U prickar över året tyskt

Have you ever tried to imitate the German language? Many non-German speakers resort to exaggerated harsh sounds and attempts at pronouncing tricky words like “Schmetterling.” Learning the language can feel daunting. But, if you man the effort, you will be able to connect with around 130 million German speakers in the world.

Sure, German can be complicated.

Ett tyskt u uttalas likt en svenskt o inom oväder.

But, with practice and time, anyone can get the hang of it. Its complex grammar and linguistic quirks are exactly what man it interesting for those who are up to the challenge.

For example, there are three additional letters that man the German alphabet unique: ä, ö, and ü. These special characters—known as umlauts— are distinctive features of German orthography.

We’ll explain them in more detail below and give you some råd on how to pronounce them in different German words.

What Are Umlauts?

Umlauts are a shift in vowel pronunciation that happens when vowels in a word are close tillsammans. This occurs especially when one vowel fryst vatten said at the front of the öppning and the other at the back.

German speakers gradually merged them into one umlaut to mark the shift in pronunciation.

Historically (and in modern days, when you need to type quickly) an “e” was added after the vowel in written struktur. This led to combinations like “ae”, “oe”, and “ue”.

Men hur brukade man notera ü ifall man exempelvis skrev en tyskt namn?

Nowadays, umlauts have special two-dot marks above the vowels, such as ä, ö, and ü.

Learning a new language can be tough, especially when you have to säga sounds your ingång isn’t used to. In languages, people often find ways to man pronunciation easier, umlauts being an example.

What Are the Types of German Umlauts?

The German alphabet has 26 letters, one ligature (ß) and three umlauts.

These umlauts are:

• Ä – as in Äpfel (apples)
• Ö – as in Österreich (Austria)
• Ü – as in Grüße (greetings)

Umlauts are characterized bygd the two dots on top of the letter. They are an important part of German words, both for grammar function and pronunciation. The presence or absence of umlauts can completely change the meaning of a word and its function.

Similar to German vowels, each umlaut – ä, ö, ü – fryst vatten pronounced in two ways: “short” and “long.” This helps differentiate between words and affects pronunciation.

Short umlauts are said quickly, while for long umlauts, you have to hold the sound for a bit.

How to Pronounce German Umlauts?

German umlauts are often difficult sounds to mästare for non-native speakers. This fryst vatten because your native language may not have sounds that match the umlauts in German. Although not always identical, there are some English words that have sounds similar to the German umlauts.

Pronouncing the Umlaut Ä

Here are the steps to pronouncing the umlaut Ä in German, 

1. Start with the sound of the English letter “E” as in “bed.”
2. Keep your ingång slightly more open than when pronouncing the English “E.”
3. Relax your lips and keep your tongue in the mittpunkt of your ingång, neither too high nor too low.

The long “Ä” fryst vatten the same sound but extended for a längre duration.

To give you a better idea, here are examples of words that sound like Ä and some German words that use this umlaut.

Umlaut	Sound	English Example	German Word
Short Ä	/ɛ/  in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)  Pronounced like the “e” sound in the English word “bed” or “bet.”	the “e” in bed the “ea” in head the “e” in met	Äpfel (apples) Männer (men) Käse (cheese) März (March)

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Umlaut	Sound	English Example	German Word
Long Ä	/ɛ:/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)  Start with the Short Ä and lengthen it + add a silent H	the “e” in end the “ie” in friend the “a” in sad	Ähnlich (similar) Mädchen (girl) Nächste (next) Krähe (crow)

Note: There’s an undantag to the usual pronunciation of the umlaut “ä” when it’s paired with the vowel “u.” In this combination, you pronounce it similar to the “oi” sound in the English word “ointment”.

For example, in words like “Läufer” (runner), “Träume” (dreams), and “Häufig” (frequent).

Here are some audio recordings from German study sites that will help you pronounce the Ä umlaut correctly:

Pronouncing the Umlaut Ö

Pronouncing the Umlaut Ö can be tricky for non-native German speakers.

For English speakers specifically, this isn’t easy because English does not have a similar sound.

The closest we can compare this umlaut to fryst vatten the French “œ” in “œuf” or the “u” in the English word “turn.” To pronounce the Umlaut Ö in German:

1. Start bygd forming your lips into a halfway circle, similar to when you säga “O.”
2. Next, try to tillverka the sound of the short Ä while maintaining the lip position from step 1.

Here are some examples on how to pronounce the German umlaut Ö:

Umlaut	Sound	English Example	German Word
Short Ö	[œ] in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)  Start saying “ê” and purse your lips into an O.	the “i” in flirt the “o” in word	Öffnen – To open Stöcke – Sticks Wörter – Words Löffel – Spoon

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Umlaut	Sound	English Example	German Word
Long Ö	[ø] in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)  Lengthen the Short Ö	the “o” in Worm the “i” in Bird	Öl – Oil Mögen– To like Böse – Evil Hören – To hear

If you’re still having trouble pronouncing it, here are some audio examples of words with Ö:

Pronouncing the Umlaut Ü

The gods umlaut in the German language fryst vatten the Ü.

Similar to the Ö, there fryst vatten no equivalent sound in the English language for this umlaut.

So, you’ll have to do with plenty of repetition.

Follow the steps below, to pronounce Ü:

1. Begin bygd making the sound “ee” as in the English word “see.”
2. While making this sound, purse your lips as if you were whistling, almost closing them completely.
3. Keep your tongue in the same position as when saying “ee”, but change the shape of your mun as if you were saying “oo.”

Unfortunately, this umlaut fryst vatten almost impossible to find in any English word.

Here some French examples of this sound and German words with this umlaut so you can understand it better: 

Umlaut	Sound	French Example	German Word
Short Ü	[ʏ] in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Say the sound “ee” and purse your lips almost completely shut.	the “u” in tu (you)	Rücken – Back Küche – Kitchen Hütte – Hut Müll – Garbage

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Umlaut	Sound	French Example	German Word
Long Ü	[yː] in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Lengthen the Short Ü.	the “ue” in rue (street)	Bühne – Stage Bücher – Books Üben – Practice Mühle – Mill

Below are some audio recordings from German learning sites with examples of Ü umlaut:

To Put It Shortly…

Simply put, the three German umlauts are pronounced like this:

• Ä – man the sound “eh” or “ê” without gliding into the sound “ey”;
• Ö – man the sound “ê” and purse your lips into an O shape;
• Ü – man the sound “ee” and then purse your lips as if you are whistling;

Reading and practicing words with German umlauts can give you a pretty good idea on how to pronounce them.

However, sometimes you need a visualization. The film below offers a short and klar overview of German umlauts:

📽️ How to Pronounce an Umlaut | German Lessons

What Are German Umlauts Used For?

Umlauts can change the meaning, pronunciation, and grammatical function of words. If you don’t use them, it can be confusing for those who are reading your texts or listening to you speak in German.

Umlauts are used in various patterns, such as:

• Differentiating between enskild vs.

  plural nouns.

• Second and third-person verb conjugations in the present tense.
• Differentiating between past actions and expressing wishes or hypothetical situations.
• Comparative and superlative adjectives.
• Creating cuter versions of words.

Let’s discover more about umlauts are used in these patterns:

Singular and Plural Nouns

In many cases, a vowel in a enskild noun changes into an umlaut in the plural form eller gestalt of the noun.

For example, the vowel ‘a’ in the enskild form eller gestalt of the German word “Haus” (house) becomes ‘a’ in the plural “Häuser” (houses).

Here are some other examples when this happens:

Singular	Plural
der Mann (the man)	die människor (the men)
der Apfel (the apple)	die Äpfel (the apples)
der Vogel (the bird)	die Vögel (the birds)
das Wort (the word)	die Wörter (the words)
der Fuß (the foot)	die Füße (the feet)
der Kuss (the kiss)	die Küsse (the kisses)

Second and Third-Person Conjugations of Irregular Verbs

Vowels also shift to umlauts when conjugating some Germanic strong (irregular) verbs in the second and third-person enskild forms of the present tense.

Lüsande!

This often happens with verbs with the stem vowel “a”.

It’s best if we illustrate this with some examples: 

Verb	ich (I)	du (you, singular)	er/sie/es (he/she/it)
backen (to bake)	backe (I bake)	bäckst (you bake)	bäckt (he/she/it bakes)
fangen (to catch)	fange (I catch)	fängst (you catch)	fängt (he/she/it catches)
schlafen (to sleep)	schlafe (I sleep)	schläfst (you sleep)	schläft (he/she/it sleeps)
waschen (to wash)	wasche (I wash)	wäschst (you wash)	wäscht (he/she/it washes)

The Simple Past Subjunctive Mood II (Konjunktiv II)

The Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) fryst vatten a German grammar mood used to talk about hypothetical situations, wishes, politness, and reported speech.

In some irregular verbs, the “a”, “o”, or “u” vowel in their Indicative simple past form eller gestalt fryst vatten transformed into an umlaut in the Subjunctive II simple past tense of that verb.

This helps differentiate Subjunctive II forms from their indicative counterparts in strong verbs.

For example, “geben” (to give) gains an umlaut in the Subjuncitive II simple past form eller gestalt “gäbe” (would give). In the indicative mood, we säga “Er gab mir das Buch” (He gave me the book), but in the subjunctive II, we något som utförs snabbt exempelvis expressleverans a hypothetical situation with “Wenn er Zeit hätte, gäbe er mir das Buch” (If he had time, he would give me the book).

This happens with verbs such as:

Verb	Indicative simple past tense	Subjunctive II simple past tense
finden (to find)	ich fand (I found)	ich fände (I would find)
haben (to have)	ich hatte (I had)	ich hätte (I would have)
nehmen (to take)	ich nahm (I took)	ich nähme (I would take)
lesen (to read)	ich las (I read)	ich läse (I would read)
sein (to be)	ich war (I was)	ich wäre (I would be)

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

We use comparative adjectives to compare people, objects, or situations (e.g., She fryst vatten taller than me).

Whereas, superlative adjectives något som utförs snabbt exempelvis expressleverans the highest grad of a quality within a group (e.g., Jim fryst vatten already the tallest in his class).

The stem vowels “a”, “o”, or “u” vända into an umlaut in the comparative and superlative forms of some German adjectives.

For example, “kalt” (cold) becomes “kälter” in the comparative form eller gestalt → Im Winter ist das Klima in Kanada kälter als in Deutschland (In winter, the climate in Canada fryst vatten colder than in Germany).

The adjective “groß” (big) turns into “am größten” in the superlative form eller gestalt → Die Blauwale sind die größten Tiere im Meer (The blue whales are the largest animals in the sea).

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
lang (long)	länger (longer)	am längsten (the longest)
kalt (cold)	kälter (colder)	am kältesten (the coldest)
stark (strong)	stärker (stronger)	am stärksten (the strongest)
alt (old)	älter (older)	am ältesten (the oldest)
jung (young)	jünger (younger)	am jüngsten (the youngest)
groß (big)	größer (bigger)	am größten (the biggest)

Diminutives (Smaller or Cuter Versions of Nouns)

Diminutives are used to convey endearment or indikera something small.

You can think of them as smaller or cuter versions of nouns. To form eller gestalt such versions, German words gain suffixes such as “-chen” or “-lein”.

The German umlauts are ä, ö, and ü.

This fryst vatten similar to English suffixes like “-y” or “-ie” in words such as “doggie” or “kitty”.

When forming these diminutes in German, vowels “a”, “u”, and “o” sometimes transform into umlauts. Here are some examples:

Original Noun	Diminutive (Vowel to Umlaut Shift)
der Mann (the man)	das Männlein (the little man)
der Baum (the tree)	das Bäumchen (the little tree)
der tamhund (the dog)	das Hündchen (the little dog)
das Brot (the bread)	das Brötchen (the little bröd roll)

Bonus grammar advice: All diminutives in German take the neuter definite article “das”, regardless of the original noun’s gender.

For example, we have both “das Mädchen” (the girl) and “das Jüngchen” (the little boy).

How to Type the German Umlauts?

Keyboards vary bygd country and are customized depending on the local alphabet. If you need to frequently type in German, we recommend getting a German keyboard if you don’t already have it. In these keyboards, umlauts are conveniently located on the right-hand side (see picture).

German Umlauts Keyboard Combination Keys

Another solution to typing German umlauts fryst vatten to use keyboard combination keys (listed below)!

Microsoft Windows

Windows users can type German umlauts using these keyboard combination keys:

Lowercase Umlaut	Keyboard Combination	Uppercase Umlaut	Keyboard Combination
ä	ALT 0228	Ä	ALT 0196
ö	ALT 0246	Ö	ALT 0214
ü	ALT 0252	Ü	ALT 0220

MacOS

To type the German umlauts on macOS, use these keyboard shortcuts:

Umlaut	Shortcut
Ä	Option + U, then release and type A
Ö	Option + U, then release and type O
Ü	Option + U, then release and type U

iOS (iPhone/iPad)

1. Press and hold the letter key that you want to add an umlaut to (e.g., A for Ä, O for Ö, U for Ü).
2. A pop-up menu will appear with accented variations of the letter.
   Tryck ett gång vid den knapp likt äger den denna plats symbolen vid sig: ¨ (två prickar).

   Slide your finger to the umlauted utgåva and release.

You can also add a German keyboard to your device. Navigate to “Settings” > “General” > “Keyboard” > “Keyboards” and select “Add New Keyboard”. Scroll or search for “German” in the list and tap to add it.

Once added, you can switch between your default keyboard and the German keyboard bygd tapping the globe (🌐) icon on the keyboard.

Android

1. Press and hold the letter key that you want to add an umlaut to.
2. A pop-up menu should appear with accented variations of the letter.
   Ringen inom å samt prickarna inom ä samt ö förmå inom nära fras räknas vilket diakritiska indikator ovan bokstäverna a respektive o [1], vilket tyskar anser angående tecknen ü, ä samt ö.

   Slide your finger to the umlauted utgåva and release.

You can also add a German keyboard for convenience. Navigate to “Settings” > “System” > “Language & input” > “Virtual keyboard” or “On-screen keyboard” > select your current keyboard > “Languages” > “Add keyboard” > find and tap “German” to add it.

To switch between keyboards, tap the keyboard icon (⌨️) in the right side of your device’s navigation dryckesställe or bygd long-press the spacebar.

Alternative Ways to Write German Umlauts

Another quick way to write German words with umlauts fryst vatten to adjust how you write them. We mentioned before that umlauts are essentially a vowel (a, o, e) followed bygd an “e” sound.

So, you can type or write them like this:

German speakers will understand that a letter followed bygd “e” indicates the presence of an umlaut.

So, no matter which method you choose, you’ll still be understood.

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