German SPRs

This topic contains tables that list the U.S. English symbolic phonetic representations (SPRs) by category.

The following tables show the inventory of valid SPR symbols in German. Each sound symbol is accompanied by examples showing typical spellings of the sound in actual words, with the letters representing the given sound underlined. (Because of dialectal differences, the examples might not always match your pronunciation.)

Remarks specific to SPRs in German are provided in the appropriate sections.

Vowels

German symbol Example words
i lieben, Titel, tief
I bitte, Tisch, Licht
e geben, Ehre, See
E treffen, Geld, kämmen
'E:' Käse, Mädchen, wägen
a Haar, haben, fahren
A lassen, matt, Apfel
u gut, Uhr, Uwe
U Hund, Fluß, Mutter
o Ober, ohne, Boot
O Kopf, Stopp
y Bücher, Tür, kühn
Y fünf, füllen, Künstler
'oe' Löwe, hören, Söhne
'OE' können, hölzern, östlich
@ bitte, Kamera, Boden

Diphthongs

The following table lists the symbols for diphthongs.

German symbol Example words
'aj' heim, Waise, Mai
'aw' Haus, Maul, Frau
'oj' heute, Gebäude, Häuser

Nasalized Vowels

The following table includes the symbols for nasalized vowels.

German symbol Example words
'a~' Chance
'E~' Teint
'o~' Pardon
'oe~' Parfum

Consonants

The following table lists the symbols for the consonants.

German symbol Example words
b Boden, Bett, oben
p Papier, Lippe, Grab
d dunkel, kindisch, Helden
t Tag, bitte, Rad
g geben, grau, Tage
k Katze, Ecke, Skulptur, lag, quitt
v Wagen, viskös, Volum, oval
f fast, hoffen, Vater
z See, Satz, lesen
s Fuß, lassen, Last, Haus
Z Garage, Genie
S schon, spielen, Stil, wäscht
X ich, Chemie, Kelch, mancher
x Buch, Bach, Wochen
P Pflanze, Stumphen
T Zauber, Polizei, Glanz
J Job, Dschungel
C deutsch, Chile, Cello
m Mann, kommen, Atem
n Nacht, können, Kind
G Finger, längs, Anfang
l lesen, fallen, Pult
r Rad, führen
R Wieder, über
j Junge, ja, Jahr, Ministerium
w Eduard, aktuell, Januar
h hoch, Hand, Ahorn

Syllable stress

The following table lists the symbols for syllable stress

1 Primary stress (most prominent stress in the word)
2 Secondary stress
0 No stress

Syllable boundary

Note: In German, a period in an SPR entry triggers a syllable boundary at that location.

The following table lists the symbol for syllable boundary.

. (period) Beginning of a syllable
Related information
Symbolic phonetic representation forms (SPRs)
Entering symbolic phonetic representations