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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 ball
ç ich hue
d dann den
f Fass fast
ɡ Gast guest
h hat hat
j ja yard
k kalt kick
l Last last
m Mast mast
n Naht not
ŋ lang long
p Pakt pack
pf Pfahl p + f
ʁ Rast[1] like a French R
s Hast fast
ʃ schal shall
t Tal tall
ts Zahl cats
tʃ Matsch match
v was vast
x Bach as Scottish loch
z Hase hose
ʔ beamtet[2]
([bəˈʔamtət]) the catch in uh-oh!
Non-native consonants
ð Motherboard[3] as in English
dʒ Dschungel jungle
ɹ Rockband[4] as in English
w Walkman[5] as in English
θ Thread[6] as in English
ʒ Genie beige, Zsa Zsa
Stress
ˈ Bahnhofstraße
(/ˈbaːnhoːfˌʃtʁaːsə/) as in ˈbattleˌship
ˌ
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
Stressed and unstressed
a hat father (but shorter)
aː bahn father
aɪ weit tie
aʊ Haut how
eː Beet Scottish face
ɛ hätte bed
ɛː wähle[7] English bear
iː viel meet
ɪ bist sit
oː Boot Scottish bone
ɔ Post caught (but shorter)
ɔʏ Heu boy
øː Öl
œ göttlich
uː Hut true
ʊ Putz took
yː Rübe
ʏ füllt
Unstressed only
ɐ Ober fun
ə halte comma
Non-native vowels
e Methan (short eː)
i vital city (short iː)
o Moral (short oː)
ø Ökonom
u kulant (short uː)
y Psychologie
ã Pensee[8] (nasalized a)
ãː Gourmand[8] (long nasalized a)
ɛ̃ timbrieren[9] (nasalized ɛ)
ɛ̃ː Teint[9] (long nasalized ɛ)
ɔ̃ Fondue[10] (nasalized ɔ)
ɔ̃ː Fond[10] (long nasalized ɔ)
œ̃ Lundist[11]
œ̃ː Parfum[11]
Marginal vowels
ɔː Walkman[12] as in English
ʌ Motherboard[13] as in English
Semivowels
ɐ̯ Uhr
i̯ Studie
u̯ aktuell

Notes

^ Pronunciation of r in German varies according to speaker. Another common variant is [ʀ], the uvular trill, and indeed the symbol [ʀ] is sometimes used in place of [ʁ]. Some other sources simply write [r].
^ Often not indicated at the beginning of a word, although all apparently vowel-initial words in German actually begin with [ʔ].
^ Many German speakers replace [ð] with [z].
^ Many German speakers replace [ɹ] with [ʁ].
^ Many German speakers replace [w] with [v].
^ Many German speakers replace [θ] with [s].
^ Often replaced by [eː]
^ ^a ^b Sometimes replaced by [aŋ].
^ ^a ^b Sometimes replaced by [ɛŋ].
^ ^a ^b Sometimes replaced by [ɔŋ].
^ ^a ^b Sometimes replaced by [œŋ].
^ Many German speakers replace [ɔː] with [ɔ] or [oː].
^ Many German speakers replace [ʌ] with [a].

Bibliography

Duden 6: Das Aussprachewörterbuch (3d edition, 1990, ISBN 3-411-20916-X).

Categories: Wikipedia IPA