It is worthwhile working out and remembering the German pronunciation rules, since German spelling is generally phonetic. Listen to the way the words sound in the Vocab Builder. You will notice the patterns as they emerge. These suggestions will help you get started.
Over time, there has been a shift in the relative pronunciations of the consonants w and v. The result is that the German pronunciation is now different from the English pronunciation.
The consonant s is pronounced like an English z when it begins a word or a syllable, e.g. solch (such), sondern (but). On the other hand, z is pronounced as t + s. You can hear is quite clearly here: die Zahl (the number).
The pronunciation of the vowel a is worth special mention. Listen to the pronunciation of backen (to bake). It has the same etymological root as the English "bake", and the spelling is still very close, but the pronunciation is somewhat different.
As you work through the exercises in the Vocab Builder you will learn the difference between the pronunciation of vowels with umlauts (ä, ö, ü), and those without umlauts (a, o, u). Distinguishing between the pronunciation of ü and u is the most difficult. It is clearly differentiated here: der Kuss and die Küsse (the kiss / the kisses).
The diphthongs ie and ei are fairly easy to distinguish, since the second vowel indicates the sound, e.g. der Brief and die Briefe (the letter / the letters), and breit (wide).
German has an extra letter, not used in English: ß. This letter is used, where required, in the place of ss.
The rule is that ß is used after a long vowel, whereas ss is used after a short vowel. This spelling rule was only introduced into schools in 1998: a slightly different rule applied previously, and ß was previously used in more words than under the new spelling. Therefore, you will find ß being used instead of ss for some words. This should not cause you any difficulty.
Words in dictionaries that have a ß are found alphabetically listed as if they were spelt ss.
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