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Konsonanten ~ Consonants
Most German consonants are pronounced similar to the way they are in English, with exceptions noted 
in column 3 above. Details of certain consonant sounds and uses are discussed further here:
•
ch
– Pronounced like 'k' in many words of Greek origin like 
Christ
or 
Charakter
, but like 'sh' in 
words of French origin, and 'tch' in words of English origin. The German 
sechs
(six) is 
pronounced very much similar to the English 'sex'. See also the discussion of "ich-sound" 
below. The pronunciation of words with an initial 'ch' followed by a vowel, as in 
China
or 
Chemie
varies: in High German the "ich-sound" is the standard pronunciation, but in South 
German dialect and Austrian German 'k' is preferred. 
•
d
, 
t
, 
l
, and 
n
– These letters are pronounced similarly in English and German. However, in 
pronouncing these letters, the German extends his tongue up to the back of the base of the teeth, 
creating a more 
dental sound
. As noted above, 'd' is a 'dental d' except at the end of a word, 
where it becomes a 'dental t'. 
•
sch
– in German 'Ess-tsay-hah' is pronounced like 'sh', not 'sk' as in English. German word 
example: 
Schüler
(student). 
•
sp
and 
st
– Where the combinations 'ess-pay' or 'ess-tay' appear at the beginning of a word, the 
'ess' sound becomes an 'sh' sound. German examples are 
spielen
(play) and 
spät
(late). An 
interesting "exception" is a word like 
Bleistift
(pencil), where the inside 'sti' is pronounced 'shti' 
— however, this is a compound word from 
Blei
(lead) and 
Stift
(pen). Some local dialects 
however pronounce all occurances "sharp" (with an 'ess' sound -- typical for North German 
dialects, especially near Hamburg) or "soft" (with an 'sh' sound -- typical for the Swabian 
dialect). 
•
ß
– The former ligature (of 'ss' or 'sz'), 'ess-tset' is widely used in German, but its use is 
somewhat more restricted in very modern German (always pronounced like 's' in 'sound'). 'ß' is 

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used for the sound 's' in cases where 'ss' or 's' can't be used: this is especially after long vowels 
and diphthongs (cf. the English usage of 'c' like in 'vice' or 'grocery'). Thus, the vowel before 'ß' 
in 
der Fuß
(foot) is long, while that before 'ss' in 
das Fass
(cask) is short. 'ß' appears after 
diphthongs ('au', 'ei', 'eu') because they are long. In written and printed German, 'ss' can be an 
acceptable subsitute for 'ß' if the letter is unavailable. The greek letter, β, is not to be used as a 
substitute for 'ß'. Note that in Switzerland, 'ß' is always written as 'ss'.