The Sound Map

German Grammar 1

Chapter 1 · The Sound Map

🔊 The Sound Map — Die Lautkarte

German spelling is far more regular than English: once you know the map below, you can read any word aloud, and you can often spell a word you have only heard. This course turns the phrases you have met in German Basic Conversation 1 to 4 into rules. The rules in later chapters lean on sounds (an umlaut marks a plural, ß against ss marks a vowel length), so we start here. This is the only chapter with respelling: CAPITALS mark the stressed syllable and the spellings are read the way a British English speaker would read them.

The rule in one box In German each letter (or fixed letter group) has one main sound, wherever it appears. The few traps are: ä ö ü (new vowels), ch (two sounds), sp-/st- at the start of a word (shp-, sht-), ei ≠ ie, z = ts, v = f, w = v, and b d g at the end of a syllable sound like p t k.

The umlauts and ß

Letter	How to say it	Example	Say it
ä	like the e in bed (long or short)	Mädchen girl · Äpfel apples	MAIT-khen · EP-fel
ö	say e with your lips rounded (as in French peu)	schön beautiful · Köln Cologne	SHURN · KURLN
ü	say ee with your lips rounded (as in French tu)	über over · Tür door	UE-buh · TUER
ß	just a sharp s (as in sit); it follows a long vowel or diphthong	Straße street · groß big · heiß hot	SHTRAH-suh · GROHSS · HICE

If you cannot type them Write ae, oe, ue for ä, ö, ü (schoen, Tuer) and ss for ß. Never just drop the dots: schon ("already") and schön ("beautiful") are different words. Switzerland does not use ß at all.

ß or ss? After a short vowel the sound is written ss: muss (must), Fluss (river). After a long vowel or a diphthong it is ß: Fuß (foot), weiß (white, knows). So the spelling tells you the vowel length.

ch: two sounds, one letter group

The sound depends on the vowel before it. After a, o, u, au it is the back sound ("ach-Laut"), a rasp at the back of the throat, like Scottish loch. After every other vowel and after a consonant it is the front sound ("ich-Laut"), like a hissed h as in huge or hue.

After…	Sound	Examples	Say it
a, o, u, au	back (loch)	Buch book · acht eight · doch yes it is · auch also	BOOKH · AKHT · DOKH · OWKH
e, i, ä, ö, ü, ei, eu, or a consonant	front (huge)	ich I · nicht not · Milch milk · Bücher books	ICH · NICHT · MILCH · BUE-chuh
the ending -chen	always front	Mädchen · Brötchen roll	MAIT-chen · BRURT-chen
chs	= ks	sechs six · wachsen grow	ZEKS · VAK-sen

sp- and st- at the start of a word

At the beginning of a word or word part (after a prefix such as ver- or be-), sp is pronounced shp and st is pronounced sht. Elsewhere, s before p/t keeps the ordinary s: Wespe (wasp), Fenster (window).

German	Meaning	Say it
Sprache	language	SHPRAH-khuh
Stein	stone	SHTINE
spielen	to play	SHPEE-len
verstehen	to understand	fer-SHTAY-en

Vowel pairs and diphthongs

Spelling	Sound	Example	Say it
ei	like English eye	ein a · mein my · Zeit time	INE · MINE · TSITE
ie	long ee	Liebe love · viel much · Bier beer	LEE-buh · FEEL · BEER
eu / äu	like English oy	neu new · Häuser houses	NOY · HOY-zuh
au	like English ow in cow	Haus house · auch also	HOWSS · OWKH

Don't swap ei and ie Leid ("sorrow", LITE) and Lied ("song", LEET) differ only in the order of the two letters. ei sounds like the English word eye; ie sounds like the English letter e.

z, v, w and friends

Letter	Sound	Example	Say it
z	ts, also at the start of a word	Zeit time · zehn ten	TSITE · TSAYN
w	v	Wasser water · wir we	VASS-uh · VEER
v	f in German words (v in foreign words)	Vater father · viel much / Vase vase	FAH-tuh · FEEL / VAH-zuh
j	y as in yes	ja yes · Jahr year	YAH · YAHR
s	z before a vowel, s elsewhere	Sonne sun · Haus house	ZON-nuh · HOWSS

Long and short vowels

Vowel length is not marked by an accent, but spelling gives strong clues. A vowel is short before a double consonant or before two or more consonants: Mann, Bett, Rock, Hund. A vowel is usually long before a single consonant, when it is doubled (Boot, Haar, See), when followed by a silent h (Zahn, Sohn) or when it is ie. Many short function words are short even before one consonant (mit, in, an, das, es).

Long	Short	Say it
Miete rent	Mitte middle	MEE-tuh · MIT-tuh
Ofen stove	offen open	OH-fen · OFF-en
Kahn barge	kann can	KAHN · KAN
Beet flower bed	Bett bed	BAYT · BET

Final devoicing: what you write is not always what you say

At the end of a word or syllable, the voiced letters b, d, g are pronounced p, t, k. The spelling does not change, because it follows the longer forms of the word. Say the plural or add an ending and the voiced sound returns, which is how you know the spelling.

Word	Say it	Longer form	Say it
Tag day	TAHK	Tage days	TAH-guh
Hund dog	HOONT	Hunde dogs	HOON-duh
Kind child	KINT	Kinder children	KIN-duh
Korb basket	KORP	Körbe baskets	KUR-buh

r, -er and stress

The German r is made at the back of the throat (like a gentle gargle) in most regions; a rolled r is also understood. At the end of a word, -er is a weak uh: Vater (FAH-tuh), Lehrer (LAY-ruh). A vowel plus r often fades into uh too: Tür, hier (HEER).

In most native German words the stress is on the first syllable: AR-beit, FREUN-din. The exceptions are the unstressed prefixes be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp- (be-ZAH-len, ver-STEH-en) and many words borrowed from other languages (Stu-DENT, Uni-ver-si-TÄT).

🗣️ In Use — Im Gebrauch

The rules in real sentences. Read each exchange aloud and spot the pattern.

① Leid or Lied?

A:Hast du Leid oder Lied gesagt?Did you say "sorrow" or "song"?

B:Lied, mit ie. Das ist ein schönes Lied."Song", with ie. That is a beautiful song.

A:Danke, jetzt höre ich den Unterschied.Thanks, now I hear the difference.

② Spelling a name

A:Wie schreibt man Ihren Namen?How do you spell your name?

B:Müller, mit ü, zwei l. Nicht Mueller.Müller, with ü, two l's. Not Mueller.

A:Ah, mit Umlaut. Verstanden.Ah, with an umlaut. Understood.

③ Why is it a "k"?

A:Tag schreibt man mit g, aber man sagt Tak?You write Tag with g, but you say "Tak"?

B:Ja, am Ende wird g wie k gesprochen. Sag Tage, dann hörst du das g.Yes, at the end g is spoken like k. Say Tage and you hear the g.

📋 Quick Reference — Kurzübersicht

Spelling	Sound	Example
ä / ö / ü	e (bed) / rounded e / rounded ee	Mädchen, schön, Tür
ß	sharp s after a long vowel or diphthong	groß, heiß
ch	back after a, o, u, au; front elsewhere	Buch / ich
sp- / st-	shp- / sht- at the start of a word	Sprache, Stein
ei / ie	eye / ee	mein / Liebe
eu / äu	oy	neu, Häuser
z / v / w	ts / f / v	Zeit, Vater, Wasser
b d g at the end	p t k	Korb, Hund, Tag
stress	first syllable (not on be- ge- er- ver- zer- ent- emp-)	AR-beit, ver-STEH-en

✏️ Try It Yourself — Übungen

Say the answer first, then click to check.

1. How is Stein pronounced at the start?

Show answer

SHTINE: st at the start of a word is sht, and ei is "eye".

2. Which ch sound is in Buch and which in Bücher?

Show answer

Back (as in loch) after u in Buch; front (as in huge) after ü in Bücher.

3. Say Wein (wine) in respelling.

Show answer

VINE: w = v and ei = eye.

4. Which is written with ß: Fu_ (foot) or mu_ (must)?

Show answer

Fuß (long vowel). muss has a short vowel, so it takes ss.

5. How do you say Hund, and why?

Show answer

HOONT. A final d is pronounced t; the plural Hunde shows the spelling.

6. Which word has a long vowel: Bett or Beet?

Show answer

Beet (doubled vowel). Bett has a double consonant, so the vowel is short.

7. Where is the stress in verstehen?

Show answer

On -steh-: ver-STEH-en. The prefix ver- is never stressed.

8. What is Häuser in respelling?

Show answer

HOY-zuh: äu = oy, s before a vowel = z, final -er = uh.

9. Why can you not just drop the dots from schön?

Show answer

The dots mark a different vowel, so schon ("already") is a different word. Write schoen if you cannot type ö.

Coming up in Chapter 2: Nouns and Gender. You will meet the endings that tell you whether a noun is der, die or das, and why every German noun starts with a capital letter.