Ä, Ö, Ü.

Umlauts or umlauts?

Often the question arises how to write "umlauts" or "umlauts"? In fact, this is true, and so, everything will depend on how you read the word Umlaut. The most commonly used word "umlaut", and we will take it for the truth.

So what is an umlaut if not a letter?

Omitting scientific terms and definitions, an umlaut can be called sound phenomenon, which 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".
• Ö. Tongue in position as in the pronunciation of "E", lips as in "O"
• Ü . Tongue in position as in the pronunciation of "I", lips as in "U"

A few examples:

Die Hande
Die Ahre
Osterreich
Zwolf
Wunderschön!
Die Ubung
Zu kussen
Kuhl
Die Manner
Hauser
Die Hofe
Die Bucher
Die Gaste

How individual umlaut characters 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 vowels, which will come in handy when looking up dictionary entries.
• How to insert an umlaut sign if there is no German layout on the keyboard? In addition to buying a keyboard, there is another way:

Ä - Hold down the "Alt" key and press "0228" in turn
Ü - Hold down the "Alt" key and press "0252" in turn
Ö - Hold down the "Alt" key and press "0246" in turn

Don't forget to switch the keyboard layout to English.

Ligature ß (es-cet)

Another sign requiring special attention in German alphabet is an escete. This is not quite a letter, an escet is a ligature, or, more simply, a sign that combines two letters " f" And " S»:

f+s= ß

In words, the escet is read as a long " WITH". For example: weiß - weiss, groß - gross, Straße [strasse]

A few examples:

der Floss
der Fuss
die Gröse
der Grüss
das Mass
die Muse
die Strasse
die Sauce
der Stoss

More about the ß sign:

• "scharfes s" - the 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 are in doubt whether to write "ss" or "ß", there is a rule: escet is written only after long vowels, in other cases double S is written.

When sorting dictionary entries, "ß" is equal to a double "S".
The ß is used only in Germany and Austria, in other countries it is replaced by "ss".
On June 25, 2008, the large letter "ß" was included in the technical standards. Prior to this, for 130 years there were disputes about whether the Germans needed a large es-zet. Let me remind you that ß can be either in the middle or at the end of a word.

We look at the material with the pronunciation of the letters of the German alphabet:

And one more video to fix the letters of the German alphabet:

German You should start by learning the alphabet. Get used to how letters are written and pronounced. This short lesson breaks down the German alphabet with Russian transcription and pronunciation. Enjoy watching and good luck with your learning!

So, there are 30 letters in the German alphabet, 26 Latin, three umlauts ä, ö, ü and ligature ß. Latin letters you already know everything from English alphabet, but you will need to get used to the umlauts and the ligature.

Section entirely devoted to the German alphabet: German alphabet

Go to this section and read each article to consolidate the material. There you will find the alphabet in pictures, cursive and much more.

Exercises:

1. Arrange the letters in order (take a piece of paper with a pen and rewrite the letters in the correct order):

G, H, R, A, S

L, Z, I, K, N

O, S, J, V, M

K, A, M, I, N

E, J, Z, A, C

P, T, G, B, M

J, F, D, V, D

A, S, D, F, G

J, K, G, B, T

O, I, T, E, R

L, B, N, F, X

P, L, C, Y, Z

2. Cut out the letters and stick or arrange them in the correct order.

ABCkleben.pdf

3. Write the names of fruits and vegetables in German in order. Don't worry that you don't know these words yet. Just rewrite them.

german-alphavit-uprazhnenie1.pdf

4. Write the names of the toys in German in order.

German letters and their names

In German-Russian dictionaries, as well as in German textbooks, you can find an alphabet where the names of German letters are written in Russian: A - A, B- bae, C- ce,D- de etc. Let's say right away - this is some kind of convention in order to somehow, approximately, convey the names of the letters. We 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 review, we will return 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 escet ligature: the union of s (es) and z (cet) into one. In theory, like 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 standing next to it. However, in most cases they are not considered part of the alphabet, and almost every German speaker, when asked to tell the alphabet, will name only 26 letters.

That is, formally, these three umlauts and esset are not included in the German alphabet, and 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 such a spelling of the word "cafe", borrowed from French - Cafe.

When learning the German alphabet, four additional letters are still named, appended 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 give, for example, instead of "a-umlaut" for ä they will say - "e". Don't let all this surprise you.

We, for the purposes of study, 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 the phonetic transcription. In general, this is a separate big topic, and on initial stage learning a language, it can be difficult to understand - 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 a time and try to pronounce the sounds as it is written, but you do not need to memorize all this. This information in one form or another will be constantly found in dictionaries and educational materials, gradually you will master transcription without much effort. At the initial stage, you do not need to focus on this especially.

In the table below, using transcription marks (in square brackets), it is written how the names of the letters of the alphabet sound in German. Let's take a look at some of the most common points:

• A colon [:] after a vowel means that it is long and pronounced much 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"
• Consonants [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 upper teeth), and not to the teeth as in Russian.
• German sounds [b], [d], [g] are a little muffled by their Russian counterparts:
  [d] - something in between Russian [d] and [t],
  [b] - as an average between Russian [b] and [p],
  [g] - as an average between [g] and [k].
• The sign before the vowels ['] in this case is not an accent, but a designation of that feature German pronunciation, which is called hard fit. Try to pronounce with effort and annoyance Russian word"Oh!" and you will understand the essence - we prepare the air for an increased exhalation, but we hold it in the larynx just before pronouncing the sound. Like a slight cough. Note that all German vowels at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable are pronounced this way.

Let's move on to the practical development of the alphabet. First, sequentially, line by line, study the following table.

Letter		letter name	Features of pronouncing the sounds of the name of the letter
A	a	['a:]	a: pronounced like the Russian "a", but drawn out. Remember about ['] hereinafter
B	b		b sounds like a cross between the Russian "b" and "p"
C	c
D	d		d - the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveoli, and not against the teeth; middle sound between Russian "d" and "t"
E	e	['e:]	e: pronounced closed, similar to "e" and "e" in the words "these", "nets"
F	f	['ɛf]	ɛ is similar to the "e" in "this"; for f, the muscles are more tense than for "f"
G	g		g - does not sound as loud as Russian, as an average between Russian "g" and "k". Please note that the name of the letter sounds neither like Russian "ge", but not like "ge" - German g, unlike Russian, does not soften
H	h		h - like the sound of an exhalation without noise, or like when we breathe on glass
I	i	['i:]	i: pronounced like Russian "i", but drawn out
J	j		j - something like "th"; ɔ - short, clearer than Russian "o"; t - alveolar and aspirated
K	k		k - tense, breathy
L	l	['ɛl]	l - the average between the Russian "l" and "l", the tip of the tongue is pressed against 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 drawling with strongly protruding, tense lips
P	p		p - tense, aspirated
Q	q		u: - like Russian "y", but drawling; the letter sounds like "ku-u", but not "cue"
R	r	['ɛr]	r - see footnote*
S	s	['ɛs]	s - muscles are more tense than for the Russian "s"
T	t		t - tense, aspirated, the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveoli
U	u	['u:]	u: pronounced like the Russian "u", but drawn out
V	v		aʊ̯ - resembles "ay" in the word "pause"
W	w		v - like Russian "v", not to be confused with the English sound [w], who studied
X	x	['ɪks]	ɪ is somewhat like a cross between Russian short "e" and "ы"
Y	y	['ʏpsɪlɔn]	ʏ - we pronounce it like [ɪ], but we slightly round our lips; stressed syllable first
Z	z		ts - like "ts", but with aspiration and more muscle tension
Ä	ä	['a:'ʊmlaʊ̯ t], [ɛ:]	ʊ as "y" in the word "joke"; ɛ: - as in "e" in the word "this", but drawn out**
Ö	ö	['o:'ʊmlaʊ̯ t], [ø:]	ø: Pronounced as , but the lips stick out strongly, as in
Ü	ü	['u:'ʊmlaʊ̯t],	y: pronounced like , but the position of the lips is similar to that of German
	ß	['ɛstsɛt]	the name is composed of the names of the letters s and z; second syllable stressed

* There are three ways to pronounce the German consonant sound [r]. One of them, reminiscent of the Russian "p", 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 work out the skill. One option reed, denoted by [ʀ] is similar to the sound when gargling, another, posterior lingual fricative, denoted by [ʁ], is reproduced 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 work out a more "clean" [ʀ]. In addition, there is also a vocalized R, more like the sound [a], but still it is R. It is denoted by [ɐ].

** For umlauts, the table shows two alternative options"names of letters" (separated by commas). Learn the first one (that is, "a-umlaut", "o-umlaut", "u-umlaut"), and keep the second in mind.

Now, armed with 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 speaker's articulation. This will help you pronounce the sounds correctly.

Repeat each letter as many times as necessary to get it as close to the original as possible. First, we are working on the quality of pronunciation of the names of letters. Check out the table. By the way, in this example, R sounds more vocalized - like a vowel, similar to [a].

Test yourself by looking at another reading of the German alphabet, with slight differences in pronunciation. Pay Special attention on the letters R and Y, try to learn how to later reproduce this particular version of their names. Here [ʀ] is reed, and [ʏ] is more pronounced.

In the next step, try to memorize the entire alphabet and retell it without mistakes. A little hint: when pronouncing the letters of the alphabet, call them in groups, it will be easier to remember, for example: 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. It might be more suitable for you, give it a try. Anyway, watch that video at least one more time, listening carefully to the pronunciation of the names of the letters.

So, what should you strive for in this lesson and what results to achieve:

1. To be able to correctly name individual letters of the German alphabet in any order. To verify this, you can make 30 paper cards (one for each letter of the alphabet, including additional ones), mix them up and, pulling them out in random order, name the letter, referring to the table and video. If there are no errors with any letter, this goal is achieved.
2. 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 reverse side from end to start, right and without a hitch.

German is one of the European languages ​​spoken by 120 million people. If you know him, you can communicate freely with Germans, Austrians, Swiss, residents of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. These are not all countries where many people speak the language of Heine and Nietzsche. Learning any language starts with the alphabet, and German is no exception.

How many letters are in the German alphabet?

The German alphabet consists of 26 letters. It is also based on Latin, but has its own characteristics. Characters that make the language special are umlauts (dotted vowels like Ä-ä, Ü-ü, Ö-ö) and the ß ligature.

The language of Kafka and Mann has a phonetic basis. If you study the sound system, it will be clear how the word is spelled, and its graphic image will not cause obstacles in pronunciation.

How many vowels are in the German alphabet?

Vowels in German 8, they make twice as many sounds.

Vowels in German can be long and short, the length of vowels can change the semantic meaning completely. As in most European languages, German also has diphthongs:

• Ei - (ai);
• Ai - (ai);
• Ie - long(s);
• Eu - (oh);
• Äu - (oh);
• Au - (au).

Vowels in words form open and closed syllables. In an open syllable or conditionally closed, when the form of the word changes, the syllable can again become open.

How many consonants are in the German letter?

There are 21 consonants in the German alphabet.

Letter	Name	Pronunciation	Note
bb	(bae)	Subject to the same orthoepic norms, which is the same sound in Russian (b)
CC	(ce)		Participates in combinations ch and chs; before e and i in some cases one "c" is pronounced as (ts). In borrowings, it can act as (c)
Dd	(de)	Like Russian (d)
FF	(ef)	Gives sound (f)	A similar sound in German gives the letter "v"
gg	(ge)	Sounds like (d)	At the end of a word, next to ig, it sounds like (xx), close to (u)
hh	(Ha)	Sound like (x)	Often, words are indicated only in writing, one of the unpronounceable consonants of the language. Often it is reduced between vowels and at the absolute end of a word.
jj	(yot)	Sometimes like (dz) or (h)
Kk	(ka)	Pronounced traditionally as (k)	The -ck remains a sound (k)
Ll	(el)	Pronunciation is similar to Russian (l)
mm	(Em)	Gives sound (m)
Nn	(en)	Gives a sound (n)
pp	(pe)	Gives a sound (p)
Qq	(ku)	Usually like (to)	If in alliance with qu, sound comes out (kv)
Rr	(er)	Slightly burry (p)	At the end of the word can be transformed into (a)
Ss	(es)	(h) at the beginning of a word	At the end of the word, stunned to (s)
Tt	(te)	Gives sound (t)
vv	(fau)	Gives sound (f)	In borrowings gives a sound (in)
www	(ve)	Gives a sound (in)
xx	(X)	(ks)
Yy	(upsilon)	Gives sounds (y) and (y:)
Zz	(tset)	Traditionally gives a combination of sounds (ts)

Features of consonants and their combinations in German

• The letter C forms an affricate with h - ch (хх) or (с);
• chs gives sound (ks);
• before e and i in some cases one "c" is pronounced as (ts).

Other cases are no less interesting:

1. The neighborhood of the letters Sch gives the sound (sh).
2. The affricate ph produces the sound (f).
3. The combination of letters ts is pronounced as (ts). The ligature ß (escet) stands apart, which expresses a short sound similar to Russian (c). It usually stands in the middle of a word or at its end.
4. DT or TH give the same sound (t).
5. The combinations of the letters tsch are like the sound (h).
6. And Z or TZ give rise to sound (c).

German alphabet and speech. 15 interesting facts

1. Until about the 12th century, runic writing was widespread in Germany.
2. Since the 15th century, the Schwabacher font has spread, which refers to gothic style letters. It was common until the beginning of the last century. However, in the century before last, it began to be supplanted first by fraction, and later by antiqua. They were officially recognized only after the Revolution of 1918.
3. Since the 20s of the twentieth century, the Zütterlin type has become popular.
4. In 1903, a special telephone directory was published for reading German words by sounds. Initially, they tried to convey the letters as numbers, but this was a hard-to-remember way.
5. In military affairs, when encrypting, the ligature ß and the affricate ch were replaced by letter combinations.
6. During the reign of Hitler, they tried to revive the imperial type, but the idea did not take root.
7. The stress in German usually falls on the first syllable. When a word has an unstressed prefix, the stress shifts to the second syllable.
8. All nouns in German writing, regardless of their place in a sentence, are capitalized.
9. The word "girl" in German is neuter gender. And this is not an isolated case: such inconsistencies often occur in the language.
10. Some phraseological units in German are funny when translated directly. The phrase, which we would translate as "You have a pig!", Means that a person was called lucky. With the words "This is not your beer!" Germans remind each other not to interfere in other people's business.
11. The word "fraer", which is considered jargon in Russian speech, came from German. They call him the groom.
12. The longest German word still used in speech and writing consists of 63 letters.
13. The words “treasure”, “Romeo” and even “stallion” often become affectionate words in relation to the beloved among the Germans.
14. John Gutenberg printed the first book on his machine not in German, but in Latin. famous bible in German translation appeared 10 years later.
15. German could become the official language in the USA. After civil war at a meeting of Congress, English won by chance. It received one more vote than the German language.

Related videos

Each language has its own special, unique sound structure, which you need to get acquainted with, since a person who does not know the correct pronunciation will not be able to correctly perceive foreign speech by ear and will not be able to be understood correctly. The German language, along with sounds peculiar only to him, has a number of sounds, the pronunciation of which practically coincides with the corresponding sounds of the Russian language.

In German 42 sounds, for which records are used 26 letters Latin alphabet. Both in German and in Russian, vowels and consonants are distinguished. The German language has 15 simple vowels, 3 complex two-vowel sounds (diphthongs) and 24 consonants.

German alphabet

Ha

upsilon

Additional German letters to the Latin alphabet:

a-umlaut

u-umlaut

o-umlaut

escet

Vowel sounds The German language has two features:

1. At the beginning of a word or root, vowels are pronounced with violent attack, resembling a slight click, which gives the 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 in comparison with the Russian language.

Long vowels are pronounced more intensely than the vowels of the Russian language, and do not change their character during the entire time of sounding. The consonant following the long vowel freely adjoins it, as if with a short 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 tightly adjoins it, as if cutting it off.

Please update/change your browser if you experience problems with the audio player below.

The length and shortness of vowels often have a semantic meaning and determine the general character and rhythm of German speech:

Stadt	state	city	-	Staat	state	state
offen	O fan	open	-	Ofen	O: fan	stove

Vowel pronounced for a long time:

A. in an open syllable, that is, a syllable ending in a vowel:

Vater f A:ta

Leben l e:Ben

b. in a conditionally closed syllable, i.e., a syllable that, when a word changes, can be opened:

Tag T A:To

Ta-ge T A:ge

On the letter, the length of the vowel is indicated:

A. doubling the letter

meer me:a

b. letter h after a vowel

Uhr y:a

V. letter e after i

Sie zi:

Vowel pronounced briefly, if followed by a consonant or group of consonants:

Consonants The German language has the following features:

A. they are pronounced more intensely than the corresponding Russian consonants;

b. German voiceless consonants p, t, k are pronounced with a breath, especially at the end of a word;

V. German consonants, unlike the corresponding Russian consonants, are never softened;

d. unlike the Russian language, where a voiceless consonant is voiced under the influence of the voiced consonant following it (from is tunnel, but: out from at home), in German the opposite phenomenon occurs: a voiceless consonant partially deafens the voiced one following it, remaining deaf (das Bad das bpa:t).

stress in German, it usually falls on the root of a word or on a prefix, that is, on the first syllable. When you change a word, the stress does not change. The pronunciation of German words is transmitted in this manual in Russian letters without the use of generally accepted transcription marks. The transcription of the word and the stressed vowel are in different fonts. Such transcription allows (with some exceptions) to pronounce German words and sentences quite correctly.

Please note that when you hover over the Russian transcription, the IPA transcription will be displayed. This is for especially advanced students, if you do not need it, use only Russian.

Pronunciation of German vowels

Sound represented by letters A, aa, Ah, pronounced like Russian A(long) in the word "brother" or A(short) in the word "tact": baden b A: Dan, Saal for: l, Fahrt fa:at, Satz zats .

Sound represented by letters ä , Ah, pronounced like Russian uh in the word "era": Väter f e: that, wahlen V e: linen , Manner m uh on .

Sound represented by letters i, ie, ih, pronounced like Russian And in the word "blue": mir mi:a, sieben h And:ben, Ihr i:a, Mitte m And te, Tisch hush .

Sound represented by letters e, her, eh, pronounced like Russian uh or e in the words "these", "believe", "measure": nehmen n e: maine See ze:, gehen G e: en, Geld gelt, sechs zex. In an unstressed final syllable (endings -en, -er), as well as in some prefixes (for example: be-, ge- etc.) this sound is not pronounced clearly and is similar to Russian uh in the word "should": fahren f A: ren, beginnen bag And nan .

However, especially attentive listeners could notice the overtones of the "and" sound in the words Leben and See. There is no such sound in Russian or English, pay attention to it when listening to German speech. Pronounce it like Russian [e / e], and the position of the lips is like for [and]. You can also try to pronounce the diphthong [hey] without completely pronouncing the second part of the sound, i.e. the first part of the sound is [e / e], and the second [th], [th] just to the end and is not pronounced. Let's listen again:

Sound represented by letters oh oh oh, pronounced like Russian O(long) in the word "will" or O(short) in the word "clown": Oper O :pa ohne O :ne , Boot bo:t, Rolle R O le .

Sound represented by letters u, uh, pronounced like Russian at in the word "I will": du du:, Uhr y:a, hundert X at ndat .

Sound represented by letters u, uh, is absent in Russian. It's pronounced like Russian Yu in the words "jury", "mashed potatoes": führen f Yu: ren, funf funf, Ubung Yu:bun(g). Rounding the lips, as for [y], we pronounce [and]. Although in Russian transcription it will be designated as [yu], with the sound [yu] he Not is.

Sound represented by letters oh, oh, is also absent in Russian. Rounding the lips, as for [o], we pronounce [e]. Reminds me of Russian yo : schön sh yo: n, Sohne h yo:ne, Loffel l yo fel, offnen yo fnen . Although in Russian transcription it will be denoted as [e], with the sound [e] he Not is.

ei, ai, pronounced like Russian ah into the words "give": drei dry, Weise V A yze .

Diphthong denoted by letters au, pronounced like Russian ay in the word "howitzer": blau bl A at, Faust f A mouth .

Diphthong denoted by letters eu, au, pronounced like Russian Ouch in the word "your": neu Noah, Hauser X Ouch behind .

Pronunciation of German consonants

Many consonant sounds of German are pronounced almost the same as the corresponding sounds of Russian: b b, p P, w V, f f, s c or h(before a vowel or between two vowels), k To,g G,n n, m m, z c.

Sound represented by letters ch(after e, i, ö, ü and after l, m, n) pronounced like soft Russian xx in the word "chemistry": welche V uh lhe, richtig R And htikh , manchmal m A nkhmal .

The sound represented by the letter h(at the beginning of a word or syllable) is pronounced as a noisy exhalation to the next vowel. In Russian, this sound is absent, however, it is enough to pronounce Russian [x] with a light exhalation: halt halt, Herz hertz .

Sound represented by letters l, ll, pronounced as an average between Russian soft l(in the word "summer") and solid l(in the word "lacquer"): Ball ball, alt alto .

The sound represented by the letter j, pronounced like Russian th before the corresponding vowels (for example: "Christmas tree", "pit", "south"): Jacke ya ke, jemand ye:manta .

R pronunciation

Consonant sound denoted by a letter r, can also sound like a vowel sound close to the Russian sound A.

1. After long vowels (with the exception of long "a") in stressed and unstressed syllables that are final, for example:
   factor f A who: a,wir V And:A, Clavier clave And:A, Nature nat at:A .

   There may be exceptions:
   Haar ha:r, Ha: ; Bart Bart, ba:at ; Arzt arts, a:tst ; Quark quark, kva:k ; Quartz quartz, kva:c ; Harz harz

2. In unstressed prefixes: er-, her-, ver-, zer-, for example:
   erfahren eaf A:ren , verbringen February And:n(g)en , zerstampfen zeasht A mpfeng , hervor heaf O:A .
3. In the final unstressed - er, and also when consonants follow it, for example:
   Vater f A that, immer i:ma, besser b uh:sa, anders A ndas, Kindern To And ndang, auf Wiedersehen auf in And:daze:en .

In other cases, it is pronounced as a consonant sound. There are three types of pronunciation of the consonant sound "r" (the 2nd option is now more common):

1. If you touch your fingers at the base of your neck and try to pronounce "r" so that your fingertips feel it, you get the first "r".
2. If you pronounce "g", try to continue the sound ("gggggg..r.."), you get the second sound ("growl of the tiger").
3. The sound pronounced with the tip of the tongue is thus the "Russian" "r".

Remember the rules for reading some letter combinations:

ch after a, o, u it is read like Russian X: Buch boo:x, Fach fah; after all other vowels, as well as after l, m, n is read as xx: recht recht, Wichtig V And htikh Milch milch .

chs, as well as the letter X, read like Russian ks: wechseln V uh kseln .

ck reads like Russian To: Stuck piece, Ecke uh ke .

sch reads like Russian sh: Schuh shu:, waschen V A: sheng .

st PC: Stella PC uh le .

sp read at the beginning of a word or root like Russian sp: Spiel spire, sprechen sprechen .

tz reads like Russian c: Platz parade ground, sitzen h And tsen .

ng reads like ... English sound [ŋ]. The back of the tongue closes with the lowered soft palate and air passes through nasal cavity. In order to achieve the desired position of the organs of speech, you can inhale through the nose with a wide open mouth, then pronounce the sound [ŋ], exhaling air through the nose. In Russian transcription, we will denote as n(g), because G there still sometimes they pronounce, as in the first word: Übung Yu:bung, verbringen February And:n(g)en , Ding dyn(g). Also this sound is in combination nk: bank baŋk, links liŋx, tanken T Aŋken .

From letter to sound

Letters of the German alphabet	Russian transcription	Examples
ah, ah, ah	A:	Rat	pa:t
		Saat	per:t
		fahren	f A:ren
A	A	wann	van
ah, ah	e:	spat	sp:t
		zahlen	c uh:linen
ai	ah	Mai	May
au	ay	also	A wow
au	Ouch	Hauser	X O yza
b, bb	b	bitte	b And te
		ebbe	uh bae
(at the end of a word)	P	ab	up
With	To	Cafe	cafe e:
ch (after a, o, u)	X	Nacht	nakht
(after other vowels and after l, m, n)	xx	ich	uh
chs	ks	sechs	zex
ck	To	wecken	V uh ken
d, dd	d	dort	dort
		Kladde	class A de
(at the end of a word)	T	bald	balt
dt	T	Stadt	state
e, her, eh	e:, e:	er	e:a
	e: (and)	Tee	those: (and)
		gehen	ge:en
e	uh	etwas	uh yours
		dieses	d And: ze
ei	ah	mein	lane
eu	Ouch	neun	noin
fff	f	frei	fry
		Schiff	cipher
g, gg	G	gut	gu:t
		flagge	fl A ge
(at the end of a word)	To	Tag	So
(in suffix -ig)	xx	zwanzig	color A ncih
h  (at the beginning of a word and syllable)	X	haben	X A:ben
		behalten	bah A lten
(unreadable after vowels)		sehen	h e:en
i, ie, ih	And:	wir	w:a
		sieben	h And:ben
		Ihnen	i:nen
i	And	Zimmer	c And ma
j	th	Jahr	th A:
k	To	kind	kint
l, ll	eh	elf	elf
		halle	X A le
m, mm	m	machen	m A hyung
		comment	To O maine
n, nn	n	Name	n A: me
		Dann	Dan
ng	n(g)	Ding	dyn(g)
oh, oh, oh	O:	oben	O: ben
		Boot	bo:t
		Ohr	o:a
o	O	night	nox
oh, oh	"yo:"	Mobel	m yo: belle
		Sohne	h yo: ne
		Öl	yo: eh
ö	"yo"	zwolf	zwölf
		offnen	and about: fnen
p, pp	P	parken	P A rken
		knapp	knap
pf	pf	Pfennig	poof
qu	sq.	Qualitat	qualite e: T
r, rh	R	Arbeiter	A rbyte
		Rhine	R A yin(Rhine)
r	A	wir	V And:A
		erfahren	eaf A:ren
		Vater	f A that
s  (before vowels or between vowels)	h	sagen	h A:gen
		unser	at nza
		Kase	To uh:ze
(at the end of a word)	With	das	das
ss, ß	With	lassen	l A sen
		Fuss	fu:s
sch	sh	Schule	sh at:le
sp	sp	sprechen	spr uh hyung
st	PC	stellen	PC uh linen
t, tt, th	T	Tisch	hush
		satt	zat
		Theater	te A: that
tz	c	setzen	h uh tsen
u, uh	at:	Dusche	d at: she
		Uhr	y:a
u	at	und	unt
u, uh	"Yu:"	Tur	ty: a
		fuhren	f Yu:ren
		uber	Yu: ba
ü	"Yu"	funf	funf
		uppig	Yu shove
v (in German words)	f	vier	fi:a
(V foreign words)	V	visite	visas And: te
		October	new uh mba
w	V	Wagen	V A: gene
x	ks	Taxi	T A xi
y	"Yu:"	Lyrik	l Yu:rick
y	"Yu"	Zylinder	tsul And nda
z	c	zahlen	c A:linen