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The German Alphabets

The German alphabet consists of 26 basic letters, three umlauted vowels Ä, Ö, Ü, as well as the Eszett (ß). The basic letters are divided into vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and consonants (B, C, D, F…). In German too, all nouns, personal names, and country names are written with a capital letter, alike all the words in the beginning of sentences and after a full stop.

The letters

Remark: If the characters ä, ö, ü and ß are not available on your keyboard, you can always use ae, oe, ue and ss instead.

Spelling alphabet

A phonetic alphabet is entitled to separate words for every letter, assisting an efficient communication, especially on call, where certain letters might sound alike and cause misunderstandings. For instance, the name "Maier" would be denoted in the phonetic alphabet as: M wie Martin, A wie Aron, I wie Ludwig, E wie Emilie, R wie Rhein. The spelling alphabet officially lays down what words resemble to what letters. There are differences between Germany and Austria:

Letter	German Alphabet Example	Austria Alphabet Example
A	Aachen	Anton
B	Berlin	Berta
C	Cottbus	Cäsar
D	Düsseldorf	Dora
E	Essen	Emil
F	Frankfurt	Friedrich
G	Görlitz	Gustav
H	Hamburg	Heinrich
I	Ingolstadt	Ida
J	Jena	Julius
K	Köln	Konrad
L	Leipzig	Ludwig
M	München	Martha
N	Nürnberg	Nordpol
O	Offenbach	Otto
P	Potsdam	Paula
Q	Quickborn	Quelle
R	Rostock	Richard
S	Stuttgart	Siegfried
T	Tübingen	Theodor
U	Ulm	Ulrich
V	Villingen	Viktor
W	Wolfsburg	Wilhelm
X	Xanten	Xanthippe
Y	Ypsilon (still used)	Ypsilon
Z	Zwickau	Zacharias

Double vowels

Double vowels are often used, in German. They are two vowels that follow each other, e.g. "ei”, “ie”, “ai”, “eu”, “äu” and “au”. They are treated as one sound.

ei: Eier (= eggs) , Eifersüchtig (= jealous)
ai: Mai (= May) , Hai (= shark)
ie: Siege (= Victory) , Fieber (= Fever)
eu: Neu (= New) , Leute (= People )
äu: Häuser (= houses) , Bäumchen (sapling/little plant),
au: Außerden (= Apart from that) , Sauber (= Clean)

The double vowels äu and eu have the same pronunciation. To find out how to write them correctly, we have to look at the word’s root. The plural of “Haus” is thus “Häuser” and never “Heuser”, even though it would sound the same. More examples:

Maus (= mouse) – Mäuse (= mice)
Raum (= Room) – Räume (= Rooms)
Baum (= tree) – Bäume (= trees)

The double vowels ei and ai also have the same pronunciation (ai). There are however no rules to know the correct spelling and the few words with ai must be simply learnt:

Kaiser (= emperor), Detail (= detail) , Saite (= string) , Hain (= grove) , Mais (= maize)

Remark: With ai and ei, there are many false friends that have the same pronunciation but are written differently:

• Saite (= string) – Seite (im Buch) (= page)
• Kaiser (= emperor) – Reißer (= ripper )
• Laib (= loaf) – Leib (= body)
• Laiche (= spawn) – Leiche (= corpse)

The letter “h” and the sounds “ch” and “sch”

In addition to doubled letters, there are the letter combinations “sch” and “ch” as well as the silent “h”, which is written but not pronounced.

h can be pronounced in two ways:

At the beginning of words as [h], like in English:

Heimatland (= homeland), Heiraten (= marriage) , Haus (= house)

As a silent h, mostly before the consonants l, m, n, r as well as before and after vowels. The vowel before the h must be pronounced long:

fahren (= to drive / to ride) , gehen (= to go), zahlen (= to pay)

Remark: Words that begin with q, sch, sp or t never have a silent t:

Quatsch (= rubbish / nonsense), Schimpfen (= to scold), spät (= late)

The correct pronunciation of -ch- and -sch- is important, as the examples Kirche (= church) and Kirsche (= cherry) show. Both words look similar, but they have different meanings and can easily be confuse if -ch- or -sch- is not pronounced correctly.

ch can be pronounced in two different manners:

After back vowels (a, o, u, au) as a guttural [kh]:

Ach (= ah), Sprachen (= languages), Fach (= subject), Dach (= roof)

After all other vowels, l, n, r and in the ending -chen, as a soft [ç]:

Sprechen (= to speak) , Milch (= milk) , Kirche (= church) , manchmal (= sometimes)

Before a, o, u, l, r, s as [k]:

Chaos (= chaos) , Chor (= choir) , sechs (= six) , wachsen (= to grow)

sch is pronounced, The combination “sch” is always pronounced as (English “sh”)

Schlafen (= to sleep), Kirsche (= cherry) , Mensch (= man) , falsch (= wrong)

The letter combinations “st” and “sp” are also pronounced as [ʃ]:

Straße (= streets) , Streiten (= to fight) , steil (= steep) , Spaß (= fun)

Double vowels and consonants

In several words, the same vowel is written twice, which directs that it is pronounced long:

Fluss (= river) , Meer (= sea) , leer (= empty)

Unlike doubled vowels, doubled consonants specify that the previous vowel is pronounced short:

Mann (= man) , dann (= then) , komm (= come)

The letters “s”, “ß” and “ss”

The letter s can be pronounced in different manners. In addition to a simple s, it can also appear as a double ss, and there is also the letter ß.

A voiced s (English z) is usually simply written as -s-:

sehen (= to see ) , sahnig (= creamy) , Rasen (= lawn) , lesen (= to read)

A voiceless s can be written either -ss- or -ß-. The rules are:

After single short vowels, in principle, it is written -ss-:

nass (= Wet), Pass (= passport) , Tasse (= cup) , fressen (= to eat)

The prefix miss- is also always written with ss:

Missverbrauchen (= to misuse) , missachten (= to disregard)

-ß- is written after long vowels or double vowels:

Gefäß (= Jar / Container), Soße (= sauce), außen (= on the outside)