The German alphabet and pronunciation
The German alphabet with letter names, the umlauts ä, ö, ü and ß, the letter groups that sound different from English, and ten exercises.
Prepared by Deutsch Schreiben with AI assistance; original learning material. ·
Short answer
The German alphabet has the same 26 letters as English plus four special letters: ä, ö, ü and ß. Several letters sound different from English: w sounds like v, v usually like f, z like ts and j like the y in “yes”. Without a German keyboard, write ae, oe, ue and ss.
26 letters plus four
German uses the same 26 letters as English, plus the umlauts ä, ö, ü and the letter ß. Knowing the letter names helps you spell your name on the phone or at an office.
| Letter | German name |
|---|---|
| A a | a |
| B b | be |
| C c | tse |
| D d | de |
| E e | e |
| F f | eff |
| G g | ge |
| H h | ha |
| I i | i |
| J j | jott |
| K k | ka |
| L l | ell |
| M m | emm |
| N n | enn |
| O o | o |
| P p | pe |
| Q q | ku |
| R r | err |
| S s | ess |
| T t | te |
| U u | u |
| V v | fau |
| W w | we |
| X x | ix |
| Y y | üpsilon |
| Z z | tsett |
| Ä ä | ä |
| Ö ö | ö |
| Ü ü | ü |
| ß | eszett |
Letters that sound different
- w sounds like English v: Wasser.
- v usually sounds like f: Vater.
- z sounds like ts: Zeit.
- j sounds like English y in “yes”: ja.
- ei sounds like “eye”: mein. ie is a long “ee”: Liebe.
- eu and äu sound like “oy”: heute, Häuser.
- sch sounds like “sh”: Schule. Before p or t at the start of a word, s also sounds like “sh”: Sport, Straße.
Typical mistakes of Arabic speakers
- p and b: Arabic has no p, so Pass (passport) can sound like Bass. Push a puff of air out for p.
- e at the end is spoken as a short, soft sound: Name, Tasche.
- ü and ö have no Arabic match: say ü with your lips rounded as for u and your tongue as for i.
- v in German words is mostly f: viel sounds like “feel”.
Umlauts and ß
The dots change the sound and often the meaning: schon (already) and schön (beautiful) are different words. ß is a sharp s after a long vowel or a diphthong: Straße, heißen. Switzerland and Liechtenstein write ss instead of ß.
If your keyboard has no umlauts, write ae, oe, ue and ss. The exercises below ask you to turn these back into the correct letters.
Ten exercises with explanations
Type only the answer, then check it. You can open each explanation without an account.
Common questions
How many letters does the German alphabet have?
26 basic letters, the same as English, plus the three umlauts ä, ö, ü and the letter ß.
How do I type ä, ö, ü and ß without a German keyboard?
Write ae, oe, ue and ss. On a phone, press and hold a, o, u or s to choose the special letter.
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