Here is a quick course in German pronounciation:

The alphabet does not represent all the sounds that exist in German.
The so called “UMLAUTE” , letter combinations, etc. provide a few more.

The German vowels and their approximate sounds in English are:
(click on the letter to hear it)
 

A	as in English father
E	like English e in effort
I	like see, but almost always short as    in bit
O	there is no exact English equivalent,   the O in: “often” is closest
U	like the „ue“-sound in blue, but also    short as „oo“ in foot

Certain vowel sounds in German cannot be rendered with the Latin alphabet.
These letters are called UMLAUT , or UMLAUTE in plural.
 

Ä	sounds like „a“ in English „at“
Ö	(no exact English equivalent,  the vowel   sound in “fur” comes closest.)
Ü	sounds like French „u“.    (There is no English equivalent.)

 
 There are also a few diphthongs (i.e. two vowels pronounced as one sound):
 

EI	like English I
AU	like „ow“ in now
EU / ÄU	as in boil

 
 

ß	this symbol is a sharp „s“,    (used only in Germany and Austria; the    Swiss use „ss“ instead). It is not used at    the beginning of a word, it has no capital   form.

 

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ACCENT: German words are accented on the stem syllable which is usually the
                first syllable:  gestern,  morgen, Sonntag

And here are some examples to practise pronunciation.
 

words with “A“:	and complete sentences:
ja, alt, war, was, lang	Der Vater ist fünfzig Jahre alt.      (The father is fifty years old.)     Das war am Samstag.     (That was on Saturday.)     War das lang?     (Was that long?)

 

“E“
gelb,  gestern,  schlecht	Gestern war das Wetter schlecht.         (Yesterday, the weather was bad.)     Wir sehen zehn kleine Delphine.         (We see ten small dolphins.)     Das Hemd ist hellgelb.         (The shirt is light yellow.)

 

“I“
ist,  nicht,  in	Wir sind in Berlin      (We are in Berlin)     Ich bin nicht fit.     (I’m not in shape.)

 

“IE“
die,  sieben,                Dienstag	Dieter telefoniert am Dienstag um sieben      (Dieter’ll phone on Tuesday at seven.)     Wie sieht sie aus?      (How does she look like?)       Sie informiert die Passagiere.     (She  informs the passengers.)

 

“O“
Montag, oder, rot, groß;   sondern, morgen, Sonntag	Morgen ist nicht Montag, sondern Sonntag.    (Tomorrow is not Monday but Sunday.)    Otto hat große Fotos.     (Otto has large photos.)           Mein Onkel kommt am Donnerstag.     (My uncle comes on Thursday.)

 

“U“
gut, nur;       bunt, kurz	Mein Bruder ist Student.     (My brother is a student.)     Das Buch ist gut.     (The book is good.)     Das Kleid ist kurz und bunt.     (The dress is short and multi coloured.)

 

“Ü“
grün;               dünn, fünf	Er ist übermorgen um fünf hier.             (He’ll be here the day after tomorrow at five.)    Sie ist überhaupt nicht müde.    (She is not at all tired.)    Jürgen ist dünn.    (Jürgen is thin.)

 

(the diphthong) “EU“
neu, heute, neun	Heute kommen viele Leute.     (Today, many people are coming.)     Neun neue Studenten sind hier.     (Nine new students are here.)     Peter ist neunzehn.      (Peter is nineteen.)

 

(diphthong)   “AU“
blau, grau, braun	Hauke hat blaue Augen.    (Hauke has blue eyes.)    Das Haus ist grau.     (The house is grey.)    Das ist auch braun.     (That is brown, too.)

 

(diphthong) “EI“
klein, weiß, nein	Nein, er ist nicht klein.   (No, he is not small.)   Heike kommt am Freitag um zwei.   (Heike’ll come on friday at two.)   Hier sind drei weiße Eier.   (Here are three white eggs.)

 

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Now here is a complete rundown of all the letters and their approximate pronunciation equivalents in English:

 a   [Vater / Mann]   (long) as in father  (short) when followed by two consonants, as in cart
 ä   [Männer] (Umlaut) as in any
 au [Haus]  (Diphthong) as in house
 äu [Häuser] (Diphthong) as in moist, coin
 b   [Brot / Lob]     as  in bread --  after a consonant, at the end of a word as in lip
 c   [Center]    (used only in foreign words) as in center
 ch [acht] after  a, o, u, au  corresponds to the CH  in the Scottish 
         “loch”.
 ch [Licht]  after e, i, ä, ö, ü  is a sound that is not  represented in English. 
        (But if you take a word like huge  and stretch out the "H":  "hhhhuge" - the result is similar.)
 ck [Nacken]  as in neck
 d   [drei / Neid]   as in drive -- after a consonant, at the end of a word as in bent
 e   [Ente / Etage]    as in belt or in egg
 ei  [Leine] (Diphthong) as in my , I
 eu [Europa] (Diphthong) sounds like äu (boy , coy)
 f    [Fleisch]   as in fun
 g   [gut / Tag]   as in good - after a consonant, at the end of a  word as in dark
 h   [haben] as in have
 i    [mit / Miete] short as in pit , long as in meat
 j    [ja]  as in yes
 k   [Kilo]  as in kilo
 l    [Land] as in land
m   [Mutter] as in money
n    [nein] as in no
o    [oft] as in often
ö    [mögen]  (Umlaut)  as in fur
p    [Partner]  as in partner
q     [Quelle] as in quite (q is always followed by u)
r    [rennen]  as in run
s     [sehr]  as in zero
sch [Schiff]  as in ship
st    [Stein] as in wish to
ß    [naß]  (sharp s) as in grass
t     [tragen]   as in tell
u    [Stuhl / Nuss]  (long ) as in fool , (short) as in foot
ü     [für] (Umlaut)
v     [voll] as in fast
w    [Wasser] as in very
x     [Saxophon] as in box
y    [Ypsilon / Party]  sounds like ü -- at the end of a word it sounds like i, as in any
z    [zehn]   as in nuts
 

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