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Das Abc - Das Alphabet

In the following chart you'll find the letters of the German alphabet, including those unique to German (in lighter boxes). The pronunciation shown is only approximate and is for the letter (der Buchstabe) itself, not the way it may be sounded in the sample words shown.

The alphabet is a very practical thing to learn. There are times when you may need to spell your name or other words on the phone. A BMW car is prounonced BAY-EM-VAY in German. A VW is a FOW-VAY. A bra is a BAY-HAH (BH) in German. Many other German words are reduced to letters in the same way: Lkw (truck, ELL-KA-VAY), Pkw (car, PAY-KA-VAY), ICE (high-speed train, EE-SAY-AY).

For older German font/type styles such as Gothic (Fraktur) or the hand-written Sütterlin, see the links under "Genealogy" or "Translation" in the Subjects box on the left.

das Alphabet
Buchstabe Letter	Aussprache Pronunciation	Beispiele / Examples
A a	ah	ab (from), der Apparat (appliance, phone)
Ä ä	ay	der Äther (ether), die Fähre (ferry)
B b	bay	bei (at, near), das Buch (book)
C c	say	die City (downtown), der Computer
D d	day	durch (through), dunkel (dark)
E e	ay	elf (eleven), wer (who), er (he)
F f	eff	faul (lazy), der Feind (enemy)
G g	gay	das Gehirn (brain), gleich (same, equal)
H h	haa	die Hand (hand), halb (half)
I i	eeh	der Igel (hedgehog), immer (always)
J j	yot	das Jahr (year), jung (young)
K k	kah	der Kalender (calendar), kennen (know)
L l	ell	langsam (slow, slowly), die Leute (people)
M m	emm	mein (my), der Mann (man)
N n	enn	die Nacht (night), nein (no), nicht (not)
O o	oh	das Ohr (ear), die Oper (opera)
Ö ö	ooh	Österreich (Austria), öfters (once in a while)
P p	pay	das Papier (paper), positiv (positive)
Q q	koo	die Quelle (source), quer (crossways)
R r	err	das Rathaus (city hall), rechts (right)
S s	ess	die Sache (matter), das Salz (salt), seit (since)
ß	ess-zett	Lower case only. Replaces "ss" in some words. Not used in Swiss German. groß (big, great), die Straße (street) BUT: das Wasser (water), dass (that), muss (must)
T t	tay	der Tag (day), das Tier (animal)
U u	ooh	die U-Bahn (subway, metro), unter (below)
Ü ü	uyuh	über (over, about), die Tür (door)
V v	fow	der Vater (father), vier (four)
W w	vay	wenn (if, whenever), die Woche (week)
X x	ixx	x-mal (umpteen), das Xylofon
Y y	oop-see- lohn	der Yen (yen), der Typ (type)
Z z	zett	zahlen (pay), die Pizza, zu (to, too)

Info about studying German language:

• Learn German in Austria: Young and dynamic agency born with the aim of connecting schools and students from all over the world. Find here more information about German language schools and German language courses in Austria.

Info about studying in German countries:

• Guide to Study in Austria: Find universities and colleges in Austria. It offers also pratical information for students that are planning to study in Austria.