German Pronunciation for singers
Note: German is a very phonetic language, but not as much as Hungarian. There are
some exceptions of ‘what you see is what you get’.
When singing, form your mouth in the vowel shape before start of the syllable.
Vowels
German has pure vowel sounds, no diphthongisation of monophthongs
Long and short vowels differ in length as well as vowel sound. There are rules about
vowel length – ‘h’ after a vowel lengthens the vowel, double vowel also indicates
long vowel.
Double consonants after a vowel shorten the vowel. Unstressed syllables are usually
short vowels.
Long vowels
Letter
a
e
i
ie
o
u
Sounds Like
a in ‘far’
similar to ‘say’ but without the ‘y’ sound
(a bit like a Scottish person would
pronounce it)
as in ‘seat’ but pure vowel sound without
diphthong
= ‘i’ above
as n ‘boat’ but without the diphthong (the
‘u’ sound)
as in ‘hoot’ but a pure vowel sound
without diphthong
Example
Fahne (flag)
Beet (flower bed)
Linie (line)
vlel (much)
Boot (boat)
gut (good)
Short vowels
Letter
a
e
i
o
u
-er (end syllable)
Sounds Like
as in ‘but’
as in ‘bet’
as in ‘bit’
as in ‘moth’
as in ‘put’
as in ‘pat’
Example
Ratte (rat)
Bett (bed)
Bitte (request)
Motte (moth)
Mutter (mother)
bitter (bitter)
Umlaute
Letter
ä
ö
ü
Sounds Like
long ‘e’ (see above)
e with rounded lips, similar to ‘fur’
i with rounded lips
Example
Väter (fathers)
hören (to hear)
Tür (door
Diphthongs
Letter
au
ei
eu/äu
Sounds Like
ao, similar to ‘house’
ai, similar to ‘pie’
oy, similar to ‘boy’
Example
Haus (house)
teilen (to share)
Häuser (houses)
Remember
Avoid involuntary humour by remembering the correct pronunciation of ie (=ee) and
ei (= ie as in pie)
Lieder (songs)
vs
Leider (unfortunately)
Lieb (dear)
vs
Leib (body)
Distinguish between u and ü
Er fuhr (he drove)
Tour (tour)
für (for)
Tür (door)
Distinguish between endings in –e and –er
bitte (please)
bitter (bitter)
Distinguish between long and short vowels
Maße [long] (measurements) vs
Masse [short] (mass)
Höhle [long] (cave)
vs
Hölle [short] (hell)
Consonants
Are mostly pronounced as in English
Exceptions
Letter
C
J
L
Qu
R
v
w
z
Sounds Like
Ts
Y
pronounced with the tip of the tongue behind the teeth
Kv
rolled, stage language uses tongue r as in English
F
V
Ts
Example
Cäsar (Cesar)
Johanna (Joanna)
fallen (to fall)
Quelle (spring)
raten (to guess)
Vater (father)
wieviel (how much)
Zunge (tongue)
Consonant combinations
initial consonant combinations do not drop consonants
eg.:
Pfund
= pf
Xylophon
= ks
Psychologie = ps
Letter
Sch
ch – type 1(after a, o, u, au,
ö)
ch – type 2 (after e, I, ei, eu,
ü)
Sounds Like
Sh
as in ‘Loch Ness’
Example
Schule (school)
Loch (hole)
as the initial sound in
‘huge’
at the same spot as ‘y’,
but not sounded
Ich (I)
riechen (to smell)
Küche (kitchen)
Mönch (monk)
Special rules
‘ng’
The g in ‘ng’ is not articulated (i.e. it sounds like –ng in the word ‘ring’ but not like in
‘ringer’)
Compare
English
‘finger’
‘longer’
German
‘Finger’
‘länger’
Ending ‘–tion’
The ending ‘–tion’ is pronounced –tsee-on
eg. Nation, Ration
Initial combinations
st = sht eg. ‘Stand’ (stall)
sp = shp eg. ‘Spiel’ (game)
This is true also in compound nouns eg.: ‘Ringelspiel’ (merry-go-round)
End of words:
-ig is pronounced as –ich
-d is pronounced as –t
-b is pronounced as –p
eg. ‘König’ (king)
eg.: ‘Tod’ (death)
eg.: ‘Grab’ (grave)
Remember:
distinguish between ‘sch’ and ‘ch’
Kirche (church)
Kirsche (cherry)