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Pronunciation
Ouch! Oy vey! Sigh!

Formal German
English
Vocabulary
Grammar Points

2
2
2
3

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Formal German
Pure vowel sounds
Contrasting no. 1
Contrasting no. 2
Example phrase
Slow example

ei/ai, au, eu/u

my - Mai; mine - mein
how - hau; house - Haus
Kommt deine aberglubische Freundin aus Bahrain heute auch?
Kommt deine aberglubische Freundin aus Bahrain heute auch?

English
Pure vowel sounds
Contrasting no. 1
Contrasting no. 2
Example phrase
Slow example

ei/ai, au, eu/u

my - Mai (May); mine - mein (my)
how - hau (beat!); house - Haus (house)
Is your superstitious friend from Bahrain coming as well today?
Is your superstitious friend from Bahrain coming as well today?

Vocabulary

German
Mai
mein
Haus
Huser
heute

English
May
my
house
houses
today

noun
possessive pronoun
noun
noun
adverb

Notes
masculine
Neuter.

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Alles neu macht der Mai.
Mein Name ist Lisa.
Mein Haus ist nicht gro.
Im Krieg wurden die meisten Huser zerstrt.
Heute gibt es Freibier in der Altstadt.

LC: P_L5_081209

www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved

The month of May renews everything.

My name is Lisa.
My house isnt big.
Most houses were destroyed in the war.
Today there is free beer [available] in the old
town.

2009-08-18

GermanPod101.com
Learn German with FREE Podcasts

Grammar Points
The focus of this lesson is pronunciation of common diphtongs.
Kommt deine aberglubische Freundin aus Bahrain heute auch?
"Is your superstitious friend from Bahrain coming as well today?

Today's focus are the common German diphtongs. Diphtongs are vowel combinations. In German
there are three basic diphtong sounds, represented by 5 different spellings.
The first sound is /ai/. It's most commonly spelled EI in German, but AI also exists. There is no
difference in pronunciation between the two, but the sound is a tiny bit different from the English
equivalent. Compare my and Mai (May) for example, or mine and mein (my).
Note that diphtongs are fixed length, so you don't have to worry about long and short sounds.
The next sound is /au/. This can only be spelled AU in German. Again you may think you know this
sound from English, but there is a slight difference in pronunciation. Compare how and hau (beat!)
or house and Haus (house). This kind of slight differences are part of what creates the German
accent in English, or the English accent in German, so take care.

The third and last common diphtong sound is /eu/. This one is typically spelled EU, but may also be
spelled U, especially in the plural of words with AU, such as Huser (houses). In this case, the
English and German pronunciation appear to be identical, so this one should be easy for you. The most
common word with this sound in German is heute.

LC: P_L5_081209

www.GermanPod101.com - All Rights Reserved

2009-08-18