How do you pronounce ö and ü in German?

There's a neat trick to get the basic pronunciation right: Ö-Sound: say a German “e”. Then, without changing the position of your tongue, round your lips like you'd do when pronouncing the German “o”. Ü-Sound: pronounce a German “i”. May 10, 2021

How do you pronounce Ö example?

The German Ö = O-Umlaut We can compare it with when you say “her” in English. The sound between the letters “h” and “r” is the sound you need. A classic example of confusion with “ö” is the words “schon” (already) and “schön” (beautiful) .

What is the umlaut rule in German?

Umlauts are used to form three 'mutated' vowel sounds in the German language . The German alphabet includes the three standard vowel sounds for the letters a (ah), o (oh) and u (ooh), but when these letters are combined with the Umlaut as ä, ö, and ü, their pronunciation changes (read on to learn how).

How do you pronounce the two dots over a letter?

The A with two dots (Ä) is pronounced like the english word "air" , whereas the A with the ring (Å) is pronounced "oar", there is also an O with two dots (Ő) which is pronounced "eugh" - or something rather similar, there isn't really an equivalent sound in English.

How is ë pronounced in German?

Middle High German The letter ë indicates the sound /ɛ/, which derives from Proto-Germanic *e (as in ëȥȥen) or *i (as in lëben), distinguished from e /e/ (also spelt ẹ), which usually derives from Proto-Germanic *a.

What is the difference between an umlaut and a diaeresis?

Often mistakenly called an umlaut, a diaeresis (pronounced “die heiresses”; it's from the Greek for “divide,” and is devilishly hard to spell) consists of two dots carefully centered over the second vowel in such words as “naïve” and “reëlection.” An umlaut is a German thing that alters the pronunciation of a vowel ( ...

What does Ü mean in German?

A glyph, U with umlaut, appears in the German alphabet. It represents the umlauted form of u, which results in [yː] when long and [ʏ] when short . The letter is collated together with U, or as UE. In languages that have adopted German names or spellings, such as Swedish, the letter also occurs.

What does O with two dots over it mean in German?

Properly speaking, only German and Hungarian words have these two dots over a vowel to indicate a change in sound (as in doppelgänger and über), but loosely, people sometimes refer to its twin, the dieresis (as in naïve) as an umlaut. The word is German and means "change of sound," from um, "about," and laut, "sound."

What is the ß called?

The German letter ß is a ligature and is also called a “scharfes s” (sharp s). But it's simpler than it sounds–it actually just means “ss”.

How to pronounce the German umlauts

u umlaut, a umlaut, o umlaut

Do you know the sound and pronunciation of ä ö ü?

Having trouble with German umlauts?

Let’s tackle them together!

On this page, you’ll not only learn how to pronounce German umlauts correctly but also how to use them properly.

Begin by watching the video below—it’s your gateway to mastering them.

After watching it to the end, make sure to read through the page thoroughly and engage with the examples provided.

How to pronounce the German umlauts: ä, ö, ü

The German alphabet consists of 26 basic letters. There are also umlauted forms. We have three of them in German (ä, ö and ü).

Can you see the little dots over the vowels?

By the way, here you can learn the German alphabet pronunciation.

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Ä Ö Ü

a umlaut

The ä is pronounced like thea in apple or the ai in air.

o umlaut

The ö sounds similar to the:

e in her,

i in bird,

ea in earn,

u in burn

or the French eu.

u umlaut

The German ü doesn’t have a real equal in English. However, maybe you know how to pronounce the letter u in French, it sounds just like the German ü.

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Why do we use umlauts in German?

In many cases, we use the umlauts to recognize the plural form.

But be careful!
Of course, this is not always the case.

Can you see that in all of the following examples, the plural has an a with two dots?

Sometimes we just change the a to an a with dots.

In other cases, we add an -e or an -erat the end of the noun.

der Apfel / die Äpfel (the apple / apples)
der Garten / die Gärten (the garden / gardens)
die Hand / die Hände (the hand / hands)
der Arzt / die Ärzte (the doctor / doctors)
die Nacht / die Nächte (the night / nights)
das Haus / die Häuser (he house / houses)
der Mann / die Männer(the man / men)
das Rad / die Räder (the wheel / wheels)
der Vater / die Väter (the father / fathers)

Now let’s look at a few examples where the plural has an o with two dots.

das Wort / die Wörter (the word / words)
das Loch / die Löcher (the hole / holes)
der Sohn / die Söhne (the son / sons)
das Dorf / die Dörfer (the village / villages)
die Tochter / die Töchter (the daughter / daughters)
der Ton / die Töne (the sound / sounds)
der Kopf / die Köpfe (the head / heads)
der Frosch / die Frösche (the frog / frogs)
der Knopf / die Knöpfe (the button / buttons)
der Topf / die Töpfe (the pot / the pots)

And finally, let’s look at some nouns, where the plural has an u with two dots.

der Fuß / die Füße (the foot / feet)
die Mutter / die Mütter (the mother / mothers)
der Stuhl / die Stühle (the chair / the chairs)
die Kuh / die Kühe (the cow / the cows)
das Buch / die Bücher (the book / the books)
der Bruder / die Brüder (the brother / the brothers)
der Strumpf / die Strümpfe (the stocking / the stockings)
die Nuss / die Nüsse (the nut / the nuts)
der Zug / die Züge (the train / the trains)
der Flug / die Flüge (the flight / the flights)

OK, let’s build some sentences.

Remember my rule No 1: Never learn just individual words!

If you don’t know the most important learning rules, then check out my free email course and learn Germanwith fun the easy way.

How To Learn With Part A

Read and listen a few times.
Repeat after the speaker.
Make sure that you imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
After a few repetitions go on to part B (farther below).

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Exercise Part B

How To study With Part B

Here is the Question and Answer Part

This technique is effective and efficient to store information (pronunciation, structure, words) in your brain.

Don’t be afraid of this part.

Listen many times to the questions and answers.

Answer the questions in the pauses (look at the answers if yu need).
After a few times don’t look anymore at the answers.
Imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
Repeat this lesson until you can answer all questions easily.

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Fragen und Antworten:

Frage (question)
Wer (who) ist dünn und schön?

Kurze Antwort (short answer)
Das Mädchen

Lange Antwort (long answer)
Das Mädchen ist dünn und schön.

Was (what) sind Löwen, Bären, Vögel und Käfer?

Tiere
Löwen, Bären, Vögel und Käfer sind Tiere.

Für was üben wir?

Für die Prüfung.
Wir üben für die Prüfung.

Sind Prüfungen blöd?

Ja, Prüfungen sind blöd.
Prüfungen sind blöd, doof und total bescheuert.

In many cases, we use the umlauts to recognize the plural form.

But be careful!
Of course, this is not always the case.

Can you see that in all of the following examples, the plural has an a with two dots?

Do umlauts only exist in the German language?

The umlauts have probably become best known through the German language, but they also occur in other languages such as: Turkish, Swedish, Finnish, and Hungarian.

How to Type a German Umlaut or ß (Eszett) with Unicode

If you want to use the German umlauts but don’t have a German keyboard, there is still a way.

Simply use the ALT key on your keyboard, hold down the ALT key, type the 4 numbers, and then release the ALT key:

ä = ALT+0228

ö = ALT+0246

ü = ALT+0252

Ä = ALT+0196

Ö = ALT+0214

Ü = ALT+0220

ß = ALT+0223

Remember, these codes only work if you use the numeric keypad, not the numbers at the top of the keyboard. Also, make sure that Num Lock is turned on.

If you want to use the German umlauts in HTML code then you can also use ‘HTML Entities’ and HTML Unicode calls.

A simpler way if you can’t type the German umlauts ä, ö, ü

If you cannot write the German umlauts with your keyboard, just write the vowel without the dots and then add an e:

ä = ae

ö = oe

ü = ue

For example küssen becomes kuessen (to kiss).

You should also take a look at this:

Here you can learn the names of the 7 days in German.

Here are some words with the umlaut a
(Most of the time the ä sounds similar to the German e)
das Mädchen	the girl
die Bären	the bears
die Käfer	the beetles

Here are some words with the umlaut o
schön	beautiful
die Löwen	the lions
die Vögel	the birds
blöd	stupid

Here are some words with the umlaut u
küssen	to kiss
üben	to exercise
dünn	thin
die Prüfung	the exam
für	for

How to pronounce the German umlauts - ä, ö, ü (2024)

u umlaut, a umlaut, o umlaut

Having trouble with German umlauts?

How to pronounce the German umlauts: ä, ö, ü

Ä Ö Ü

a umlaut

o umlaut

u umlaut

Why do we use umlauts in German?

Can you see that in all of the following examples, the plural has an a with two dots?

Now let’s look at a few examples where the plural has an o with two dots.

And finally, let’s look at some nouns, where the plural has an u with two dots.

Exercise Part B

Do umlauts only exist in the German language?

How to Type a German Umlaut or ß (Eszett) with Unicode

A simpler way if you can’t type the German umlauts ä, ö, ü

You should also take a look at this:

FAQs

How to pronounce the German umlauts - ä, ö, ü? ›