The German Alphabet: All 30 Letters, Sounds, and How to Say Them Right
The German alphabet uses the same 26 Latin letters as English, plus four extra characters — Ä, Ö, Ü, and ß — for a total of 30. Several letters that look identical to English ones are pronounced completely differently, which is why reading the alphabet out loud (not just memorizing the letter shapes) is the only way to actually learn it.
If you've ever tried to spell your name out loud in German, or sound out a word you've never seen before, you've run into the main problem with the German alphabet: it looks almost identical to English, but it does not sound like it.
This guide covers all 30 letters, the sounds that trip up English speakers specifically, and the letter combinations (like "sch" and "ch") that change everything. Each one only really makes sense once you hear it — so we'll point out exactly where that matters.
The 26 Familiar Letters — With Unfamiliar Sounds
Every letter from A to Z exists in German, but roughly a third of them are pronounced differently than in English. 'J' sounds like the English 'Y' (ja = "yah"). 'V' sounds like an English 'F' (Vater = "FAH-ter"). 'W' sounds like an English 'V' (Wasser = "VAH-ser"). 'Z' sounds like 'TS' (Zeit = "TSYTE"). 'S' sounds like 'Z' at the start of a word (Sonne = "ZOH-neh").
The vowels carry the biggest risk of mispronunciation: German A, E, I, O, and U are shorter and purer than their English counterparts — there is no gliding diphthong sound the way there is in English 'go' or 'say'.
The Four Letters English Doesn't Have
Ä, Ö, and Ü are umlauts — the two dots change the vowel sound entirely, not just the spelling. Ä sounds close to the 'e' in "bed". Ö has no real English equivalent — it's closer to the vowel in French "peu". Ü also has no English equivalent — round your lips as if saying "oo" while trying to say "ee".
ß (called 'Eszett' or 'scharfes S') is simply a sharp 'S' sound, used after long vowels and diphthongs (Straße, groß). It is never used at the start of a word, and Swiss German doesn't use it at all — 'ss' is used instead.
Letter Combinations That Change the Rules
- sch — always one sound, like English "sh" (Schule = "SHOO-leh")
- ch — two different sounds depending on the letter before it: a soft breathy sound after i/e/ä/ö/ü (ich), or a harsher back-of-throat sound after a/o/u (Buch)
- ei — pronounced "eye" (Wein, Arbeit)
- ie — pronounced "ee" (Sie, Bier) — the exact reverse of how it looks
- eu / äu — both pronounced "oy" (Deutsch, Häuser)
Why Most Alphabet Guides Online Don't Actually Teach You to Pronounce It
Search for "german alphabet" and you'll find plenty of detailed written guides — Duolingo's own blog post on the topic, for example, lays out full letter tables and explains the pronunciation rules for combinations like "sch" and "ch" in writing. The problem is that it stays entirely text-based: there is no audio anywhere on the page to actually hear the letters and sounds being described.
That matters more for German than for most languages, because spelling and sound genuinely don't match English patterns — reading a phonetic description of 'ü' is not the same as hearing it. A written rule tells you what to do with your mouth; it can't tell you if you're doing it right.
How to Actually Learn the Sounds, Not Just Read About Them
The fix is simple in theory: pair every letter and letter combination with real spoken audio, not just a phonetic spelling. Spoklin's course does this for the alphabet the same way it does for every word and sentence in the rest of the course — every letter, umlaut, and tricky combination has real audio you can replay as many times as you need, so you're matching your pronunciation against an actual voice instead of a written approximation.
Once the alphabet sounds are familiar, the fastest way to lock them in is to use them immediately — spelling out new vocabulary, sounding out numbers, and reading simple words aloud rather than silently.
Frequently asked questions
How many letters are in the German alphabet?
30 — the same 26 Latin letters used in English, plus Ä, Ö, Ü, and ß.
Is ß the same as a double S?
Functionally yes in meaning, but not in sound or usage — ß represents a single sharp S sound and appears only after long vowels or diphthongs. Swiss German replaces it with "ss" entirely.
What's the hardest part of the German alphabet for English speakers?
Usually the umlauts (Ä, Ö, Ü) and the two different "ch" sounds, since neither has a direct English equivalent — both are much easier to get right by ear than by written description.
Keep reading
Free German word pages
Ready to practice what you read?
Interactive lessons with teach-first methodology — start free.
Start Learning Free →