Apart from being letters of the alphabet, the characters a, e, i, o, u, as well as the special Umlaut characters ä, ö, ü, also function as single vowels in the German language.
Apart from being letters of the alphabet, the characters a, e, i, o, u, as well as the special Umlaut characters ä, ö, ü, also function as single vowels in the German language.
aa
like ah in "father"
das Haar - hair
der Saal - hall
der Staat - country
ee
like in "see"
der Tee - tea
der Kaffee - coffee
der Jeep - jeep
oo
like in "moon"
das Boot - boat
der Zoo - zoo
Vowel from Umlaut ä ö ü
Besides being letters, Umlauts can also function as vowels
ä
ike the "e" in the English word "bet," but with a more fronted quality.
IPA: /ɛː/
spät (Adj.) - late
die Fähigkeit - ability
der Bär - bear
ö
is pronounced with rounded lips and sounds somewhat like the "i" in the British English word "bird".
IPA: /øː/
möglich (Adj.) - possible
möchten (Verb) - to want
hören (Verb) - to hear
ü
is pronounced with a tight, rounded lip position and a high front tongue, somewhat like the "u" in the British English word "fur", but more fronted.
IPA: /yː/
mütig (Adj.) - brave
lügen (Verb) - to lie
glücklich (Adj.) - happy
-y-
Whenever 'y' appears in the middle of a word, it functions as a vowel and can be compared to the sound of 'ü' from the Umlaut or the 'ü' sound. Many Greek words are written using 'y' as a vowel. For example:
der Typ 👉 type
die Psyche 👉 psyche
die Hypothese 👉 hypothesis
die Acrylfarbe 👉 acrylic paint
Important! Never confuse the sounds of "ie" (/iː/) with "ei" (/aɪ/) under any circumstances. Additionally, in German, the pronunciation usually matches the spelling or the sounds you have learned, except in cases where the word comes from another language. Therefore, don’t be afraid to memorize pronunciation rules and practice pronouncing words on your own later without relying on pronunciation guides.