Das Deutsche Alphabet: Master The German Alphabet Easily
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Before you start learning interesting German words like Kummerspeck and Lebensabschnittspartner, you must learn the German alphabet or das deutsche Alphabet.
Learning the German alphabet is not as confusing as you may think. Just think of how you learned your first alphabet. Whether it was in English, Spanish, or any other language, the way you learned it involved some singing and some clapping, maybe even some dancing. Sounds easy, right?
Well, learning the German alphabet is just the same. It is fun and very helpful for your German studies. But before you begin, check out some useful tidbits to guide you on your way to mastering the German ABCs.
● German is written using the Latin alphabet, which is similar to the English alphabet
● German has 26 standard letters, plus the additional letters ä, ö, ü, and ß
● German uses 3 umlauts
◦ ä, ö, ü
● The letter "E" is the most frequently used letter
● “V” is “W” and can sound like the letter “F”
◦ When “V” is at the end of the word, it is pronounced as “F”
◦ When used in the prefixes “ver” and “vor”
◦ When used at the beginning of German family names and places
● All the letters of the German Alphabet have the same article “das”
● The German Alphabet is used in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, and
Lichtenstein
◦ Neither Switzerland nor Lichtenstein use ß; they instead use “ss”
Letter | Sound | German Word |
A a | ah | Apfel (ap-fel) |
B b | beh | Bier (beer) |
C c | tsay | Clown (clown) |
D d | deh | Delfin (del-fin) |
E e | ay | Elefant (e-le-fant) |
F f | eff | Frosch (frosh) |
G g | gay | Grün (groohn) |
H h | hah | Haus (haus) |
I i | eeh | Iglu (ig-lu) |
J j | yot | Junge (young-uh) |
K k | kah | Katze (kat-zuh) |
L l | ell | Limette (li-met) |
M m | em | Maus (maus) |
N n | en | Nacht (nacht) |
O o | oh | Orange (oran-juh) |
P p | pey | Papier (pa-pyeh) |
Q q | koo | Qualle (kwa-luh) |
R r | er | Ratte (ra-tuh) |
S s | ess | Sonne (so-nuh) |
T t | tay | Tomate (to-mat) |
U u | ooh | Uhr (oor) |
V v | fow | Violine (fio-lin) |
W w | vay | Wasser (va-sser) |
X x | eeks | Xylophon (ksi-lo-fon) |
Y y | erpseelohn | Yoga (yo-ga) |
Z z | tset | Zoo (zoo) |
Ä ä | Ah umlaut | Mädchen (med-shen) |
Ö ö | Oh umlaut | Föhn (foon) |
Ü ü | Uu umlaut | Über (uuber) |
ß | esstest | Straße (strass) |
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