25.11.2022
German alphabet with transcription
Learning any foreign language begins with the alphabet, and German is no exception. German is based on the Latin alphabet, but at the same time has some peculiarities that you need to know.
It is important to remember that the German language alphabet 26 letters consists. In addition, in addition to the alphabet, umlauts, in other words, vowel letters with dots, for example, belong to the alphabet: Ä-ä, Ü-ü, Ö-ö and the ligature ß. These letters are not the alphabet part, but at the same time they are quite common and used in German. For example, die Äpfel – яблоки, die Übung – упражнение, die Söhne – сыновья, heiß – горячий.
Now it remains only to learn how to pronounce these letters correctly, let’s get started. Visually, the German language alphabet looks like this:
Let’s look at it in more detail. The letters’ pronunciation in German is shown in the table with examples below:
| The German alphabet letter | Traditional transcription | Russian pronunciation | Words examples with this letter |
| A a | [a:] | [а] | der Abend – вечер, arm – бедный |
| B b | [bε:] | [бэ] | der Bus – автобус, banal – банальный |
| C c | [tsε:] | [цэ] | der Chef – шеф, China – Китай (произносится как “Хина”) |
| D d | [de:] | [дэ] | das Drama – драма, das Lied – песня |
| E e | [e:] | [э] | egal – безразлично, die Ehe – супружество |
| F f | [εf] | [эф] | fünf- пять, falsch – ошибочно |
| G g | [ge] | [гэ] | gut – хороший, gern – охотно |
| H h | [ha:] | [ха](звук [х] похож на очень легкий выдох) | hier – здесь, heute – сегодня |
| I i | [i:] | [и] | immer — всегда |
| J j | [jot] | [йот] | jetzig – нынешний, теперешний, ja – да |
| K k | [ka:] | [ка] | die Kamera – камера, klein – маленький |
| L l | [εl] | [эл] | legal – легальный, laufen – бежать |
| M m | [εm] | [эм] | die Mode – мода, malen – рисовать |
| N n | [εn] | [эн] | negativ – негативный, die Nacht – ночь |
| O o | [o:] | [о] | oval – овальный |
| P p | [pe:] | [пэ] | die Pause – пауза |
| Q q | [ku:] | [ку] | das Quadrat — квадрат |
| R r | [εr] | [эр] | regnerisch — дождливый, rufen – звать |
| S s | [εs] | [эс] | schnell – быстрый, der Sohn – сын |
| T t | [te:] | [тэ] | typisch – типичный |
| U u | [u:] | [у] | ursprünglich – исходный, изначальный |
| V v | [fao] | [фау] | verträglich – переносимый, сносный |
| W w | [ve:] | [вэ] | wichtig – важный |
| X x | [iks] | [икс] | Xenon-Scheinwerfer – ксеноновые фары |
| Y y | [ypsilon] | [ипсилон] | dynamisch — динамичный |
| Z z | [tsεt] | [цэт[ | das Ziel – цель |
The alphabet additional letters underlying the German language: | |||
| Ä ä | [ε] | а-умлаут:[э] | ärgerlich — досадный, раздражающий |
| Ö ö | [ø] | о-умлаут:как «ё» в слове «Лёня» | örtlich — местный, lösen – решать |
| Ü ü | [y] | у-умлаут:как «ю»в слове «Люся» | überflüssig — излишний, über – над, die Tür – дверь |
| ß | [s] | эсцет:как звук [с] | das Geschoß – ярус, этаж, der Fuß – нога |
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