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Pronunciation

Phonetic Script

Grouped Consonants

Here you learn about the phonetic script used for the German grouped consonants. To listen to the pronunciation, click on the little button in front of the respective word.

Script	Letter	Consonant	Type			German	English
[ç]	ch	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			sprechen	to speak
(soft)		palatal	formed with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate			ich	I
palatal		fricative	consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together, here: back part of the tongue and hard palate			lächeln	to smile
		This phone is articulated after the following vowels, vowel mutations or diphthongs: e, i, ä, ö, ü, ei, ie, eu and äu. It is also articulated in the diminutive syllable -chen and in the word ending -ig though it is written with g at the end				Köchin	female cook
						Küche	kitchen
						Eiche	oak
						kriechen	to crawl
						Seuche	epidemic
						Sträucher	shrubs
						Mädchen	girl
						zwanzig	twenty
[x]	ch	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			acht	eight
(hard)		velar	formed with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate (the velum)			Koch	male cook
guttural		fricative	consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together, here: back part of the tongue and soft palate			Kuchen	cake
		This phone is articulated after the vowels a, o, u and the diphthong au				Strauch	shrub
[ʒ]	g or j	voiced	vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation			orange	orange
		postalveolar	formed with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the front of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate			Garage	garage
		sibilant fricative	produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence
		This phone mostly appears in words taken from the French language.
[k]	ck	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			Acker	field
		velar	formed with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate (the velum)			Ecke	corner
		plosive	stop consonant which is formed with the back of the tongue against the soft palate
		Those vowels which appear in front of ck are always short.
[ŋ]	ng	voiced	vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation			singen	to sing
	or	velar	formed with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate (the velum)			sinken	to sink
	nk	nasal	air is allowed to escape through the nose
[f]	ph	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			Alphabet	alphabet
		labiodental	formed with lower lip and upper teeth			Philosophie	philosophy
		fricative	consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together, here: lower lip against upper teeth
		Some words formerly spelled with ph are now spelled with f, eg. Telefon, Xylofon.
[pf]	pf	both letters are spoken				pfeifen	to whistle
						Pfeffer	pepper
[kv]	qu	always spoken kv				Qualität	quality
						Quelle	source
[ʃ]	sch	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			schön	beautiful, nice
		postalveolar	formed with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the front of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate			Tasche	bag
		sibilant ricative	produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence
[ʃp, sp]	sp	spoken ʃp at the beginning of a word or syllable				sprechen	to speak
		spoken sp in the middle or at the end of a word or syllable				Knospe	bud
[ʃt, st]	st	spoken ʃt at the beginning of a word or syllable				Stadt	city
		spoken st in the middle or at the end of a word or syllable				Ostern	Easter
						Gast	guest
[t]	th	voiceless	produced without vibrations of the vocal cords			Theater	theatre
		alveolar	articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge			Thema	topic
		plosive	stop consonant produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract
		always spoken t
[ts]	tz	always spoken ts				Katze	female cat
		the vowels which appear in front of tz are always short				Klotz	block