24.11.2022
German letters: umlaut ü ö ä
Each language has certain characteristics. These may include pronunciation, a special sound system. And German is no exception. It contains sounds a number, which pronunciation is almost identical to the Russian corresponding sounds. But there are vowel sounds that have no analogues either in Russian or in English. These sounds are called umlauts in German.
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Öö — о-umlaut,
Ää — а-umlaut,
Üü — у-umlaut
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Simply put, umlauts are letters with two dots above the letters a, o, u. The umlauts are not the German alphabet part, but they are used in speech and in writing. Many people naturally have questions: how are the umlauts pronounced? What is the difference between the letters a, o, u and the umlauts ä, ö, ü?
A simple example: schon and schön.
Almost identical words in spelling, but there is a huge difference. Let’s find out what it is. In the first case, the word “schon” – means “уже” and is used in German as an adverb. For example, Ich bin schon hier. – Я уже здесь.
In the second case, the word “schön” – means “красивый” and is used as an adjective. For example, Ich bin schön. – Я красивый.
Such a seemingly insignificant difference in spelling – the letter o or umlaut ö – but the word meaning changes fundamentally.умлаут
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The umlauts pronunciation
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It is very important to learn how to pronounce umlauts correctly, because if you pronounce them incorrectly, you will either not be understood or, even worse, misunderstood. So, to make sure you don’t make any mistakes, learn how to pronounce umlauts when you start learning German!
Remember that there’s nothing difficult about it, you just need to learn a few pronunciation rules, and we’ll help you with that!
To pronounce umlauts correctly, as in the case with any other sounds, you need to put your lips and tongue in a certain position and make a sound.
Let’s talk more about the three umlauts each.
A-umlaut
Ää a-umlaut in German will be pronounced like a Russian letter “э”.
Examples:
der Bär (бэр) – медведь
spät (шпэт) – поздно
das Mädchen (мэдхен) – девочка
der Käse (кэзэ) – сыр
die Wäsche (вэшэ) – белье
die Kälte (кэльтэ) – холод
nähen (нэен) – шить
der Lärm (лэрм) – шум
die Änderung (эндэрунг) – изменение
männlich (мэнлихь) – мужской
hässlich (хэслихь) – уродливый
das Getränk (гэтрэнк) – напиток
schädlich (шэдлихь) – вредно
In addition, a-umlaut may be used in the nouns plural when it was not present in the singular. For example, der Apfel – яблоко, but die Äpfel – яблоки; der Mann – мужчина, but die Männer – мужчины.
In the position «äh» the sound becomes longer:der Zahn – зуб, but die Zähne – зубы.
The diphthong «äu» it reads like [ой]: das Haus – дом, но die Häuser – дома.
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O-umlaut
When pronouncing Öö o-umlaut, the tongue position should be as in э, and the lips — as with о. There is no this sound direct analogue, but the closest to it are [ё] and the nasal [о]:
möchten (мёхтен) – хотеть, хотел бы
hören (хёрен) – слышать
persönlich (пэрзёнлихь) – личный
Köln (кёльн) – Кёльн
der Löwe (лёвэ) – лев
das Möbel (мёбэль) – мебель
das Öl (ёль) – масло
mögen (мёгэн) – любить
öffnen (ёфнэн) – открывать
die Lösung (лёзунг) – решение
können (кёнэн) – мочь, уметь
böse (бёзэ) – злой
die Flöte (флётэ) – флейта
zwölf (цвёльф) – двенадцать
schön (шён) – красивый
die Möglichkeit (мёглихькайт) – возможность
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U-umlaut
When do you want to pronounce in a word Üü u-umlaut, the tongue position should be like when pronouncing the letter и, and the lips — as with у. This letter conveys a sound that, to a native Russian speaker, resembles something between soft Russian [у] and [ю]:
grün (грюн) – зеленый
fünf (фюнф) – пять
die Bücher (бюхэр) – книги
hübsch (хюбш) – милый
der Müll (мюль) – мусор
süchtig (зюхтихь) – зависимый
süß (зюс) – сладкий
die Küche (кюхэ) – кухня
die Tüte (тютэ) – пакет
müde (мюдэ) – усталый
das Glück (глюк) – счастье
As you can see, there are words a lot with umlauts in the German language, so they are very important in our speech. Without the umlauts use, it is impossible to convey one or another shade in an utterance. Not only the sound tone, but also the word meaning depends on whether a letter with dots is placed in the word or not!
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