This article lists German letters and letter combinations, and how to pronounce them transliterated into the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is the pronunciation of Standard German. Note that the pronunciation of standard German varies slightly from region to region. Actually, most German speaking can be told where they come from by their accent in standard German (not to be confused with the different German dialects).

Foreign words are usually pronounced approximately as they are in the original language.

Consonants

One pronounces double consonants as single consonants, except in compound words.

The voiceless stops , /p/, /k/ are aspirated.

• b: at end of syllable: [p]; otherwise: [b] or [b̥]
• c: before ä, e, and i: [ts]; otherwise: [k]
• ch: after a, o, and u: [x]; after other vowels or initially: [ç]; the suffix -chen always [ç]
• chs: [ks]
• d: at end of syllable: [t]; otherwise: [d] or [d̥]
• dsch: [dʒ] or [d̥ʒ̥] (used in loanwords and transliterations only)
• dt: [t]
• f: [f]
• g: in the ending -ig: [ç]; at the end of a syllable: [k]; otherwise: [g] or [g̥]
• h: before a vowel: [h]; when lengthening a vowel: silent
• j: [j]
• k: [k]
• l: [l]
• m: [m]
• n: [n]
• p: [p]
• ph: [f]
• ng: usually: [ŋ]; in compound words where the first element ends in "n" and the second element begins with "g": [ŋg] or [ŋg̥]
• qu: [kʋ] or [kw] in a few regions
• r: the standard German pronunciation of r varies a lot from region to region [ʁ] before vowels, [ɐ] otherwise; or [ɐ] after long vowels, [ʁ] otherwise; or [r] in all cases
• s: before and between vowels: [z] or [z̥]; before consonants or when final: [s]; before p or t at the beginning of a word or syllable: [ʃ]
• sch: [ʃ]
• ss: [s]
• ß: [s]
• t: [t]
• th: [t]
• ti: in -tion, -tiär, -tial: [tsj]; otherwise: [ti]
• tz: [ts]
• v: in foreign borrowings: [v]; otherwise: [f]
• w: [v]
• x: [ks]
• z: [ts]

Short Vowels

Consonants are sometimes doubled in writing to indicate the preceding vowel is to be pronounced as a short vowel. One-syllable words are pronounced with long vowels, with some exceptions such as an, das, es, in, mit, and von. The e in the endings -el and -en is usually silent. The ending -er is often pronounced [ɐ], but in some regions, people say [ʀ̩] or [r̩].

• a: [a]
• ä: [ɛ]
• e: [ɛ], [ə]
• i: [ɪ]
• o: [ɔ]
• ö: [œ]
• u: [ʊ]
• ü: [ʏ]
• y: [ʏ]

Long Vowels

A vowel usually has a long sound if the vowel in question occurs:

• as the final letter (except for e)
• followed by a single consonant
• before a single consonant followed by a vowel
• doubled
• followed by an h

Long vowels are generally pronounced with greater tenseness than short vowels.

The long vowels sound as follows:

• a, ah, and aa: [aː]
• ä, äh: [ɛː] or [eː]
• e, eh, and ee: [eː]
• i, ie, ih, and ieh: [iː]
• o, oh, and oo: [oː]
• ö: [øː]
• u and uh: [uː]
• ü and üh: [yː]
• y: [yː]

Diphthongs

• au: [aʊ]
• eu and äu: [ɔʏ]
• ei, ai, ey, and ay: [aɪ]

Stressed Syllables

The first syllable of German words receives stress, with the following exceptions:

• Words beginning with be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, or ent- receive stress on their second syllable.
• Compound adverbs, with her, hin, da, or wo as their first part, receive stress on their second part.
• Many loanwords, especially proper names, keep their original stress.