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Pronunciation | |
Phonetic Script | |
Vowels |
Phonetic Script - Vowels |
Here you learn about the phonetic script used for the German vowels. To listen to the pronunciation, click on the little arrow in front of the respective word or on the word itself.
| Script | Letter | Vowel Type | Examples | ||||||
| Height | Backness | Roundedness | |||||||
| [a:] | a, aa or ah | (long) | open (the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth) | front (the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | unrounded (the lips are spread) | Tag m (day) Zahn m (tooth) |
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| [a] | a | (short) | open (the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth) | front (the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | unrounded (the lips are spread) | acht (eight) Mann m (man) |
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| [ɐ] | -er | (end of word or syllable) reduced a |
near-open (the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted) | central (the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel) | rounded (the lips are rounded) or unrounded (the lips are not rounded) | Amerikaner m (American) Computer m (computer) |
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| [e:] | e, ee or eh | (long) | close-mid (the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and a mid vowel) | front (the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | unrounded (the lips are spread) | Eva zehn (ten) |
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| [ɛ] | e | (short) | open-mid (the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel) | front (the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | unrounded (the lips are not rounded) | kennen (to know) elf (eleven) |
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| [ə] | e | (unstressed or toneless e) | mid (the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and an open vowel) | - | central (the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel) | unrounded (the lips are not rounded) | kommen (to come) Dame f (lady) |
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| [i, i:] | i, ie or ih | (long) | close (the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | front (the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | unrounded (the lips are spread) | ihn (him) sieben (seven) |
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| [ɪ] | i | (short) | near-close (the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted) | near-front (the tongue is positioned similarly to a front vowel, but slightly further back in the mouth) | unrounded (the lips are not rounded) | ich (I) Kind nt (child) |
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| [o, o:] | o, oo or oh | (long) | close-mid (the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel and a mid vowel) | back (the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | rounded (its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed) | orange (orange) ohne (without) |
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| [ɔ] | o | (short) | open-mid (the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel) | back (the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | rounded (the lips are rounded) | Mittwoch m (Wednesday) kommen (to come) |
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| [u:] | u, uh | (long) | close (the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | back (the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant) | rounded (its roundedness is protruded, which means that the corners of the lips are drawn together, and the inner surfaces exposed) | du sg (you) Uhland (German poet) |
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| [ʊ] | u | (short) | near-close (the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted) | near-back (the tongue is positioned as in a back vowel, but slightly further forward in the mouth) | rounded (the lips are rounded) | und (and) Ulla (female forename) |
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