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German Umlauts: ä ö ü

o umlaut, a umlaut, u umlaut 

Basic Lesson No 25

Don’t forget to watch the video at the bottom!

How to pronounce the German umlauts: ä, ö, ü

The German alphabet consists of 26 basic letters. There are also umlauted forms. We have three of them in German (ä, ö and ü). Can you see the little dots over the vowels? By the way, you can listen to the whole alphabet in basic lesson No 3 German Alphabet ABC.

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Ä Ö Ü

a umlaut

The ä is pronounced like the: a in apple or the ai in air.

o umlaut

The ö sounds similar to the:

e in her,

i in bird,

ea in earn,

u in burn

or the French eu.

u umlaut

The German ü doesn’t have a real equal in English. However, maybe you know how to pronounce the letter u in French, it sounds just like the German ü.

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Here are some words with the umlaut a
(Most of the time the ä sounds similar to the German e)
das Mädchen	the girl
die Bären	the bears
die Käfer	the beetles
Here are some words with the umlaut o
schön	beautiful
die Löwen	the lions
die Vögel	the birds
blöd	stupid
Here are some words with the umlaut u
küssen	to kiss
üben	to exercise
dünn	thin
die Prüfung	the exam
für	for

OK, let’s build some sentences.

Remember the rule: „Never learn just individual words!“

If you don’t know the most important learning rules, sign up to my free email course and learn all about them.

How To Learn With Part A

1. Read and listen a few times.
2. Repeat after the speaker.
3. Make sure that you imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
4. After a few repetitions go on to part B (farther below).

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Das Mädchen ist dünn und schön.
The girl is thin and beautiful.

Löwen, Bären, Vögel und Käfer sind Tiere. 
Lions, bears, birds and beetles are animals.

Wir üben für die Prüfung.
We are practicing for the exam.

Prüfungen sind blöd.
Exams suck.

Listen a few times then try to answer the questions in part B.
If you cannot answer them right away, don’t worry – listen to all sound files on this page 5, 10 or 20 times every day until you can.

Repetition is the key.
Practicing with the question and answer technique will enable your brain to think in German step by step and this is very important if you want to speak German fluently some day!

a, o, u with umlaut

Basic Lesson No 25B

How To Learn With Part B

Question and Answer Part

This technique is very effective to save new information (the words, pronunciation, structure etc.) in your brain. Don't be afraid of part B. I use the same words as in part A.

1. Read and listen a few times to the question and answers.
2. Answer the questions in the pauses (you may look also at the answers).
3. After a few times don't look at the answers anymore.
4. Make sure that you imitate the pronunciation of the speaker.
5. Repeat the lesson until you can answer the questions easily.
6. Sign up to my e-mail course and learn how to use the storytelling method (TPRS method) in order to learn to speak German fluently.

Click the play button

Fragen und Antworten: 

Frage:
Wer (who) ist dünn und schön? 

Kurze Antwort:
Das Mädchen

Lange Antwort:
Das Mädchen ist dünn und schön.

Was (what) sind Löwen, Bären, Vögel und Käfer?
Tiere
Löwen, Bären, Vögel und Käfer sind Tiere.

Für was üben wir?
Für die Prüfung.
Wir üben für die Prüfung.

Sind Prüfungen blöd?
Ja, Prüfungen sind blöd.
Prüfungen sind blöd, doof und total bescheuert.

If you can’t type Umlaute ä, ö, ü

If you cannot write the German umlauts with your keyboard, just write the vowel without the dots and then add an e:

ä = ae

ö = oe

ü = ue 

For example küssen becomes kuessen (to kiss)

If you want to know how it is possible to learn German in a few months instead of years please read the text below before you go on to the next lesson.

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If you want to have enough TPRS lessons and audio stories to reach a fluent level, don’t miss my Easter offer.

How can I learn German in a few months instead of years?

If you want to learn to speak German fluently, you should read and listen to German at least 20-30 minutes every day. Use an iPod or a mobile phone and listen on your way to work/school and 10 minutes before you go to sleep!

Here is a general advice:

Focus < 10% on grammar. If you like grammar you can practice with my basic online lessons (check the sidebar for more lessons). However, don't focus too much on grammar, it would only slow you down and by the way, if you read and listen a lot to the German language you will learn grammar automatically up to a certain point.

> 40% Reading and Listening

Listen to easy and clearly spoken German and read the unabridged German text at the same time. The text should be translated or should have a vocabulary aid. This saves a lot of time because you don’t have to look up all new words in a dictionary. This way you will not only learn new words but also the pronunciation, the spelling, the structure and even grammar up to a certain point.

> 40% Practicing with the Question and Answer Technique

It is very powerful and the best technique if you want to learn to speak a foreign language. It will enable you step by step to think in German (even dream in German). Being able to think in German is the key to fluency. If you cannot think in German, you cannot speak it!

Save about 10% of your time for other things like listening to German songs or watching movies in German etc.

Tip: Sign up to my free email course and load my mini story „Schneckenwitz“ onto your iPod or mobile phone and listen to it many times. With every repetition you will get more familiar to the German language.

If you would like to practice with more of my funny audio stories, I recommend my three packages (Package XL, Upgrade Package and Fairy Tale Package). These packages are only available as download version, that means you can buy and download them from all over the world.

You can read and listen a lot and if you encounter a word that you don’t know you can check the English translation. Every lesson and story has also a big question and answer part. More than 10,000 students have learned to speak German fluently with them until now.

Check it out:

>>> TPRS Learning Materials