German Alphabet

The German alphabet uses three additional letters : ä, ö, ü / Ä, Ö, Ü and ß called eszett (sz)
German is phonetically consistent. This means that German words sound the way they are spelled.

Just learn the sounds associated with certain spellings then you will be able to pronounce words correctly that you have never seen before. For example you find the ei sound in the word: nein. It is pronounced eye.

You find this sound in words like:
fein (fine), sein (to be), klein (small), rein (clean), dein (your), Bein (leg), kein (no),
keiner (nobody), kleiner (smaller), Meister (master) etc.
Just memorize this sound and use it in those words that are spelled with ei.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Ä Ö Ü

Hint: If a word contains an Ä+U, it is pronounced like E+U.

Examples: Häuser (houses)
Bäume (trees) The äu is pronounced like eu
Examples: Heute, Leute (today, people)

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