I
Letters and sounds
Sections 1–4 provide a reference guide to the correspondences between letters and the
sounds they represent in German. Approximate versions of German pronunciation are
given in square brackets. A stressed syllable is shown in italic. (See also 59.7 on spelling
reforms.)1 Vowels
1.1 The quality of a vowel depends on whether it is stressed or unstressed (see 4 ). In
unstressed syllables vowels tend towards the neutral sound found in the unstressed
syllables of English ‘farmer’, ‘armour’, ‘along’.
1.2 The relationship between written vowels and spoken syllables is different in English
and German in one important respect: ‘dame’ is one syllable in English, but Dame
(lady) is two syllables in German: [da:-me].
1.3 German vowels are pronounced either short or long. In this section, a vowel which is
pronounced long is followed by a colon [:]. A doubled consonant following a vowel
indicates that the vowel is short (Lamm [lam] ‘lamb’); an h following a vowel indicates
that the vowel is long (lahm [la:m] ‘lame’). German vowels are also much ‘purer’ than
English vowels, which tend to be slight glides (see 2 ). The quality of German vowels is
typically close to northern English pronunciation.
1.4 The letters and sounds for vowels are as follows:
a Short, like the vowel in (northern) English ‘ham’: Kamm, Lamm. Long, like the
vowel in English ‘harm’: kam, lahm.
a/e These represent the same set of sounds. Short, like the first vowel in English
‘enter’: Essen, Ämter. Long, it has no equivalent in English. Esel ([e:zel] ‘donkey’)
almost rhymes with ‘hazel’ but without the vowel glide of English.
ee This is always pronounced long: Tee ([te:] ‘tea’) rhymes with ‘hay’, but without the
vowel glide of English.
i Short, like the vowel in English ‘it’: List ([list] ‘cunning’)
ie As a single syllable, this is always pronounced long, like the vowel in English ‘eat’:
liest ([li:st] ‘reads’). But see also 4.3.
o Short, like the vowel in English ‘off’: offen ([ofen] open). Long, like the vowel in
English ‘oaf’, but without the vowel glide of English: Ofen ([o:fen] ‘oven’).
ö Short [o], it has no near equivalent in English: können ([könen] ‘to be able to’).
Long [o:], like the vowel in English ‘urn’, but with the tongue further forward, the
lips rounded and without the glide of English: Söhne ([zö:ne] ’sons’).