The German Alphabet (Das deutsche Alphabet) Lesson 1 - Lektion 1

 

German Language Lesson 1: The German Alphabet (Das deutsche Alphabet)

Welcome to your first German language lesson!

Before learning grammar, conversations, and vocabulary, you need to know the German alphabet. The German alphabet consists of 26 letters, just like the English alphabet, plus four additional characters: Ä, Ö, Ü and ß.

Learning the alphabet is important because Germans often spell names, addresses, e-mail addresses, cities, and surnames letter by letter.

The German Alphabet

Letter	Pronunciation
A a	ah
B b	be
C c	tse
D d	de
E e	e
F f	ef
G g	ge
H h	ha
I i	i
J j	jot
K k	ka
L l	el
M m	em
N n	en
O o	o
P p	pe
Q q	ku
R r	er
S s	es
T t	te
U u	u
V v	fau
W w	ve
X x	ix
Y y	üpsilon
Z z	tset

The Special German Letters

German has four additional letters:

Ä ä

Examples:

• Äpfel (apples)
• Mädchen (girl)

Ö ö

Examples:

• schön (beautiful)
• hören (to hear)

Ü ü

Examples:

• über (over)
• Tür (door)

ß

Called Eszett or scharfes S.

Examples:

• Straße (street)
• heißen (to be called)

Listen and Repeat

Read the alphabet aloud:

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M

N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z

Ä – Ö – Ü – ß

Vocabulary Practice

A – E

• Auto (car)
• Banane (banana)
• Computer (computer)
• Deutschland (Germany)
• Essen (food)

F – J

• Familie (family)
• Garten (garden)
• Haus (house)
• Information (information)
• Jahr (year)

K – O

• Kind (child)
• Lampe (lamp)
• Mutter (mother)
• Name (name)
• Orange (orange)

P – T

• Polizei (police)
• Qualität (quality)
• Regensburg (Regensburg)
• Schule (school)
• Tisch (table)

U – Z

• Universität (university)
• Vater (father)
• Wasser (water)
• Xylophon (xylophone)
• Yoga (yoga)
• Zug (train)

How to Spell Your Name

German question:

Wie schreibt man Ihren Namen?
(How do you spell your name?)

Example:

Sabina

S – A – B – I – N – A

Regensburg

R – E – G – E – N – S – B – U – R – G