Go to the homepage of our German Course The German Alphabet University of Portsmouth
The letters of the German alphabet  Includes sound files!

Like English, the German alphabet has 26 letters. The names for each letter are in many cases slightly different to their English equivalents or are pronounced in a different way. These letters and their names are listed in the table below. Click on the sound icon to the right of each letter to hear it being spoken by a native speaker.

The German letter a  ah      The German letter b  beh      The German letter c  tseh  
The German letter d  deh      The German letter e  eh      The German letter f  eff  
The German letter g  geh      The German letter h  hah      The German letter i  eeh  
The German letter j  yot      The German letter k  kah      The German letter l  ell  
The German letter m  emm      The German letter n  enn      The German letter o  oh  
The German letter p  peh      The German letter q  kuh      The German letter r  err  
The German letter s  ess      The German letter t  teh      The German letter u  uh  
The German letter v  fau      The German letter w  weh      The German letter x  iks  
The German letter y  üppsilon      The German letter z  tsett  

Weiter! German umlauts and the eszett




The German alphabet song Includes sound files!

Click here to listen to the soundsTo help you remember the letters of the German alphabet, there is a handy rhyme which is sung to the same tune as its English equivalent, although it has to be modified slightly to rhyme in German. Click either here or on the sound icon on left to listen to this song being sung by a native speaker. The text of the song is given in the box below:

   a, b, c, d, e, f, g   
   h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p   
   q, r, s, t, u, v, w   
   q, r, s, t, u, v, w   
   x, y, z - juchhe!   
   Das ist das ganze ABC!   
  
   (a, b, c, d, e, f, g   
   h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p   
   q, r, s, t, u, v, w   
   q, r, s, t, u, v, w   
   x, y, z - hooray!   
   This is the whole ABC!)   


Click here to listen to the soundsAlternative version of the song
If you wish to practise this as a group in class, click either here or on the sound icon on the left for a slower version of the same alphabet song. This version of the rhyme stops after each line to give you time to repeat it before moving on to the next line. And below are a number of further exercises to help you master the German alphabet and German pronunciation in general.



Web links  Alphabet and Pronunciation Exercises  Web links

  Alphabet exercises
Spelling your name Listen to some German names being spelled and see if you can write them down.
German abbreviations Read out some German abbreviations and then hear how they should sound.
MFG - mit freundlichen Grüßen Watch a video for a German rap video made up of abbrevations and then sing along to the instrumental!
 
  Pronunciation exercises
Anglicized German words How to pronounce German words that have made their way into the English language.
Similar words in English and German These words in this exercise may look familiar to us, but are spoken very differently in German.
Anglicized German names How should the names of these famous people from the German-speaking countries actually be pronounced?
German names for cities How do native German speakers refer to the following towns and cities?
German tongue-twisters Listen to and then try to repeat a collection of German tongue-twisters.


Go back to the top of the page

Print this Document Print This Page

Homepage: Paul Joyce German Course
© Paul Joyce 2010