Basics: Alphabet, Pronunciation & Greetings | German

The German Alphabet

German uses the Latin alphabet plus four special characters:

Letter	Name	Pronunciation
A	ah	like "father"
B	beh	like English
C	tseh	usually "ts" or "k"
D	deh	like English
E	eh	like "bed"
F	eff	like English
G	geh	always hard, like "go"
H	hah	like English
I	ee	like "machine"
J	yot	like "yes"
K	kah	like English
L	ell	like English
M	emm	like English
N	enn	like English
O	oh	like "go"
P	peh	like English
Q	koo	like English
R	err	rolled or guttural
S	ess	"z" before vowels, "s" otherwise
T	teh	like English
U	oo	like "food"
V	fau	like "f"
W	veh	like "v"
X	iks	like English
Y	üpsilon	like "ü"
Z	tsett	like "ts"

Special Characters (Umlauts & Eszett)

Letter	Sound	Example
Ä ä	like "bed"	Bär (bear)
Ö ö	round lips + "eh"	Öl (oil)
Ü ü	round lips + "ee"	Tür (door)
ß	"ss"	groß (big)

Note: ß is primarily lowercase (a capital ẞ was added in 2017 but is rarely used). After short vowels, use "ss" instead (Wasser).

Key Pronunciation Rules

Consonant Combinations

Combo	Sound	Example
ch	soft after e, i, ä, ö, ü; hard after a, o, u	ich, Buch
sch	"sh"	Schule (school)
sp	"shp" at start	Sprache (language)
st	"sht" at start	Straße (street)
tsch	"ch" like "church"	Deutsch (German)
ck	"k" (short vowel before)	Zucker (sugar)
pf	both pronounced	Apfel (apple)

Vowel Sounds

Vowel	Short	Long
a	Mann (man)	Vater (father)
e	Bett (bed)	Leben (life)
i	mit (with)	Liebe (love)
o	Gott (God)	Boot (boat)
u	Mutter (mother)	Schule (school)

Rule: Vowels are long before single consonants, short before double consonants.

Diphthongs

Combo	Sound	Example
ei, ai	"eye"	mein (my), Mai (May)
au	"ow" like cow	Haus (house)
eu, äu	"oy"	heute (today), Häuser (houses)
ie	"ee"	Liebe (love)

Essential Greetings

Formal Greetings

German	English	When to Use
Guten Morgen	Good morning	Until ~10am
Guten Tag	Good day	Daytime, formal
Guten Abend	Good evening	Evening
Gute Nacht	Good night	Before bed
Auf Wiedersehen	Goodbye	Formal farewell

Informal Greetings

German	English	When to Use
Hallo	Hello	Universal informal
Hi	Hi	Very casual
Tschüss	Bye	Informal farewell
Bis später	See you later	Casual
Bis morgen	See you tomorrow	Casual
Servus	Hello/Bye	Southern Germany, Austria
Moin	Hello	Northern Germany
Grüß Gott	Hello	Bavaria, Austria

First Conversations

Introducing Yourself

Ich heiße...        (My name is...)
Ich bin...          (I am...)
Freut mich!         (Nice to meet you!)
Woher kommen Sie?   (Where are you from? formal)
Woher kommst du?    (Where are you from? informal)
Ich komme aus...    (I come from...)

Polite Phrases

German	English
Bitte	Please / You're welcome
Danke	Thanks
Danke schön	Thank you
Vielen Dank	Many thanks
Entschuldigung	Excuse me / Sorry
Es tut mir leid	I'm sorry
Kein Problem	No problem

Basic Questions

German	English
Wie geht es Ihnen?	How are you? (formal)
Wie geht's?	How's it going? (informal)
Gut, danke!	Good, thanks!
Und Ihnen/dir?	And you? (formal/informal)
Was ist das?	What is that?
Wo ist...?	Where is...?
Wie bitte?	Pardon? / What did you say?

Formal vs. Informal (Sie vs. du)

German distinguishes between formal and informal "you":

	Formal (Sie)	Informal (du)
Use with	Strangers, elders, professionals	Friends, family, children, peers
Verb form	Sie kommen	du kommst
Possessive	Ihr	dein

Rule of thumb: Use Sie until invited to use du. Germans will say "Wir können uns duzen" (We can use du with each other).

Practice Sentences

Guten Tag! Ich heiße Anna.
(Good day! My name is Anna.)

Freut mich! Ich bin Max.
(Nice to meet you! I'm Max.)

Woher kommen Sie?
(Where are you from?)

Ich komme aus Australien.
(I come from Australia.)

Sprechen Sie Englisch?
(Do you speak English?)

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
(I speak a little German.)

Wie bitte? Können Sie das wiederholen?
(Pardon? Can you repeat that?)