14 Das ABC/Alphabet
Das ABC/Alphabet
Here (hyperlinked) is a video covering most of the material in this section.
The German alphabet is made up of the same 26 letters (Buchstaben) as the English alphabet. Many of the letters are pronounced differently though some are the same.
Go to youtube and search for something like “German alphabet song” to get an idea of how the letters are pronounced.
|
Buchstabe (Name) |
Beispiel |
Buchstabe (Name) |
Beispiel |
Buchstabe (Name) |
Beispiel |
|
a (ah) |
Affe |
j (yott) |
Jaguar |
s (ess) |
Stinktier |
|
b (beh) |
Bär |
k (kah) |
Katze |
t (teh) |
Truthahn |
|
c (tseh) |
Chamäleon |
l (ell) |
Löwe |
u (oo) |
Uhu |
|
d (day) |
Drachen |
m (emm) |
Maus |
v (fow) |
Vogel |
|
e (eh) |
Esel |
n (enn) |
Nashorn |
w (veh) |
Waschbär |
|
f (eff) |
Fuchs |
o (oh) |
Otter |
x (iks) |
Xanten |
|
g (geh) |
Gans |
p (peh) |
Pferd |
y (üpsilon) |
Yeti |
|
h (hah) |
Hai |
q (coo) |
Qualle |
z (tsett) |
Zebra |
|
i (ee) |
Igel |
r (err) |
Rentier |
V AND W
The German V is pronounced similarly to the English F, while the German W is similar to the English V. Therefore, in the word „Volkwagen“, „Volk“ is pronounced as‘ ‘folk’ (nation, people) and „Wagen“ (car) is pronounced as ‘vagen’.
BACK TO KINDERGARTEN
It might be helpful to find a sing-along version of the German alphabet on Youtube. There is a gazillion of them out there. Find the one that resonates with you and learn it my heart.
PRONUNCIATION TIPS
Additionally, the German alphabet features four letters that the English alphabet does not. Remember that umlaut-letters are different letters representing different sounds and are not interchangeable with their non-umlaut forms.
|
Letter |
Pronunciation Tips |
|
ß |
This letter is always pronounced as ’s‘ and is written instead of ’ss‘ after long vowels or diphthongs (2 vowels together). Z.B. Fußball, weiß |
|
ä |
This sound is similar to the ‚a‘ in ‚pair‘ or ‚air‘. Z.B. Bär, Äpfel |
|
ö |
This sound is similar to ‘u’ in ‘burn’. Round your lips and put them forward as much as you can. Then say ‚a‘ like in ‚apple‘. Z.B. öffnen, schön |
|
ü |
Similar to ‘ew’ in ‘pew’ or ‘ue’ in ‘true’. Round your lips and put them forward as much as you can. Then say ‚ee‘ like in ‚cheese‘. Z.B. Mütter, küssen |
WRITING DIFFERENCES
The following letters are written in handwritten German differently than in English:
Did you know that up until mid-twentieth century handwritten German used a very different alphabet that is illegible to most native German-speakers today? the script is called ‘Sütterlin’, ‘the German script’ or ‘hand-written Gothic’:
A FEW ADDITIONAL POINTS
Capital a/b/c/d etc. are called “großes a/b/d/c”, lower-case a/b/c/d are called “kleines a/b/c/d”
Could you spell that, please? = Können Sie das bitte buchstabieren?
Nerd alert! The German word for character ‚Buchstabe‘ literally means ‚beech stick‘ because in the old days, Germanic peoples used to carve their letters (runes) into beech wood as it is quite soft.