The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents German language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See German phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of German.
| Consonants
|
| IPA |
Examples |
English approximation
|
| b
|
Ball[1] |
ball
|
| ç
|
ich, durch |
hue
|
| d
|
dann[1] |
done
|
| f
|
Fass, Vogel |
fuss
|
| ɡ
|
Gast[1] |
guest
|
| h
|
hat |
hut
|
| j
|
ja |
yard
|
| k
|
kalt |
cold
|
| l
|
Last |
last
|
| m
|
Mast |
must
|
| n
|
Naht |
not
|
| ŋ
|
lang |
long
|
| p
|
Pakt |
puck
|
| pf
|
Pfahl |
cupfull
|
| ʁ
|
Rast[2] |
roughly like loch (Scottish English)
|
| ʀ
|
No English equivalent
|
| r
|
roughly like water (American English)
|
| s
|
Hast |
fast
|
| ʃ
|
schal, Stein |
shall
|
| t
|
Tal |
tall
|
| ts
|
Zahl |
cats
|
| tʃ
|
Matsch |
match
|
| v
|
was |
vanish
|
| x
|
Bach[3] |
loch (Scottish English)
|
| z
|
Hase[1] |
hose
|
| ʔ
|
beamtet[4]
([bəˈʔamtət]) |
the glottal stop in uh-oh!
|
| Non-native consonants
|
| dʒ
|
Dschungel[1] |
jungle
|
| ʒ
|
Genie[1] |
pleasure
|
| Stress
|
| ˈ
|
Bahnhofstraße
([ˈbaːnhoːfˌʃtʁaːsə])
|
as in battleship
|
| ˌ
|
|
| Vowels
|
| IPA |
Examples |
English approximation
|
| Monophthongs
|
| a
|
Dach |
bra (but shorter)
|
| aː
|
Bahn |
bra
|
| eː
|
Beet |
face
|
| ɛ
|
Bett, hätte |
bed
|
| ɛː
|
wähle[5] |
says
|
| iː
|
viel |
feel
|
| ɪ
|
bist |
sit
|
| oː
|
Boot |
roughly like law (British English)
|
| ɔ
|
Post |
hospitality
|
| øː
|
Öl |
roughly like hurt
|
| œ
|
göttlich |
roughly like hurt
|
| uː
|
Hut |
true
|
| ʊ
|
Putz |
took
|
| yː
|
Rübe |
roughly like few
|
| ʏ
|
füllt |
much like the above but shorter
|
| Diphthongs
|
| aɪ
|
weit |
tie
|
| aʊ
|
Haut |
how
|
| ɔʏ
|
Heu, Räuber |
roughly like boy
|
| Reduced vowels
|
| ɐ
|
Ober[2] |
fun
|
| ə
|
halte |
comma (when pronounced without stress)
|
| Semivowels
|
| ɐ̯
|
Uhr[2] |
comma
|
| i̯
|
Studie |
studio
|
| u̯
|
aktuell |
actual
|
| Non-native vowels[6]
|
| e
|
Methan |
(short [eː])
|
| i
|
vital |
city (short [iː])
|
| o
|
Moral |
(short [oː])
|
| ø
|
Ökonom |
(short [øː])
|
| u
|
kulant |
(short [uː])
|
| y
|
Psychologie |
(short [yː])
|
|
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The German lenis consonants [b d ɡ z ʒ dʒ] are often pronounced without voice as [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ z̥ ʒ̊ d̥ʒ̊]. In Southern German, the voiceless pronunciation prevails.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pronunciation of /r/ in German varies according to region and speaker. While older prescriptive pronunciation dictionaries allowed only [r], this pronunciation is nowadays found mainly in Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria, while in other regions the uvular pronunciation prevails, with the allophones [ʁ] and [ʀ]. In many regions except for Switzerland, the /r/ in the syllable coda is vocalized to [ɐ̯] after long vowels or after all vowels, and /ər/ is pronounced as [ɐ]
- ↑ /x/ is realized as a uvular fricative [χ] after /a/, /aː/, and often /ʊ/, /ɔ/, and /aʊ/.
- ↑ In many varieties of German except for Swiss Standard German, all initial vowels are preceded by [ʔ].
- ↑ [ɛː] is often replaced by [eː].
- ↑ [e i o ø u y], the short versions of the long vowels [eː iː oː øː uː yː], are used in unstressed syllables before the accented syllable and occur only in loanwords. In native words, the accent is generally on the first syllable, and there are no syllables before the accent besides prepositional prefixes.
