German Sounds Vowels and Consonants In general, there are two types of sounds: 1. der Konsonant (consonant) 2. der Vokal (vowel)
English vowels are:
a e i o u (y)
German vowels are:
a e i o u ä ö ü (y)
Vowels can be stressed (betont [bə´to:nt])) or unstressed (´unbetont [´ʊnbəto:nt])): ): ), nor on the revolution [rεvǠ´luʃən] is stressed on the third syllable „-lu-“ , not on the first one ( „ree-volution“ ), second one („re-voe-lution “), nor on the fourth one ( „revolu-shone“ ). In phonetic script, stress in indicated by an accent ´ preceding the stressed syllable (example see above). In Chinese, they are the sounds which bear the tone (Ton) (Ton). The other letters are consonants. Alternative spellings 1 for ä ö ü are are ae oe ue . The sounds sounds ö, ü do not occur in English, neither do tense e and o (see below). In English, y mostly counts as a consonant: yellow, beyyond ond, yellow, be yond but sometimes also as a vowel: my way y, ypercorrect, mbol.. myy,, wa y, hy hypercorrect percorrect, sy symbol ymbol The same applies to German: y is a consonant in Yacht [jaχt], Yankee [jεnki], Yen [jεn],, Yin und Yang [jın ʊnt jaŋ],, Yoga [´jo:ga],, Yuan [jy´εn],, Yucatán [juka´tan:] etc., but a vowel in SSyymbol hyyperkorrekt yperkorrekt [´hy:pa ko´rεkt], Psyche [´psȟ:çə] etc. ymbol [zym´bo:l], h If y rates as a vowel, it is pronounced just as if there stood an ü. The only difference between vocalic y and vocalic ü is that y occurs in foreign words from Greek, ü in native German words. In German, two vowels may be combined. The result is a Diphthong [dif´tǤŋ]: a+i a+u o+i e+i
=> => => =>
ei, ai, in my or or „i“ in in find . ai, ey, ay [aj], pronounced similar to English „y“ in au [aw], pronounced similar to English „ou“ in loud . eu, äu [Ǥj], p ronounced similar to English „oy“ in in boy . in way . ey [εj], pronounced similar to English „ay“ in
The combination ä+i occurs occurs in the word hey! „hey, „hey, hi, eh!“; apart from that in foreign words only: Mainstream etc. etc.
§1) German vowels may be long or short. Long vowels are pronounced about 1,5 or 2 times as long as short vowels. This feature concers the quantity of the vowel: All [al] „the universe“ <> Aal [a:l] „eel“. The double dot says: long vowel preceding! §2) Besides, German vowels may be tense (closed) or lax (open). As for lax vowels, the lips are more strained or rounded. This feature concers the quality of the vowel. In English, the quality if the only difference between vowels: Seele [´ze:lə] „soul“ (tense) <> Säle Säle [´zε:lə] „halls, saloons“ (lax) §3) Long vowels in German are tense:
[e:, i:, o:, u:, ø:, ȟ:] – except for ä which is pronounced [ε:]
§4) Short vowels are rather (not in any case!) lax:
[ε, ı, Ǥ, ʊ, ε, œ, y] – short e and short ä have the same pronunciation!
a is rather neutral (there are differences, but they are not so marked that we have to dwell thereon). In some dialects (e.g. in Berlin), long ä is pronounced indentically equal to long e. ü- y and ee--ä ä e . Then, the letters ü represent always the same sound, and the long ää is no longer an exception to §3. 1
In Foreign words from French, the letters è and ê are equal to German ä.
I. Quantity of vowels – long or short a) Long vowels The following table shows firstly how long vowels are spelled in German, secondly how they are pronounced, thirdly, it gives some examples for German words containing such a long vowel, fourthly, it supplies a comparative word with a short vowel. For example: Long a may may be spelled a, ah or aa aa. All three are pronounced [a:]. Sample words are Wal, Wal, Zahl, Aal. Aal The comparative word Wall is pronounced similar to Wal Wal, but has a short vowel.
Written
Pronounciation after the IPA2
a, ah, aa e, eh, ee i, ieh ieh,, ie o, oh, oo u, uh
[a:] [e:] [i:] [o:] [u:]
ä, äh
[ε:] (lax!) (lax!)
ö, öh ü/y, üh
[ø:] [y:]
Sample word with long+tense vowel Wal [va:l] whale [wεjl], Zahl [tsa:l] numeral, Aal [a:l] eel Weg [ve:k] way, Mehl [me:l] flour, Tee [te:] tea Stil [sti:l] style, Stiel [ʃti:l] helve/stem, befiehl! order! Koma [ko:ma] coma, Sohn [zo:n] son, Boot [bo:t] boat sucht [zu:χt] looks for, Stuhl [ʃtu:l] chair Käse [kε:zə] cheese, stähle [ʃtε:lə] would steel Öl [ø:l] oil, Höhle Höhle [hø:lə] cave/den müde [my:də] tired, fühlen fühlen [fȟ:lən] to feel
Comparative word with short+lax vowel Wall [val] rampart weg [vεk] away still [ʃtıl] silent Komma [´kǤma] comma Sucht [zʊχt] obsession Ställe [ʃtεlə] stables Stelle [ʃtεlə] place Hölle Hölle [hœlə] hell/inferno füllen [fylən] to fill
The letter h is often used as a marker for something. It is mute then! �) �� ����� ��� ��������� ����� �� ����. ��� ���� ���� ���� ���� ����� ���� ���� ���� �� ��� ��� ��� ��� �� ��� �� ���������� o �� ���� ��������, � �� ������ ����������� � (����������� (�����������). ). � ���������� �� ���� ���� �� ����� �� �� �� �� �� � , ��� ������ ������ � �� �. � �� ����� �������� �� � ����������.
�) �� �� � ��������� ������� ��� ������ ���� ������ �� ��������� ���������� ���� ������ə� ������. �� � ���� ������� ����, ��� ��������� ���� � ���� ����� �� ���������� ��ε�� (������������), o ����� �� �� �� ����������� �������� ��� �. �) �� ������������� ���������� ���� ���� ������� ����� �����ə�� ����� �����ə�� ��� ������ �� ������ �����ə�� ������ �����ə�� ��� �����/����� o o ��� ��� ������ ��� ������ ���� ������ �� ��� ���� ������ ���� ������ ���� (�)��������, ������, �������
��� �������� �� ���� ������ �� ��� ��������� ������ ihm „(to) him“ (dative case) ihn „him“ (accusative case) ihr: ihr „you“ (2nd plural) o o ihr „(to) her“ (dative case) ihr,, ihre, ihrem, ihren, ihres „her(s) / their(s)“ o ihr ihnen „(to) them“ (dative case) and some derivations thereof: ihrerseits „for her/their part“ o ihretwegen o ihretwegen „because of her/them“ der/die/das o der/die/das Ihrige „hers, theirs“
In other respects, you write ie : Dieb [di:p] „thief“, viel [fi:l] „much“, viele [´fi:lə] „many“...
is used b etween two syllables: ieh is
fliehen [fli:·ən] or [fli:n] „to flee“, siehe [´zi:·ə] „see!“.
The vowels i, u, ä, ö, ü are never doubled. Hence, the plural of Saal [za:l] „hall“ is written Säle [zε:lə], not „Sääle“ .
2
International phonetic alphabet
b) Is this vowel long or short? §5) The spellings aa, ee, ie , oo; ah, eh, ih, ieh , oh, uh, äh, öh, üh always indicate: Long
tense vowel!
However, a lonely vowel may be long or short. This is tricky, unfortunately! But there are rules for some cases which help you to recognize long or short vowels:
§6) Unstressed vowels and diphthongs are always short (but there may be secondary stress in compound words! This stress is marked by ‚ before the lightly stressed syllable): o Abstrusität [aps·tru·zi·´tε:t] „abstrusity“, Maus [maws] „mouse“, Feuer [´fǤj·jər] „fire“ o Zugführer [´tsu:k‚fȟ:rər] = Zug + Führer → there are two long vowels! When is a syllable stressed? In native words, it is the „stem syllable“ which normally bears the stress: Haus [haws] „house“, o Häuser Häuser [´hǤjzǠ] „houses“, Häus Häuserchen erchen [´hǤj·zǠ·çən] „little houses“. However, stress is „captured“ by the prefixes misso miss- and unun-: -: missverstehen [´mıs·fǠ·ste·ən] „to missunderstand“, unhöflich unhöflich [´ʊn·höf·lıç] „impolite“. Foreign words are stressed according to the stress patterns of the respective language. o The suffixes –tion [tsjo:n], [tsjo:n], -ssion [sjo:n], [sjo:n], -ität [-i´tε:t], [-i´tε:t], -ell [εl] [εl] and some others are always o stressed: Revolution [re·vo·lu·´tsjo:n], [re·vo·lu·´tsjo:n], Aggression [a·grεs·´sjo:n], virtuell [vır·tu·´εll]. [vır·tu·´εll].
§7) In many cases, the shortness of the vowel is expressed by a doubled consonant: o Wahl [va:l] „(s)election“ <> Wall [val] „rampart“ Aal [a:l] „eel“ <> All [al] „universe“, alle [´alə] „all, everybody“ o §8a) Stressed vowels in an open syllable are long. When is a syllable open or closed? A syllable is open if at its end does not stand any consonant. For example: my, way, be, new, o are open syllables, and the words a·na·ly·za·bi·li·ty, show are a·na·ly·za·bi·li·ty, pro·ba·bi·li·ty, pro·ba·bi·li·ty, neu·tra·li·ty contain open syllables only. However, the words mine, ways, been, news, analy·sis, have a closed syllable at their end. proba·tive , neu·tral have o
o
o
Thus we have: Ge all [gεnə´ra:l] „army general“, Genus enus [´ge:nʊs] „grammatical gender“, Genera Genera generalisie generalisieren ieren [gεnərali´zi:rən] „to generalise“. When the stress wanders, the length of the vowel wanders along with it! One more example: Analyse [ana´ly:zə] „analysis“, analysieren analysieren [analy´zi:rən] „to analyze“. In foreign words, there may be a „secondary stress“ that makes another syllable half-long: Telefon [´tεlə‚fo:n]. Primary stress on te- , secondary stress on –fon . Given a syllable with the following conditions:
1) closed syllable 2) undoubled vowel 3) no „h“ following the vowel,
then you must learn whether it is long or short. Normally, closed syllables without following h / double consonant are short:
mit [mıt] „with“, um [ʊm] „around“, von [fǤn] „of/from/by“, bis [bıs] „until“
§8b) Here the most important exceptions with a long vowel:
Bad [ba:t] „bath(room)“, Rad [ra:t] „wheel“, Rat [ra:t] „advice/coucil“, Tat „deed“ Tag [ta:k] „day“, lag [la:k] „(he) lay“, mag [ma:k] „(he) likes“, sag [za:k] „say!“, Weg [ve:k] zog [tso:k] „(he) drew“, log „(he) lied“, bog „(he) bent“, trug [tru:k] „(he) carried/bore“ hob [ho:p] „(he) raised/lifted“, Not [no:t] „distress, need“, Kot [ko:t] „excrement“ Zug [tsu:k] „train/draught“, Betrug [bə´tru:k] „fraud“, klug „clever“, genug [gə´nu:k] „enough“ xx-mal -mal [ma:l] „x-times“, Mal „mole“, Wal [va:l] „whale“, Tal [ta:l] „valley“, ... al Obst [o:pst] „fruits“, schon [ʃo:n] „already“, Tuch [tu:x] „cloth/towel“, schwer [ʃve:r] „heavy“ In all derivations of suchen [´zu:x] „seek, look for“: sucht, suchst, suchen... In all derivations of Buch [bu:x] „book“ and buchen bucht... ... buchen „to book“: Bücher, buchst, bucht In all derivations of tun [tu:n] „to do“: tut, tust, tue [´tu:ə], tat tat [ta:t], täte, getan [gə´ta:n] „done“ für [fȟ:r] „for“, zum [tsu:m] and zur [tsu:r] „to the“ vor [fo:r] „before“ (preopsition), bevor [bə´fo:r] „before“ (conjunction) nach [na:χ] „after“ (preposition), nachdem nachdem [na·χ´de:m] „after“ (conjunction) er [e:r] „he“; wir [vi:r] „we“; mir [mi:r] „to me“, dir [di:r] „to thee“ The following forms of the definite article: der, dem, den „(of/to) the“
II. The Quality of vowels – tense or lax §9) Short vowels may have the quality tense or lax, according to the context. In an open syllable (see §8), they are tense: The·a·ter [zi·li·ko:n] The·a·ter [te·a:·tεr], Silikon [zi·li·ko:n]
„the“, „a“, „si“, „li“ are open syllables
If the vowel is long, they are tense (except for ä ä): ):
The [zi·li·ko:n] The· e·a ·a·ter a·ter [te·a:·tεr], Silikon [zi·li·ko:n] „a“ and „kon“ are long syllables
Lax vowels only occur in closed, short syllables:
durst durstig urstig [dʊrs·tık] „thirsty“ „durs“ and „tig“ are closed syllables, the vowels are short
§10) There is one important exception: The letter ee. e. It can actually be pronounced with three diff erent qualities: tense: [e:] if long and stressed: See Seele, eele, n neh ehmen We eg o ehmen „to take“, W eg [e] if unstressed in an open syllable syllable The [te·o·lo·´gi:] Theologie eologie [te·o·lo·´gi:] lax: [ε] if short in a closed syllable: We o Westen esten [´vεs·tən] „west“, me mental ental [mεn´ta:l]
the prefix er-: Ergebnis [εr´ge:pnıs] „result“ the prefix ver-: versteht [fεr´ʃte:t] „understands“ the prefix zer-: zzers erstört erstört [tsεr´ʃtø:rt] „destroyed“ o
murmured: [ə] as a in English a bout in many cases (see below) bout in This sound is called „Schwa „Schwa““ [ʃva:].
The combination „ə+r“ is pronounced „a“ in contemporary German. But for convenience, we will write „ər“ here, as you w ill find it also in most dictionaries. For example: Telle Teller „plate“ is actually pronounced [´tεl] (is resembles the British way of pronouncing this word), but you will normally find it transcribed as [´tεlə [´tεl ər] which is the original pronunciation (it can be heard in the theather or the opera).
§11) When is schwa used? schwa used? It is always unstressed. o In the German prefixes be- and ge-: o -:
o
In the German suffix ––ch ch che en: n:
o
Hündchen [´hynt·çən] „doggy, pooch“, Häuschen [hǤjs·çən] „little house, cottage“ Mädchen [´mε:tçən] „girl“ Kaninchen [ka´ni:nçən] „bunny“, Mädchen
In the inflectional endings:
o
bekommt bekommt [bə´kǤmt] „(he) obtains“, bestimmt [bə´stımt] „certainly“ unbekannt [´ʊnbəkant] „unknown“, ausbezahlt [´awsbətsa:lt] „paid off“ Besuch [bə´zu:x] „visitation“, Betrag [bə´tra:k] „amount (sum)“ genug [gə´nu:k] „enough“ genießt [gə´ni:st] „(he) enjoys“ Gefühl [gə´fȟ:l] „feeling“ In most past participles: gemacht [gə´maχt] „made“, getan [gə´ta:n] „done“ etc.
Declension on nouns: Declension on Adjectives: Comparative and superlative: Derivation in – er : In verbal endings ( e, en(d), est, et ): ):
Haus – des Hause – die Häuse Hauses – dem Hause Hause – Häuser – den Häuse Häusern groß „big“ – groß große e –– groß große es – groß große em – g groß roße roßen – groß große er größe größ er „bigger“, besse besser „better“, älte ält est „oldest“... Baue Schüle er „pupil“ Bau er „farmer“, Arbeite Arbeiter „worker“, Schül finde finde e –– find finde et – find finde est; finden „to find“ – find st; find find end...
In words which end in unstressed –e –e e/es /es, /es, -en -en en/ens /ens, -er er/ers /ers, -el el/els /els; -el eln n/ n//er ern ern: n: /ens, -er /ers, -el /els -el
Name Name [na:mə],, Rose [ro:zə], Ruhe [ru:ə] „silence“, Fassade [fa´sadə] „veneer, façade“, Katze Biologe [bi·o·´lo:·gə] „biologist“... Katze [´katsə] „cat“, Biologe weise weise [´vajzə] „wise“, leise leise „silent“, beide [´bajdə] „both“... alle alles „everything“, Gutes „good (things)“, Neues „something new, new products“... Bode Boden [´bo:dən] „ground, bottom“, Polen Polen [´po:lən] „Poland“... off en [´Ǥfən] „open(ed)“, nehmen [´ne:mən] „to take“, unten [´ʊntən] „below, downstairs“... erste erstens [´e:rstəns] „firstly“, Aliens Aliens [´εljəns] „aliens“, eines Mädchens Mädchens (genitive) „of a girl“... Arbeit Arbeiter (see above), Kellner [´kεlnər] „waiter“, Messer [´mεsər] „knife, inserted blade“, Telle Teller „plate“, Wetter [´vεtər] „weather“... ab aber [´a:bər] „but“, voller voller [´fǤlər] „full of“, schneller [´ʃnεlər] „faster“... eine eines Baue Bauers „of a farmer“, eines Schülers Schülers „of a pupil“... anders [´andərs] „in another way“ Amse Decke ell [´dεkəl] „lid/cap“... dunkel [´dʊŋkəl] „dark“... Amsel [´amzəl] „blackbird“, Deck e des Decke mangels „for lack of...“, Deckels „of the lid“, mangels dunke dunk eln „to darken“, fesseln „to fetter“, Amseln „blackbirds“ (plural)... verbesse verbess verbessern [fεr´bεsərn] „to improve, to correct“, ändern [´εndərn] „to alter, to modify“... den Telle Tellern „(to) the plates“ (dative plural)...
§12) If final „e“ is stressed or written ee / é , it is pronounced [e:]: Kaffee [´kafe] „coffee“ Schnee [ʃne:] „snow“ Café [ka´fe:] „café“ Varieté „vaudeville“...
If such a word is inflected, the pronunciation [e:] remains unchanged: des Kaffees [ka´fe:s] „of the coffee“ des Schnees [ʃne:s] „of the snow“ Cafés [ka´fe:s] „Cafés“... Final „e“ is never pronounced [ε].
§13) Words ending in –ie Biologie ie [bi·o·lo·´gi:]. [bi·o·lo·´gi:]. –ie are normally stressed on the last syllable: Biolog There are some exceptions (of feminine gender) which are stressed on the syllable before -i -ie: Familie plural: Familie Familie [fa´mi:ljə] „family“ Familien [fa´mi:ljən] „families“ Studie [´ʃtu:·di·jə] [´ʃtu:·di·jə] „survey, study“ plural: Studien [´ʃtu:·di·jən] „studies“ Prämie [´prε:m·jə] „bonus, prize“ plural: Prämien [´prε:m·jən] „premiums, awards, prizes“ Aktie [´ak·ts [´ak· ts jə] „share/stock“ plural: Aktien [´ak·tsjən] „shares/stocks“ Serie [´ze:·ri·jə] [´ze:·ri·jə] „series, serial“ plural: Serien Serien [´ze:·ri·jən] „series“ Linie [´li:n·jə] „line, route“ plural: Linie Linien n [´li:n·jən] Folie [fo:l·jə] „foil, transparency“ plural: Folien Folien [fo:l·jən] Mumie [´mu:·mi·jə] „mummy“ plural: Mumien Mumien [´mu mi·jən] Pistazie [pis·´ta·tsjə] „pistachio“ plural: Pistazie Pistazien n [pis·´ta·tsjən] and trees species: Akazie Akazie acacia,, Pinie Pinie pine,, Magnolie Magnolie magnolia... (all of them have –n –n in the plural)
One pattern is still missing. It applies to foreign words only (most of them you will know from English). §13) Given the f ollowing pattern:
A word with more than two syllables (e.g. Ministe Zoologie - 4 syllables...) Minister - 3 syllables,, Zoologie
The first syllable is open
The second syllable is open, too, and contains e Then, this „e“ is pronounced as a Schwa:
Maze Mine eral [minə´ra:l], Ob Obe elix [´o:bəliks] (a comic figure), Mazedonien donien [matsə´do:njən] „Macedonia“, Min Kame Kamera [´kaməra] If the first syllable has also open e e,, this „e“ is often weakened to [ε] (unless it is followed by another vowel or „h“):
Tele Sene egal [´zεnəgal], veg vege etarisch [vεgə´ta:rıʃ] „vegetarian, veggie“, Telefon [´tεləfo:n], Sen Ven ene ezuela [vεnətsu´e:la], Karn Karne eval [´karnəval]... Ven But: Tehe The eologie [te·o·lo·´gi:] (not [tε·o...]) etc. Teheran [´te:·ə·ra:n] (not [´tε·ə...]), Th
III. Examples Open and closed syllables: mental [mεn´ta:l] <> Meniskus [me´nıskʊs] Minister [mi´nıs·tər → mi’nıstǠ] Trombose [trǤm´bo:zə] Vakuum [va·ku·ʊm] Zypern [´tsȟ:pərn] <> zypriotisch [tsypri´jo:tıʃ]
Uran [u´ra:n] <> Urne [´ʊrnə] „urn“ oral [o´ra:l] <> Ort [´Ǥrt] „location, point“ Zoologie [tso·o·lo·´gi:] [tso·o·lo·´gi:] monströs [mǤn´strø:s]
Lax pronunciation: Myrrhe Myrrhe [´myrə] Mörde Mörder [mœrdər → mœrdǠ] „murderer“ Sphäre Sphäre [´sfε:rə]
in mental is is lax, e in in Meniskus is is tense e in first „i“ is tense, second „i“ is lax (note the Schwa!) first „o“ is tense, second „o“ is lax (note the Schwa!) first „u“ is tense, second „u“ is lax in Zypern is is tense, y in zypriotisch is is lax (note the Schwa!) y in contains tense vowels only Uran contains contains tense vowels only oral contains contains tense vowels only oral contains is lax, ö is is tense and long o is
long „ä“ remains lax
Schwa and vowel length: Sphäre Sphäre [´sfε:rə] Sphäre Sphären [´sfε:rən] „spheres“ Sphäre Sphärenharmonie [´sfε:rənharmo‚ni:] „harmony of the spheres“
Sonne Sonne [´zǤnə] (schwa) Strahl [ʃtra:l] (long vowel) Sonne Sonnenstrahle nstrahlen [´zǤnən·‚ʃtra:lən] „sunbeams“ (schwa, long vowel) → In combined words, the pronunciation of the individual parts remains unchanged. The first part (normally) gets primary stress [´], the other parts get secondary stress [‚].
