Cómo empezar a aprender alemán
Como puedes imaginar, el primer paso para aprender un idioma es conocer su alfabeto. Repasemos el alfabeto alemán, letra por letra.
Por cierto, esta es la guía que más me ha ayudado a la hora de empezar a aprender alemán por mi cuenta 😉
Las letras con un asterisco (*) no pertenecen al alfabeto en sí, sino que representan diferentes sonidos que deben ser resaltados y tratados por separado.
Los símbolos de pronunciación son lo más precisos posible, pero recomiendo que escuches los audios para familiarizarte con los diferentes sonidos. Lo he grabado yo mismo en una pronunciación alemana (de Alemania) lo más estándar posible, con algunas variaciones de pronunciación en algunos casos.
Espero que te sea útil 😊
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation | Examples | Phonetics | Traduction |
| a | a | [a] Short, like the vowel in (northern) English ‘ham’: Kamm, Lamm. Long, like the vowel in English ‘harm’: kam, lahm. | Katze | [‘kaʧe] | cat |
| ah | – | Long [a]. | lahm | [la:m] | lame |
| ä* | ae | [e] Short, like the first vowel in English ‘enter’: Essen, Ämter. Long, it has no equivalent in English. Esel ([e:zel] ‘donkey’) almost rhymes with ‘hazel’ but without the vowel glide of English. | Ärtz | [ærts] | doctor |
| äu* | – | These combinations of letters represent the sound ‘oi’: Mäuse ([moize] ‘mice’); Europa ([oiro:pa] ‘Europe)’. | aufräumen | [auf’roimen] | tidy up |
| b | be | [b] These are pronounced ‘p’ and ‘t’ respectively when at the end of a word or syllable: ab ([ap] ‘away’), Rad ([ra:t] ‘wheel’). | bestehen | [beʃ’tejen] | to exist |
| c | tse | It is pronounced ‘ts’ like in Center or ‘k’ like in Computer. | Computer Center | [kom’pjutɔ] [‘tsentɔ] | computer center |
| ch* | – | (a) This is pronounced hard, midway between ‘k’ and ‘h’ (as in Scots English ‘loch’) when it follows a back vowel (a, a:, o, o:, u, u: and au): Bach ([bakh] ‘stream’), Loch ([lokh] ‘hole’), Buch ([bu:kh] ‘book’), Bauch ([baukh] ‘stomach’). (b) This is pronounced soft, rather like ‘sh’ (but halfway between English ‘sh’ and the above sound) when it follows a consonant or a front vowel [i, i:, e, e:, ä, ä:, ö, ö:, ü, ü: and äu, eu, ai, ei]: Milch ([milch] ‘milk’), Löcher ([löcher] ‘holes’), Bücher ([bü:cher] ‘books’), Bäche ([beche] ‘streams’), Bäuche ([boiche] ‘stomachs’). It is the first sound in the English word ‘huge’. As for the ending -ig, the g is pronounced like soft ch (see above) when at the end of a word or syllable. In some parts of Germany it is, however, pronounced ‘k’ in these positions: billig ([billich, billik] ‘cheap’). | Buch Milch Ich | [bookh] [milch] [ich] | book milk I (me) |
| d | de | [d] These are pronounced ‘p’ and ‘t’ respectively when at the end of a word or syllable: ab ([ap] ‘away’), Rad ([ra:t] ‘wheel’). | dort Rad | [dɔ:t] [ra:t] | there wheel |
| e | e | [e] Short, like the first vowel in English ‘enter’: Essen, Ämter. Long, it has no equivalent in English. Esel ([e:zel] ‘donkey’) almost rhymes with ‘hazel’ but without the vowel glide of English. | essen | [‘esen] | to eat |
| ee* | – | This is always pronounced long: Tee ([te:] ‘tea’) rhymes with ‘hay’, but without the vowel glide of English. | Tee | [tee] | tea |
| eh* | – | Long [e] but similar to ‘ej’. | sehen | [‘seejen] | to see |
| ei* | – | Pronounced like the glide in English ‘ice’ (German Eis). | Eis | [ais] | ice |
| eu* | – | These combinations of letters represent the sound ‘oi’: Mäuse ([moize] ‘mice’); Europa ([oiro:pa] ‘Europe)’. | Deutsch | [doiʧ] | German |
| f | ef | [f] as in fault. | Farbe | [‘fagbe] | color |
| g | ge | [g] as in good. As for the ending -ig, the g is pronounced like soft ch (see above) when at the end of a word or syllable. In some parts of Germany it is, however, pronounced ‘k’ in these positions: billig ([billich, billik] ‘cheap’). | genau richtig | [ge’nau] [‘richtich] / [‘richtik] | that’s it correct |
| h | ha | [h] Aspirated. | hallo | [‘halo] | hello |
| i | ee | [i] Short, like the vowel in English ‘it’: List ([list] ‘cunning’) | mit | [mɪt] | with |
| ie* | – | As a single syllable, this is always pronounced long, like the vowel in English ‘eat’: liest ([li:st] ‘reads’). | Sieg | [zi:g] | victory |
| j | jot | This is pronounced ‘y’ in German: Juli ([yu:li] ‘July’). | ja | [ya] | yes |
| k | ka | [k] as in key. | kommen | [‘komen] | to come |
| l | el | [l] In standard pronunciation [l] is always the alveolar, or ‘clear’ l of English ‘flee’, never the velar, or ‘dark’ l of English ‘cool’. | lange | [‘lange] | long |
| m | em | [m] as in mother. | mehr | [me:ɔ] | more |
| n | en | [n] as in nose. | nein | [naɪn] | no |
| o | o | [o] Short, like the vowel in English ‘off’: offen ([ofen] open). Long, like the vowel in English ‘oaf’, but without the vowel glide of English: Ofen ([o:fen] ‘oven’). | Schloss | [ʃ’loss] | castle |
| oh* | – | Long [o]. | obwohl | [‘obvo:l] | although |
| ö | oe | Short [o], it has no near equivalent in English: können ([könen] ‘to be able to’). Long [o:], like the vowel in English ‘urn’, but with the tongue further forward, the lips rounded and without the glide of English: Söhne ([zö:ne] ’sons’). | Österreich | [‘œstegaich] | Austria |
| p | pe | [p] as in poor. | plötzlich | [‘plœtslich] | suddenly |
| q | ku | The combination ‘qu’ is pronounced ‘kv’: quer ([kve:r] ‘diagonal’). | überqueren | [uebɔ:’kvegen] | to cross |
| r | er | Like ‘rr’ in Portuguese or ‘r’ al the beginning of a word. | recht | [gecht] | right |
| s | es | This is pronounced ‘z’ preceding a vowel: so [zo:], versammeln ([ferzameln] ‘gather’), but is pronounced as an ‘s’ in some words imported from English: sexy [seksi], Suzy [su:zi]. ‘st’ and ‘sp’ are pronounced ‘sht’, ‘shp’ at the beginning of a word or syllable: Stuttgart [shtutgart], Spiel ([shpi:l] ‘game’). (In some parts of Germany, e.g. in Hamburg, these are pronounced without the ‘sh’ sound: [stutgart] [spi:l].) | sie sexy Spiel | [zi:] [‘seksi] [ʃ’pi:l] | she sexy game |
| ß | estset | German has one consonant letter not found in English: ß. Called ‘sharp s’ or ‘s-tset’, this letter is always pronounced voiceless, i.e. as in ‘hiss’ as opposed to ‘his’. It is always written instead of double-s (ss) when preceded by a long vowel. Thus: Long: Maße [ma:se] Füße [fü:se] stoße [shto:se] Stöße [shtö:se] Short: Masse [mase] Flüsse [flüse] Sprosse [shprose] Schlösser [shlöser] Hass [has]). | heißen | [‘haissen] | to be called / to mean |
| sch* | – | This is pronounced ‘sh’: Schule ([shu:le] ‘school’). | Schule | [‘ʃu:lə] | school |
| t | te | [t] as in teacher. | trotzdem | [‘tgotsdem] | nevertheless |
| u | u | Short [u], like the vowel in English ‘puli’: Pulli ([puli] ‘pullover’). Long [u:], like the vowel in English ‘tool’: Puder ([pu:der] ‘powder’). | Musik | [mu’zi:k] | music |
| uh* | – | Long [u] as in ‘oo’ in fool. | Ruhe | [‘gu:,e] | silence / rest / calm |
| ü | ue | Sound produced by performing English ‘ee’ in ‘green’ and pursing the lips. This produces a front vowel sound with rounded lips, long in grün ([grü:n] ‘green’) and typisch ([tü:pish] ‘typical’); short in Küsse ([küse] ‘kisses’). | Mühe | [mue:,e] | effort |
| v | vao | This is usually pronounced ‘f’ at the beginning of words and syllables: viel ([fi:l] ‘a lot’); and at the end of words: brav ([bra:f] ‘well behaved’). | verbieten | [fə:’bi:ten] | to forbid |
| w | ve | This is pronounced ‘v’ at the beginning of words and syllables: weil ([vail] ‘because’). | Wasser | [‘vasɔ] | water |
| x | ex | [ks] as ‘x’ in text. | mixen | [‘miksen] | to mix |
| y | ue | Sound produced by performing English ‘ee’ in ‘green’ and pursing the lips. This produces a front vowel sound with rounded lips, long in grün ([grü:n] ‘green’) and typisch ([tü:pish] ‘typical’); short in Küsse ([küse] ‘kisses’). | Typ | [tüp] | guy |
| z | tset | This is pronounced ‘ts’, also at the beginning of a word or syllable: Skizze ([skitse] ‘sketch’), zu ([tsu:] ‘to’), hinzu ([hintsu:] ‘in addition’), zusammen ([tsuzamen] ‘together’). | Zahn | [tsa:n] | tooth |
