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.
|
|
| Vowels
|
| IPA |
Examples |
English approximation
|
| Monophthongs
|
| a
|
Dach |
bra (but shorter)
|
| aː
|
Bahn |
bra
|
| eː
|
Beet |
face
|
| ɛ
|
Bett, hätte |
bed
|
| ɛː
|
wähle[5] |
as above but longer; like RP English bared
|
| iː
|
viel |
meet
|
| ɪ
|
bist |
sit
|
| oː
|
Boot |
somewhat like bone
|
| ɔ
|
Post |
hospitality
|
| øː
|
Öl |
somewhat like hurl; French deux
|
| œ
|
göttlich |
close to hurt or French sœur
|
| uː
|
Hut |
true
|
| ʊ
|
Putz |
took
|
| yː
|
Rübe |
French rue
|
| ʏ
|
füllt |
much like the above but shorter
|
| Diphthongs
|
| aɪ
|
weit |
tie
|
| aʊ
|
Haut |
how
|
| ɔʏ
|
Heu, Räuber |
boy
|
| Reduced vowels
|
| ɐ
|
Ober[2] |
fun
|
| ə
|
halte |
comma (when pronounced without stress)
|
| Semivowels
|
| ɐ̯
|
Uhr[2] |
comma
|
| i̯
|
Studie |
studio
|
| u̯
|
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])
|
|
- ↑ 1.0 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.
- ↑ 2.0 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]
- ↑ /x/ is realized as a uvular fricative [χ] after /a/, /aː/, and often /ʊ/, /ɔ/, and /aʊ/.
- ↑ In many varieties of German except for Swiss Standard German, all initial vowels are preceded by [ʔ].
- ↑ [ɛː] is often replaced by [eː].
