b, d These are pronounced ‘p’ and ‘t’ respectively when at the end of a word or
syllable: ab ([ap] ‘away’), Rad ([ra:t] ‘wheel’).
ch (a) This is pronounced hard, midway between ‘k’ and ‘h’ (as in Scots English
‘loch’) when it follows a back vowel (a, a:, o, o:, u, u: and au): Bach ([bakh]
‘stream’), Loch ([lokh] ‘hole’), Buch ([bu:kh] ‘book’), Bauch ([baukh]
‘stomach’).
(b) This is pronounced soft, rather like ‘sh’ (but halfway between English ‘sh’
and the above sound) when it follows a consonant or a front vowel [i, i:, e, e:,
ä, ä:, ö, ö:, ü, ü: and äu, eu, ai, ei]: Milch ([milch] ‘milk’), Löcher ([löcher]
‘holes’), Bücher ([bü:cher] ‘books’), Bäche ([beche] ‘streams’), Bäuche
([boiche] ‘stomachs’). It is the first sound in the English word ‘huge’.
ig The g is pronounced like soft ch (see above) when at the end of a word or
syllable. In some parts of Germany it is, however, pronounced ‘k’ in these
positions: billig ([billich, billik] ‘cheap’).
ng The g is never pronounced in German. Like English ‘singer’.
st, sp These are pronounced ‘sht’, ‘shp’ at the beginning of a word or syllable:
Stuttgart [shtutgart], Spiel ([shpi:l] ‘game’). (In some parts of Germany, e.g. in
Hamburg, these are pronounced without the ‘sh’ sound: [stutgart] [spi:l].)
s This is pronounced ‘z’ preceding a vowel: so [zo:], versammeln ([ferzameln]
‘gather’), but is pronounced as an ‘s’ in some words imported from English: sexy
[seksi], Suzy [su:zi].
z This is pronounced ‘ts’, also at the beginning of a word or syllable: Skizze
([skitse] ‘sketch’), zu ([tsu:] ‘to’), hinzu ([hintsu:] ‘in addition’), zusammen
([tsuzamen] ‘together’).
v This is usually pronounced ‘f’ at the beginning of words and syllables: viel
([fi:l] ‘a lot’); and at the end of words: brav ([bra:f] ‘well behaved’).
w This is pronounced ‘v’ at the beginning of words and syllables: weil ([vail]
‘because’).
sch This is pronounced ‘sh’: Schule ([shu:le] ‘school’).
qu This is pronounced ‘kv’: quer ([kve:r] ‘diagonal’).
-age At the end of some nouns imported from French, this has a French
pronunciation, but it is pronounced with two syllables, the first one of which
carries the stress: Garage [gara:zhe].
-tion At the end of a word this is pronounced as two syllables, the last one of which
carries the stress: Inflation [inflatsi-o:n]. This may be pronounced faster, almost
as a single syllable: [infla-tsyo:n].Any consonant clusters not listed above are pronounced in full. For example: Knie
([kni:] ‘knee’), Pfad ([pfa:t] ‘path’), Psychologie ([psüchologi:] ‘psychology’).4 Stress
4.1 It is only in stressed syllables that vowels have their full value.
4.2 Many words which look like English words have a different stress: Student [shtudent],
Altar [alta:r], Hierarchie [hi:ra:rchi:], Diskothek [diskote:k].
4.3 ie is usually pronounced as a single syllable, but in some nouns and adjectives imported
from other languages ie is pronounced as two syllables [i:-e]: Familie ([fami:li-e]
4
Stress