Learn the pronunciation of vowels
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| Hi everyone. | |
| Welcome to The Ultimate German Pronunciation Guide. | |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all 17 German vowel sounds. | |
| a, a:, ɐ, œ, eː, øː, ɛ, ɛ:, ə, iː, yː, ɪ, ʏ, ɔ, oː, uː, ʊ | |
| With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in German! | |
| Some vowels may be hard for you to distinguish, especially for English speakers, so make sure you listen carefully! | |
| Are you ready? | |
| Then let's get started! | |
| The first vowel is... | |
| a | |
| maximal (maximum) | |
| Wasser (water) | |
| Dach (roof) | |
| "It's very similar to the A sound in the word 'pat', though not as whiny. | |
| Try moving your tongue further back in to the mouth, so that it assumes a more centralized position. It should sound a little deeper as a result, and instead of a whiny sound, it now has a darker quality to it. | |
| The resulting vowel should sound somewhere in between the A sounds of the words 'pat' and 'bra'. | |
| Listen to the native speaker." | |
| a, a (slowly) | |
| a, a (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| a: | |
| Bahn (train) | |
| Saal (hall) | |
| Vater (father) | |
| This is identical to the previous sound, except it's held for twice as long. | |
| a:, a: (slowly) | |
| a:, a: (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ɐ | |
| oder (or) | |
| aber (but) | |
| Ober (waiter) | |
| "This is identical to the previous sound, except that the tongue is raised a *tiny* bit higher. | |
| This sound typically occurs at the end of a word and pronounced softly." | |
| ɐ, ɐ (slowly) | |
| ɐ, ɐ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| œ | |
| Hölle (hell) | |
| göttlich (divine) | |
| erörtern (to debate) | |
| "This sounds roughly like the U in the word 'hurt'. | |
| To pronounce this sound however, try saying the E sound in the word 'red' while rounding your lips." | |
| œ, œ (slowly) | |
| œ, œ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| eː | |
| Seele (soul) | |
| mehr (more) | |
| Beet (patch) | |
| "This sounds a little bit like the double EE in the word 'feet' except your tongue is not as high. Try to relax your jaw, and say it as if to allow the vowel to spill out. | |
| Listen to the native speaker." | |
| eː, eː (slowly) | |
| eː, eː (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| øː | |
| öde (dull) | |
| hören (to hear) | |
| schön (beautiful) | |
| "This is identical to the previous sound, except that the lips are rounded. | |
| Try to say the word 'play' while rounding your lips." | |
| øː, øː (slowly) | |
| øː, øː (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ɛ | |
| hätte (had) | |
| Männer (men) | |
| Bett (bed) | |
| It's identical to the E sound in the word 'red'. | |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) | |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ɛ: | |
| wähle (choose) | |
| spät (late) | |
| länge (length) | |
| This identical to the previous sound, except that it's pronounced twice as long. | |
| ɛ:, ɛ: (slowly) | |
| ɛ:, ɛ: (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ə | |
| halte (hold) | |
| behalten (to keep) | |
| gesund (healthy) | |
| It's identical to the E sound at the end of the word 'problem'. | |
| ə, ə (slowly) | |
| ə, ə (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| iː | |
| viel (much) | |
| Bibel (bible) | |
| Ziel (target) | |
| It's identical to the double E sound in the word 'see'. | |
| iː, iː (slowly) | |
| iː, iː (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| y: | |
| über (over) | |
| Mykene (mycenae) | |
| Rübe (carrot) | |
| "It's identical as the previous sound, except that the lips are rounded. | |
| Try saying the word 'see' while rounding your lips." | |
| y:, y: (slowly) | |
| y:, y: (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ɪ | |
| bitte (please) | |
| willig (eager) | |
| bist (are) | |
| It's identical to the I sound in the word 'it'. | |
| ɪ, ɪ (slowly) | |
| ɪ, ɪ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ʏ | |
| füllt (fills) | |
| Rhythmus (rhythm) | |
| schützen (to protect) | |
| "It's identical as the previous sound, except that the lips are rounded. | |
| Try saying the word 'it' while rounding your lips." | |
| ʏ, ʏ (slowly) | |
| ʏ, ʏ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| ɔ | |
| voll (full) | |
| kommen (to come) | |
| Ort (place) | |
| It's identical to the OU sound in the word 'ought'. | |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) | |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| oː | |
| oder (or) | |
| Boot (boat) | |
| Moos (moss) | |
| "This is very similar to the previous sound, except your tongue is positioned a little bit higher. | |
| It's quite similiar to the O sound in the word 'owe'. Though be careful not to carry over the W sound too much. | |
| Listen to the native speaker." | |
| oː, oː (slowly) | |
| oː, oː (slowly) | |
| The next vowel is... | |
| uː | |
| Fuß (foot) | |
| Blume (flower) | |
| Hut (hat) | |
| It's identical to the double O sound in the word 'boot'. | |
| u:, u: (slowly) | |
| u:, u: (slowly) | |
| And the last vowel is... | |
| ʊ | |
| Schutz (protection) | |
| kurz (short) | |
| Putz (plaster) | |
| It's identical to the double O sound in the word 'took'. | |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) | |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) | |
| Well done! You've just learned all 17 vowels in German! | |
| a, ɐ, œ, eː, øː, ɛ, ə, iː, yː, ɪ, ʏ, ɔ, oː, uː, ʊ | |
| In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonants sounds. | |
| There were a lot of vowel sounds in this lesson, but which vowel sound was the most difficult for you to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. | |
| See you in the next Ultimate German Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
35 Comments
HideDo you find any of the German vowel difficult to pronounce?
Hi Noah,
Thank you for your feedback.👍
I can see that there maybe confusion as to pronunciation of phonetics. I think, however,
that the issue is more a question of the phonetic alphabet only being
an approximation of the sounds in the various languages. Considering
how different some sounds are in different languages - nasal, throaty, etc. -
the phonetics may sometimes not sound 100% right.
As a native German I would say though that Alisa's pronunciation of the German
letters is spot on.
As for your example with the "i" and "i:", I think the latter should be pronounced twice as
long. Please let me know, if you think I misunderstood you there.😉
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
There's a few examples that don't sound right at all...it says "The next vowel is ___" then the examples don't have that sound, but they have the sound that is given as an English example, then Alisa shows the vowel that was said initially...so it doesn't all line up. The "I", for example, is pronounced like "ee" and then three examples are given where it is pronounced like the "i in it" as it's explained, then Alisa says "ee" 4 times. This doesn't match up at all. I
I'm not sure if there's an error in editing or poor explanation? I've done a semester of German before so I was looking for the internal physiology to help explain some of the trickier vowels and now I'm just really confused. Am I really misunderstanding something or is it incorrect?
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for taking the time to leave us a comment. 😇
Let us know if you have any questions.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thanks for the lesson
my favorite words are behalten
robert
Hi Rayyan,
Thank you for your quick response!👍
You are right, of course. After talking to our team
last week I realized I missed it too: the ɐ is of course referring
to the end of the words, the "-er". Sorry for the confusion.
We have agreed to highlight the syllable in bold in the next
few days, to avoid any more misunderstandings.😉
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
ɐ is pronounced like an "a" sound, not "u" sound
Hi Amy,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.👍
You are right. I will forward your message to our team
and have this looked at as soon as possible.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
I don't see how "--aber--" is prononced with the ɐ sound. completely different from the two other examples "--ober-- " and "--oder--"
Hi Pillow,
Thank you for asking.
I have been teaching German for years and I think
I understand your frustration. These are the most challenging
vowels in the German language for most students. To be honest,
if you can't pick it up from the video, the best solution for you might
be to find a native speaker for a language exchange (or a teacher?),
and I mean face-to-face, not via Skype etc..
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
still can't tell difference between /Y/ and /oe/, I think it's told in the video both from /i/ but round mouth?? looking for help!