Pronunciation
In order to speak proper German, you need to know how to pronounce the German letters, the German umlauts, the German dipthongs, and the German numbers. On this and all of the other pages in this phrasebook, Capital Vowels (AEIOU) represent Long Vowels, and lower-case vowels (aeiou) represent short vowels.Alphabet
| A | ah ah |
| Ä | ae ae |
| B | bay b |
| C | say c |
| D | day T |
| E | A A |
| F | just like english f |
| G | gay g |
| H | ha h |
| I | E E |
| J | jot YA |
| K | kah k |
| L | just like english l |
| M | just like english m |
| N | just like english n |
| O | just like english o |
| Ö | oe oe |
| P | pay p |
| Q | koo KAH |
| R | air r |
| S | just like english Z |
| ß | double S s |
| T | tay t |
| U | oo oo |
| Ü | ue ue |
| V | fow F |
| W | vay V |
| X | iks iks |
| Y | upsilon J |
| Z | tset TS |
Umlaut
The ä, ö, and ü have special pronunciations that are difficult for english speakers. In general, try to pronounce the letter as a Long Vowel in english while trying to shape your mouth as trying to say a Long E. Strange, yes, but it gets pretty close.Dipthongs
| au | ow (like OUCH) |
| äu | oy |
| ei | I |
| eu | oy |
| ie | E |
| sch | sh |
| st | sht |
Cardinal Numbers (1, 2, 3)
| -1 | minus eins mee-noos aye-ns |
| 0 | null nool |
| 1 | eins aye-ns |
| 2 | zwei ts-vaye |
| 3 | drei dr-aye |
| 4 | vier feer |
| 5 | fünf fuenf |
| 6 | sechs zehx |
| 7 | sieben zee-behn |
| 8 | acht ohkt |
| 9 | neun noyn |
| 10 | zehn ts-ayhn |
| 11 | elf elf |
| 12 | zwölf ts-voelf |
| 13 | dreizehn draye-tsay-hn |
| 14 | vierzehn fear-tsay-hn |
| 15 | fünfzehn fuenf-tsay-hn |
| 16 | sechzehn zehx-tsay-hn |
| 17 | siebzehn zeeb-tsay-hn |
| 18 | achtzehn ohkt-tsay-hn |
| 19 | neunzehn noyn-tsay-hn |
| 20 | zwanzig ts-vahn-tsee-sh |
| 21 | ein und zwanzig ayn oont ts-vahn-tsee-sh |
| 22 | zwei und zwanzig ts-vaye oont ts-vahn-tsee-sh |
| 30 | dreißig draye-see-sh |
| 31 | ein und dreißig ayn oont draye-see-sh |
| 32 | zwei und dreißig ts-vaye oont draye-see-sh |
| 40 | vierzig feer-tsee-sh |
| 41 | ein und vierzig ayn oont feer-tsee-sh |
| 42 | zwei und vierzig ts-vaye oont feer-tsee-sh |
| 50 | fünfzig fuenf-tsee-sh |
| 60 | sechzig zehx-tsee-sh |
| 70 | siebzig zeeb-tsee-sh |
| 80 | achtzig ohkt-tsee-sh |
| 90 | neunzig noyn-tsee-sh |
| 100 | hundert hoon-dert |
| 200 | zwei hundert ts-vaye hoon-dert |
| 1000 | tausend tOW-zehnd |
| 2000 | zwei tausend ts-vay tOW-zehnd |
| 1000 | zehn tausend ts-ayhn tOW-zehnd |
| 100000 | hundert tausend hoon-dert tOW-zehnd |
| 1 million | ein million (Mio.) ayn mee-lee-ohn |
| 1 billion | ein milliarde (Mrd.) ayn mee-lee-ahrd-eh |
Ordinal Numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
| 1st | erste ehr-steh |
| 2nd | zweite ts-vaye-teh |
| 3rd | dreite dr-aye-teh |
| 4th | vierte feer-teh |
| 5th | fünfte fuenf-teh |
| 6th | sechste zehx-steh |
| 7th | siebente zee-behn-teh |
| 8th | achte ohkt-teh |
| 9th | neunte noyn-teh |
| 10th | zehnte ts-ayhn-teh |
| 11th | elfte elf-teh |
| 12th | zwölfte ts-voelf-teh |
| 13th | dreizehnte dr-aye-tsayn-teh |
| 14th | vierzehnte feer-tsayn-teh |
| 15th | fünfzehnte fuenf-tsayn-teh |
| 16th | sechzehnte zehx-tsayn-teh |
| 17th | siebzehnte zeeb-tsayn-teh |
| 18th | achtzehnte ohkt-tsayn-teh |
| 19th | neunzehnte noyn-tsayn-teh |
| 20th | zwanzigste ts-vahn-tseesh-steh |
| 21st | ein und zwanzigste ayn oont ts-vahn-tseesh-steh |
| 22nd | zwei und zwanzigste ts-vaye oont ts-vahn-tseesh-steh |
| 30th | dreißigste dr-aye-seesh-steh |
| 31st | ein und dreißigste ayn oont dr-aye-seesh-steh |
| 32nd | zwei und dreißigste ts-vaye oont dr-aye-seesh-steh |
| 40th | vierzigste feer-tseesh-steh |
| 50th | fünfzigste fuenf-tseesh-steh |
| 60th | sechzigste zehx-tseesh-steh |
| 70th | siebzigste zeeb-tseesh-steh |
| 80th | achtzigste ohkt-tseesh-steh |
| 90th | neunzigste noyn-tseesh-steh |
| 100th | hundertste hoon-dert-steh |
| 200th | zwei hundertste ts-vaye hoon-dert-steh |
| 1000th | tausendste tOW-zehnd-steh |
| 2000th | zwei tausendste ts-vaye tOW-zehnd-steh |
| 10000th | zehn tausendste ts-ayhn tOW-zehnd-steh |
| 100000th | hundert tausendste hoon-dert tOW-zehnd-steh |
| 1 millionth | ein millionste ayn meel-ee-ohn-steh |
| 1 billionth | ein milliardste ayn meel-ee-ard-steh |