Basic German language for beginner

Published: June 22, 2024Last updated: August 11, 2024german, language

The German language learning becomes quite easy if we know the pronunciation of the German letters properly. The more precisely we know the pronunciation of German letters the more we sound like German.

The German letters with pronunciation are given below with basic examples for beginners:

Letter	Name (Pronounciation)	Examples
A	A (ah)	die Ampel (traffic lights)
B	Be (bay)	das Buch (book)
C	Ce (tsay)	das Cybercafé (cyber cafe)
D	De (day)	Donnerstag (thursday)
E	E (ay)	die Eltern (parents)
F	Ef (eff)	die Frau (the woman)
G	Ge (gay)	die Gurke (cucumber)
H	Ha (hah)	das Haar (hair)
I	I (eeh)	Interessant (Interesting)
J	Jott (yot)	der Job (job)
K	Ka (kah)	die Kartoffel (potato)
L	El (ell)	das Land (country)
M	Em (em)	die Mutter (mother)
N	En (en)	der Nachmittag (afternoon)
O	O (oh)	die Orange (orange)
P	Pe (pay)	das Papier (paper)
Q	Qu or Que (koo)	das Quadrat (square)
R	Er (err)	die Reise (trip)
S	Es (es)	der Sohn (son)
T	Te (tay)	der Tag(the day)
U	U (ooh)	die U-Bahn (subway)
V	Vau (fow)	der Vater (father)
W	We (vay)	Das Wochenende (weekend)
X	Ix (iks)	das Xylophon (xylophone)
Y	Ypsilon (uep-si-lohn)	Yoga
Z	Zett (tset)	die Zwiebel
Ä	Ä (eh)	die Äpfel (apples)
Ü	Ü (uuh)	das Gemüse (the vegetables)
Ö	Ö (ouh)	Zwölf (twelve)
ẞ	Eszett (ess-set)	die Straße (street/road)

A Note on German Pronunciation

Vowels: German vowels are generally pronounced more clearly and distinctly than in English.
Consonants: Consonants are often pronounced more forcefully.
Umlauts: The umlauts (ä, ö, ü) represent specific vowel sounds.
Stress: The stress in German words usually falls on the first syllable.

German Equivalents

Days of the Week:

Sunday – Sonntag (ZON-tahg)
Monday – Montag (MOAN-tahg)
Tuesday – Dienstag (DEENST-ahg)
Wednesday – Mittwoch (MIT-vokh)
Thursday – Donnerstag (DON-nahs-tahg)
Friday – Freitag (FRAI-tahg)
Saturday – Samstag (ZAM-s-tahg)

Time of Day:

Morning – Morgen (MOR-gen)
Evening – Abend (AH-bend)
Day – Tag (TAHK)

Greetings:

Welcome – Willkommen (VIL-komen)
Goodbye – Auf Wiedersehen (OWF VEE-der-zeen)
How are you? – Wie geht es Ihnen? (vee GEHT ehs EE-nen) (formal) or Wie geht es dir? (vee GEHT ehs deer) (informal)

Weather:

Rain – Regen (REE-gen)
Snow – Schnee (SHNEE)
Cloudy – Bewölkt (beh-VULKT)
Sunshine – Sonnenschein (ZON-en-shine)
Fog – Nebel (NE-bel)
Warm – Warm (VAARM)
Cold – Kalt (KALT)

Transportation:

Car – Auto (OW-to)
Truck – LKW (L-K-V) (pronounced letter by letter)
Plane – Flugzeug (FLOOG-tsoyg)
Boat – Boot (BOHT)

Time:

Today – Heute (HOY-te)
Tomorrow – Morgen (MOR-gen)
Afternoon – Nachmittag (NAH-mit-tahg)
Tonight – Heute Abend (HOY-te AH-bend)
Yesterday – Gestern (GES-tern)

Months:

January – Januar (YAH-nu-ahr)
February – Februar (FEE-bru-ahr)
March – März (MAIRTS)
April – April (AH-pril)
May – Mai (MAI)
June – Juni (YOONI)
July – Juli (YOOLI)
August – August (OW-gust)
September – September (ZEP-tem-ber)
October – Oktober (OK-to-ber)
November – November (NO-vem-ber)
December – Dezember (DET-sem-ber)

Food & Drink:

Breakfast – Frühstück (FRY-shtik)
Lunch – Mittagessen (MIT-tahg-es-sen)
Dinner – Abendessen (AH-bend-es-sen)
Coffee – Kaffee (KAH-fee)
Fish – Fisch (FISH)
Milk – Milch (MILCH)
Onion – Zwiebel (TSVEE-bel)
Tea – Tee (TEE)
Cake – Kuchen (KOO-chen)
Cheese – Käse (KAY-ze)

Body Parts:

Brain – Gehirn (GE-hirn)
Lungs – Lunge (LUN-ge)
Hands – Hände (HEN-de)
Chest – Brust (BRUST)
Fingers – Finger (FINGER)
Toes – Zehen (TSAY-en)
Eyes – Augen (OW-gen)
Head – Kopf (KOPF)
Face – Gesicht (GE-zicht)
Hand – Hand (HAND)
Foot – Fuß (FUß)
Finger – Finger (FINGER)
Eye – Auge (OW-ge)
Ear – Ohr (OHR)
Mouth – Mund (MUNT)
Nose – Nase (NAH-ze)
Hair – Haar (HAAR)
Body – Körper (KER-per)
Heart – Herz (HERZ)
Stomach – Magen (MAH-gen)
Back – Rücken (RYK-ken)
Legs – Beine (BAINE)
Arm – Arm (ARM)
Neck – Hals (HALZ)
Teeth – Zähne (TSAY-ne)
Fingernail – Fingernagel (FINGER-nah-gel)
Blood – Blut (BLUT)

Animals:

Dog – Hund (HUNT)
Fish – Fisch (FISH)
Bird – Vogel (FO-gel)
Pig – Schwein (SHVAIN)
Cow – Kuh (KOO)
Monkey – Affe (AFF-e)
Deer – Reh (RAY)

Colors:

Black – Schwarz (SHVARTS)
White – Weiß (VAISS)
Yellow – Gelb (GELB)
Orange – Orange (OR-AN-je)
Blue – Blau (BLAU)
Brown – Braun (BROWN)
Green – Grün (GRYN)
Purple – Lila (LEE-la)
Red – Rot (ROT)
Gray – Grau (GRAU)

Emotions:

Love – Liebe (LEE-be)
Worried – Besorgt (beh-ZORGT)
Angry – Wütend (VY-tend)
Sad – Traurig (TRAU-rig)
Embarrassed – Peinlich (PAIN-lich)
Afraid – Angst (ANGST)
Kind – Freundlich (FROIND-lich)
Happy – Glücklich (GLYK-lich)
Polite – Höflich (HUF-lich)
Painful – Schmerzhaft (SHMERTS-haft)
Bored – Langweilig (LANG-VAI-lig)
Tired – Müde (MY-de)
Beautiful – Schön (SHEN)
Delighted – Begeistert (beh-GAI-stert)
Amazed – Erstaut (ER-STAUT)
Hate – Hass (HASS)

Family:

Family – Familie (FA-MEE-lee)
Father – Vater (FA-ter)
Mother – Mutter (MUT-ter)
Grandfather – Großvater (GROS-fa-ter)
Grandmother – Großmutter (GROS-mut-ter)
Sister – Schwester (SHVEST-er)
Brother – Bruder (BROO-der)
Son – Sohn (ZON)
Daughter – Tochter (TOCH-ter)
Uncle – Onkel (ON-kel)
Aunt – Tante (TAN-te)
Nephew – Neffe (NEF-fe)
Niece – Nichte (NICH-te)

Health & Medicine

Sick – krank (KRANK)
Healthy – gesund (ge-ZUNT)
Doctor – Arzt (ARTST)
Hospital – Krankenhaus (KRAH-ken-haus)
Medicine – Medizin (ME-di-tsin)
Pill – Pille (PIL-le)
Pain – Schmerz (SHMERTS)
Temperature – Temperatur (TEM-per-a-tuur)
Cough – Husten (HUS-ten)
Cold – Erkältung (ER-käl-tung)
Flu – Grippe (GRIP-pe)
Fever – Fieber (FEE-ber)

Verbs

To help – helfen (HEL-fen)
To take – nehmen (NEH-men)
To give – geben (GE-ben)
To find – finden (FIN-den)
To lose – verlieren (fer-LIE-ren)
To buy – kaufen (KAU-fen)
To sell – verkaufen (fer-KAU-fen)
To think – denken (DEN-ken)
To know – wissen (VIS-sen)
To can – können (KEN-nen)
To want – wollen (WOL-len)
To have – haben (HAH-ben)
To be – sein (ZAIN)
To be allowed to – dürfen (DUR-fen)
Should – sollen (ZOL-len)

Classroom items

Classroom – Klassenzimmer (KLAHS-en-tsim-mer)
Desk – Schreibtisch (SHRAIB-tish)
Chair – Stuhl (STOOL)
Board – Tafel (TAH-fel)
Chalk – Kreide (KRAI-de)
Chalkboard eraser – Schwamm (SHVAMM)
Marker – Filzstift (FILTS-tift)
Whiteboard – Whiteboard (VAYT-bord)
Projector – Beamer (BAY-mer)
Screen – Leinwand (LAIN-vant)
Computer – Computer (KOM-pyu-ter)
Printer – Drucker (DROO-ker)
Bookcase – Bücherregal (BÜ-cher-regal)
Globe – Globus (GLO-bus)
Map – Karte (KAR-te)
Clock – Uhr (UHR)
Calendar – Kalender (KAL-en-der)
Pencil – Bleistift (BLEY-shtft)
Pen – Kugelschreiber (KUG-el-shray-ber)
Eraser – Radiergummi (RAH-deer-gum-mi)
Ruler – Lineal (LEE-ne-aal)
Pencil case – Federmappe (FAY-der-map-pe)
Notebook – Heft (HEFT)
Book – Buch (BOOK)

Other:

Light – Licht (LICH)
Expensive – Teuer (TOY-er)
Low – Niedrig (NEE-drig)
Wrong – Falsch (FALSH)
Fast – Schnell (SHNELL)
Sollen (ZOLL-en) – This is a verb meaning “should” or “to be supposed to”
overweight – Übergewicht (Ü-ber-ge-wicht)
blood pressure – Blutdruck (Blut-druck)
but – aber (a-ber)
all – alle (al-le)
alone – allein (al-lein)
therefore – daher (da-her)
other – andere (an-de-re)
answer – Antwort (Ant-wort)
expect – erwarten (er-war-ten)
keep – halten (hal-ten)
both – beide (bei-de)
example – Beispiel (Bei-spiel)
receive – erhalten (er-hal-ten)
popular – beliebt (be-liebt)
better – besser (bes-ser)
discuss – diskutieren (dis-ku-tie-ren)
visit – besuchen (be-su-chen)
a little – ein wenig (ein we-nig)
need – brauchen (brau-chen)
bring – bringen (brin-gen)
think – denken (den-ken)
just – nur (nur)
hurry up – beeil dich (be-eil dich)
end – Ende (En-de)
away – weg (weg)