Appendix:German pronunciation

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents German pronunciations in Wiktionary entries.

See German phonology at Wikipedia for a more thorough look at the sounds of German.

German consonant pronunciation
IPA Examples English approximation
/b/ Ball ball
/ç/ ich, durch hue
/d/ dann done
/d͡ʒ/ Dschungel jungle
/f/ Fass, Vogel fuss
/ɡ/ Gast guest
/h/ hat hut
/j/ ja yard
/k/ kalt, Tag cold
/l/ Last last
/m/ Mast must
/n/ Naht not
/ŋ/ lang long
/p/ Pakt, hab puck
/p͡f/ Pfahl cupfull
/ʁ/ Rast like a French R
(a voiced uvular fricative)[1]
/s/ Wasser fast
/ʃ/ Schal, Stein shall
/t/ Tal tall
/t͡s/ Zahl cats
/t͡ʃ/ Matsch match
/v/ was vanish
/x/: [x], [χ] Bach[2] loch (Scottish)
/z/ Hase[3] hose
/ʒ/ Genie beige, measure
[ʔ] Beamter[4]
([bəˈʔamtɐ])
the glottal stop in uh-oh!
Stress
ˈ Bahnhof
([ˈbaːnˌhoːf])
as in battleship [ˈbætəlˌʃɪp]
ˌ
German vowel pronunciation
IPA Examples English approximation
Monophthongs
/a/ Dach bra (but shorter)
// Bahn bra
// Beet face
/ɛ/ Bett, hätte bed
/ɛː/ wähle[5] as above but longer; like RP English barely
// viel meet
/ɪ/ bist sit
// schon, Boot somewhat like bone
/ɔ/ Post boss
/øː/ Öl somewhat like hurl; French deux
/œ/ göttlich close to hurt or French sœur
// Hut true
/ʊ/ Putz took
// Rübe French rue
/ʏ/ füllt much like the above but shorter
Diphthongs
/aɪ̯/ weit tie
/aʊ̯/ Haut how
/ɔɪ̯/ Heu, Räuber[6] boy
Reduced vowels
/ɐ/[7] Ober[8] fun
/ə/[9] halte comma
Semivowels
/ɐ̯/ Uhr uh
/i̯/ Studie magnolia
/u̯/ aktuell visual
/y̯/ Libyen French huit
Unstressed full vowels
/e/ Methan (short [eː])
/i/ vital city (short [iː])
/o/ Moral (short [oː])
/ø/ Ökonom (short [øː])
/u/ kulant virtue (short [uː])
/y/ Psychologie (short [yː])

Notes

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  1. ^ In free variation with [ʀ] and also — in Switzerland, Bavaria, and Austria — the voiced alveolar trill [r]. Compare /ɐ/.
  2. ^ /x/ is realized as a uvular fricative [χ] after [a], [aː], and often [ʊ], [ɔ], and [aʊ].
  3. ^ Predominantly realized as [z̥] (devoiced) or [s] (voiceless) in southern regions (Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria).
  4. ^ The presence or absence of [ʔ] is not phonemic. In most standard varieties of German, all initial vowels are preceded by [ʔ]. However, this does not generally hold true for Austrian, southern, and Swiss standard German and most colloquial varieties.
  5. ^ [ɛː] is often replaced by [eː], chiefly in northern and eastern Germany, and eastern Austria.
  6. ^ Some references transcribe this diphthong as /ɔʏ/.
  7. ^ /ɐ/ is often merged into, and hence not distinguished from, [ə], specifically in southern Germany and Austria. The /ɐ//a/ merger is true in northern Germany.
  8. ^ Compare /ʁ/.
  9. ^ In Austria and Germany, /ə/, before sonorants /l/, /m/, and /n/ in the syllable coda, often disappears so that they become syllabic [l̩], [m̩], and [n̩]. Especially in Austrian, southern, and Swiss standard German, /ə/, representing unstressed e, is alternatively realized as [ɛ] or even within Switzerland, [e].

Bibliography

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  • Duden 6: Das Aussprachewörterbuch (3rd edition, 1990, →ISBN).