The Umlaut in German: Theory and Exercises Based on chapter 5.8
of Rundblick 2 and online Speaking Practice Chapter 5, 9.9 and
11.8
Folie 2
Please pause or go back/forward whenever needed Please pause or
go back/forward whenever needed Feel free to pause this recording
at any time or go back to any point of the recording when required.
Simply use the following Screen-O- Matic buttons: Press button to
pause Press button to start Sliding bar to go forward or backward
in the recording
Folie 3
Umlaut /: Spelling Both the capital letter and the small letter
, distinguish themselves from the non-Umlaut O/o by adding two dots
above the letter: Oo.
Folie 4
Umlaut /: Length [/:] Just like O/o, the Umlaut version / can
be either a short sound or a long sound (often double consonants
denote shortness and double vowels or a h after the Umlaut denote
length): Long: schon [o:n], schn [:n] Short: offen[fn], ffnen [fnn]
Tipp: If you can read the phonetic alphabet (words in [ ]
brackets), you notice that the long vowels are always indicated by
a colon :
Folie 5
Umlaut and O contrast: Whilst the mouth position of both o and
is pretty similar, the position of jaw and Adams Apple changes: For
the o, the lips are pursed, the teeth are apart, the bottom jaw is
dropped, the tongue loose in the bottom of the mouth. For the , the
mouth is a little wider, the Adams Apple moves slightly up, the
lower jaw closes slightly, the tongue presses against the bottom
teeth and the sound is higher in pitch. This difference is best
practised in front of a mirror: place your fingers softly on your
Adams Apple and say a few times: Ohren (ears, plural) hren (to
hear)
Folie 6
Umlaut and O contrast: /:] Phonetic symbol: [/:] schn ffnen
zwlf Kln Phonetic symbol: [/o:] schon offen Zwo (alternative to
Zwei) Koblenz
Folie 7
Umlaut and O contrast in action:
Folie 8
The Umlaut /: What is it good for? 1. It is often used for the
plural form of nouns: Example: der Sohn (son, singular) die Shne
(sons, plural) 2. It distinguishes number/tenses in verbs: Example
1: ich kann (I can, 1 st person singular) ihr knnt (you can, 2 nd
person plural) Example 2: ich mochte (I liked, simple past of mgen)
ich mchte (I like, present tense of mchten) 3. It distinguishes
completely different words: Example: schon (already) schn
(beautiful)
Folie 9
Test Yourself 2: what do you hear o [/o:] or [/:]?. BrotVogel
Ohr Sohn mochte mchte Brtchen Lwe Lsung Mbel Tchter Bogen
Folie 10
Test Yourself 2: what do you hear short [ ] or long [ : ]?
short [] long [:]? zwlf die Shne (plural) ffnen Franzsisch knnen
die Tchter (plural) die Hhen (plural) der Lwe schn hren die
Schlsser (plural)
Folie 11
Your turn to practise: the / [/:] sound Please repeat the
following words after me (I say each word 2x): Kln das Brtchen die
Vgel (plural) Franzsisch zwlf die Lsung knnen die Shne
(plural)
Folie 12
Your turn to practise: using both the [/:] and the [/o:] sound:
Please repeat the following words after me: Mchte mochte mchte
Lsung Losung Lsung ffnen offen ffnen Brtchen Brot Brtchen Franzose
Franzsisch Franzose offen geffnet offen zwo zwlf zwo hoch hher -
hoch
Folie 13
Thank you Thank you Thank you very much for listening to this
recording. Remember, you can play this screencast as often as you
like. You may wish to save the link to this recording. All
materials used in this screencast were produced by the author, Eva
Staiger.