Master The German Alphabet With Spelling Practice

Today, we're diving into the beauty of the German language by exploring its fundamental building blocks—the alphabet. From A to Z, each letter carries its own unique sound and significance, and by the end of this lesson, you'll not only know the German alphabet but also have a chance to put your newfound knowledge to the test.

German Alphabet Pronunciation

A - ah

B - beh

C - tseh

D - deh

E - eh

F - ef

G - geh

H - ha

I - ee

J - yott

K - kah

L - el

M - em

N - en

O - oh

P - peh

Q - kuh

R - er

S - ess

T - teh

U - ooh

V - fau

W - weh

X - iks

Y - upsillon

Z - tset

You may have noticed that the vast majority of the German alphabet is the same as the English alphabet. There are a few outliers, however. The vowels A - E - I have always given my students trouble, as the letter E sounds like it should be A, but I sounds like it should be E. Let’s isolate the vowels out of the alphabet to see them up close.

Bonus Letters

Don’t forget you can add those two dots above a letter. These are known as umlauts and there are three of them in German.

Ä - Ö - Ü

There is also this fun little squiggle known as an eszett or scharfes S. It evolved out of a ligature of the long S ſ and the round S ʒ. Both of these made very similar sounds and nowadays ß is pronounced the same as two Ss. ß

The German Alphabet Song

Now let’s sing the German alphabet song. Keep in mind that the traditional German alphabet song is set to the tune of “Frère Jacques”, “Brother John” or “Bruder Jakob”. It also adds “Wunderbar” or “wonderful” after K and “Das ist nett.” after Z to help with the rhyme and to make it fit the song better. Let’s try it out.

🎶 A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K
Wunderbar
L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
Das ist nett. 🎶

If you enjoyed this lesson, you will love my full A1 German course. It starts out with the most in-depth explanation of German pronunciation you will find on YouTube and then takes you through all of the basics of the German language at the A1 level. If you are just starting to learn German, it is a great place to start.

You can get access to this course as a stand alone course for $49.99 or as a part of my Deutschlerner Club, which includes the A1 and A2 courses as well as the bonus materials for every lesson I have created since December of 2022. All of these options and more are available in my online store here.