Reading German aloud: ei, ie, z, v, w, ch
CEFR A1 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
Every noun takes a capital letterCapitalising every noun, and using those capitals when reading to find what a long…der, die or das: the gender of nounsChoosing der, die or das, and spotting the endings that give the gender away without…sein and haben: where they part company with EnglishConjugating sein and haben in the present, and knowing which one each sentence needs.The present tense: six endings and the vowel that changesConjugating any regular verb in the present, and spotting the verbs that change their…The verb always comes secondPutting the verb in second place whatever the sentence starts with, and moving the…Asking questions in German: no auxiliary, and the seven W-wordsMaking both kinds of question: the yes/no one by inverting, and the one that starts with…The rule, in three lines
German is read much as it is written, but eight letters mislead. The SECOND letter of the pairs wins: ei sounds like «eye» and ie is a long «ee». Then: z is «ts», v is «f», w is «v», s before a vowel buzzes, sch is «sh», initial st- and sp- are «sht» and «shp», and ß is a sharp s. Stress falls on the first syllable almost always.
The usual slip. Crossing ei with ie. drei reads «dry» and vier reads «feer», and swapping them turns one word into another. The rule that saves you: in the pair, the SECOND letter always wins.
Why it catches you out. Two letters give an English speaker away: w and z. English w is the w of «water», but German w is the v of «very», so Wasser is «VAS-ser». And German z is never the z of «zoo»: it is «ts». The good news is that ei and ie already work for you.