The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents German language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See German phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of German.

Consonants
IPA Examples English approximation
b Ball[1] ball
ç ich, durch hue
d dann[1] done
f Fass, Vogel fuss,
ɡ Gast[1] guest
h hat hut
j ja yard
k kalt cold
l Last last
m Mast must
n Naht not
ŋ lang long
p Pakt puck
pf Pfahl p + f
ʁ Rast[2] like a French R
ʀ like a French trilled R
r like an Italian R
s Hast fast
ʃ schal, Stein shall
t Tal tall
ts Zahl cats
Matsch match
v was vanish
x Bach[3] loch (Scottish)
z Hase[1] hose
ʔ beamtet[4]
([bəˈʔamtət])
the glottal stop in uh-oh!
Non-native consonants
Dschungel[1] jungle
ʒ Genie[1] beige, Zsa Zsa
Stress
ˈ Bahnhofstraße
([ˈbaːnhoːfˌʃtʁaːsə])
as in battleship /ˈbætəlˌʃɪp/
ˌ
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
Monophthongs
a Dach bra (but shorter)
Bahn bra
Beet face
ɛ Bett, hätte bed
ɛː wähle[5] as above but longer; like RP English bared
viel meet
ɪ bist sit
Boot somewhat like bone
ɔ Post hospitality
øː Öl somewhat like hurl; French deux
œ göttlich close to hurt or French sœur
Hut true
ʊ Putz took
Rübe French rue
ʏ füllt much like the above but shorter
Diphthongs
weit tie
Haut how
ɔʏ Heu, Räuber boy
Reduced vowels
ɐ Ober[2] fun
ə halte comma (when pronounced without stress)
Semivowels
ɐ̯ Uhr[2] comma
Studie studio
aktuell actual
Non-native vowels
e Methan (short [eː])
i vital city (short [iː])
o Moral (short [oː])
ø Ökonom (short [øː])
u kulant (short [uː])
y Psychologie (short [yː])
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The German lenis consonants [b d ɡ z ʒ dʒ] are often pronounced without voice as [b̥ d̥ ɡ̊ z̥ ʒ̊ d̥ʒ̊]. In Southern German, the voiceless pronunciation prevails.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pronunciation of /r/ in German varies according to region and speaker. While older prescriptive pronunciation dictionaries allowed only [r], this pronunciation is nowadays found mainly in Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria, while in other regions the uvular pronunciation prevails, with the allophones [ʁ] and [ʀ]. In many regions except for Switzerland, the /r/ in the syllable coda is vocalized to [ɐ̯] after long vowels or after all vowels, and /ər/ is pronounced as [ɐ]
  3. /x/ is realized as a uvular fricative [χ] after /a/, /aː/, and often /ʊ/, /ɔ/, and /aʊ/.
  4. In many varieties of German except for Swiss Standard German, all initial vowels are preceded by [ʔ].
  5. [ɛː] is often replaced by [eː].