GERMAN EASY CONSONANTS
You may be relieved to discover that the sounds of German consonants aren’t as unfamiliar as those of the vowels. In fact, German consonants are either pronounced like their English equivalents or like other English consonants. Well, there are a couple of oddities and exceptions, which we show you later.
Pronounce the letters f, h, k, l, m, n, p, t, and x the same as in English.
Although the German “r” is represented as “r” in the phonetic script of this book, it’s pronounced differently. In German, you don’t roll the “r.” To make the sound, position your tongue as if you want to make the “r” sound, but instead of rolling the tip of your tongue off your palate, leave the tongue straight and try to produce the sound in the back of your throat!
Pronouncing Consonants:
B |
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like b in boy (when preceding a vowel), or |
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like p in stop (at the end of a syllable, or before s or t) |
CH |
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like ch in Scottish loch, [?] after a, o or u, [k] when followed by a, o or u at the beginning of a word, [ç] elsewhere. chs = [ks] at end of a word, e.g. sechs ['z?ks] or after a, o or u, e.g. Achsel ['aks?l] |
D |
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like d in dog (when preceding a vowel), or |
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like t in bet (at the end of a syllable, or before s or t) |
G |
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like g in gum (when preceding a vowel), or |
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like ck in pack (at the end of a syllable, or before s or t) |
K |
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like ck in back, but with less air exhaled |
L |
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like l in lime, but much lighter |
P |
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like p in pit, but with less air exhaled |
R |
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rolled/trilled like r in French, but not so strongly |
S |
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like z in haze (when preceding a vowel) |
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otherwise: like s in sit |
SP |
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like sh in sheep, but with lips more rounded (when preceding a vowel) |
ST |
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like sh in sheep, but with lips more rounded (when preceding a vowel) |
T |
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like t in tape, but with less air exhaled |
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