Pronunciation of consonants – PART 1
Let’s move on to German Consonants. Have a look at the table. Especially “strange”, difficult consonants are marked. For more information, have a look at the video.
Learn German pronounciation with the Video: Consonants PART 1Examples for the German Consonants Pronunciation:
| Consonants | Explanation | Examples | ||
| mm ff ll tt |
All Consonants are short. Double consonants aren’t pronounced longer! They also make the vowel shorter. |
kommen (to come) Affe (ape) alle (all) |
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| s, b, d, g | difference between voiced and voiceless sounds | |||
| inicial sounds: voiced | final sound: voiceless | inicial sounds: voiced | final sound: voiceless | |
| s | [z] | [s] | sieben (seven) besonders (especially) Sie (she, your) |
aus (from) nichts (nothing) |
| b | [b] | [p] | Bar (bar) blau (blue) |
gelb (yellow) ([gelp]) halb (half) ([halp]) |
| d | [d] | [t] | du (you) drei (three) |
und (and) Hand (hand) |
| g | [g] | [k] | gut (good) genau (exactly) |
Tag (day) Zug (train) |
| z | [ts] There is no [z] sound as in English. Z is only [T+S] |
Zug (train) zehn (ten) achtzig (eighty) |
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| v, f | [f] as the English f | [v] in words derived from latin |
vier (four) vor (in front of) |
Verb (verb) Vokal (vowel) |
| w | [v] as in „very“ | Wann (when) Wo (where) Wie (how) |
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