60 German Umlauts: What Those Two Dots Actually Do
2026-03-11 19 min
Description & Show Notes
Many learners see ä, ö, and ü and immediately feel confused. What are those two dots? Are they new letters? Are they just decoration?
In this episode, we look at German umlauts in a very practical way. You'll hear how they sound, how they relate to the normal vowels a, o, and u , and why they often appear when words change form — for example, when a noun becomes plural.
Most importantly, you'll practice the sounds out loud with real examples so you can start getting used to hearing and saying them.
If you want to follow along more easily, download the free cheat sheet with all the example words mentioned in the episode.
👩🏻💻Free Workshop https://bettergerman.info/workshop
🗣️Get Talking German Course https://bettergerman.info/course
⬇️Download the Umlaut Cheat Sheet https://bettergerman.info/umlaut
Key Topics in This Episode
- What the German umlaut actually means
- Why German has the letters ä, ö , and ü
- The connection between sound changes and word changes
- Examples with a → ä, o → ö, and u → ü
- Common singular and plural pairs ( Mann → Männer, Buch → Bücher , etc.)
- How to practice umlaut sounds effectively
Mentioned in This Episode
You May Also Like
- Better German Podcast → https://podcast.bettergerman.info
- Free Live German Workshop → https://bettergerman.info/workshop
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Transcript
All right, so welcome to this
episode, and this is going to be
an episode where we talk less about
theory and we'll talk about something
very practical within German.
And these are the German " umlaute" So an
"umlaut" is there's like three additional
letters that the German alphabet has.
Actually the German alphabet has four
additional letters other than the A
to Z alphabet, that is the same as
in the English alphabet but we are
just talking about three of them.
The fourth is something that we call
in German, the "scharfes S" —"sharp
S" or the "Eszett," —" s z", but
we're not talking about this one,
we're talking about the Umlaute.
So the Umlaute, they look like an "a, o or
u" or in German "a, o, u" with two dots.
And so the letter that's a "a", with two
dots is called an "Umlaut ah," and the O
with two dots is called "Umlaut oh" and
the U with two dots is called "Umlaut U."
Now let's look, why is it even Umlaut.
So "laut, der Laut" in
German is the sound.
Something that you can hear, and
in this case referring to like any
letter has a "laut" connected to it.
So a letter is a
representation of a sound.
So that means like when I say something,
when I say "die Vase" —" the vase,"
I have a whole lot of sounds and,
these sounds are written up with letters.
So a "laut" is a sound, and "um," is a
little, two letters, "um," that I can
add to the beginning of a word that is
called the prefix, by the way, I'm going
to make a separate episode about that
at some point, and this prefix in this
case means that something's changed.
So an "umlaut" is technically
a changed sound or not, just
technically it is a changed sound.
We're going to look at why it is changed.
The reason it is changed is because of,
I'm going to give you, some examples
later, but very often, or in many cases
when I have a sound, let's say we take the
word "Buch, das Buch" " the book" and we I
have some sort of change, and the obvious
change here is to make a plural out of it.
So I'm talking about books instead
of one book, and then we call this in
German "die Bücher" and in this case, the
"oo" in "Buch" becomes, "oh" in Bücher
Okay, so that's why it's called umlaut.
So let's go through them one after
the other with a few examples.
Okay?
So please speak after me if you can
speak out loud and do come back at a
later time to this episode because it
really only makes sense if you say that.
It's not going to be perfect because
I can't listen to you and make you
repeat it, but honestly, the only
way how you really become good
is that you just keep doing it.
Yes, I'm not there because it's a recorded
thing, obviously, and if you were in a
lesson, I would make sure that you can say
it, but all I would really do is I would
just keep saying it to you and make you
repeat it, and you can do that yourself.
when you are doing it yourself,
that's not just for the umlaut, just
repeat it a little more often to be
really sure that you got it right
and don't worry so much about it.
Perfection is not what we are going for.
We're going to go for improvement.
Okay, good!
So first letter, "ah," like
I'm going to give you a few
examples here for each letter.
So for example, an "ah" would be "der
Mann," —"the man" or "die Hand" "the
hand," or "das Land." — "the country."
So I'm going to say, "ah" you repeat it.
"A,"
" Man."
"Hand"
"Land."
Okay, good and then, "Ä" could be
"der Tänzer." It's "a
dancer." "der Tänzer"
oder (or) Tder Bäcker
it's "a baker."
"der Bäcker"
"Bäcker" " Ä" Bäcker."
So both of these could be all
of these, every vowel in German.
Oh, so a vowel in German " Vokal"
is a sound that you just make it
basically with it's, "ah, or oh"
Your tongue or your, lips are not
stopping the airflow out of your mouth.
That's a vowel.
"Ah, oh, oo." So the typical
vowels are A-E-I-O-U or in German,
"ah, eh, ee, oh, oo" and these
umlauts, they're additional vowels.
So we have, A, Ä, Ä, I, O, Ö, U, Ü
These are all the vowel sounds in German.
But don't worry about them.
That's just something you
hear, I'm just telling you.
Do not get confused or don't
be upset if it's a little bit
confusing in the beginning.
We have a lot of sounds and
you're not used to all of them.
But you will be and the the way how to
get used to them is to just repeat them.
So all of these could be short
or long, just telling you.
Okay, good.
So let's go to the next one.
That is O and Ö.
O could be long or short.
So let's say we could have for
a long one "das Brot" "bread"
or "the rose," "die Rose" " die Rose."
Or the son, meaning the
male child, "der Sohn,"
"der Sohn."
That's long and short sounds a
little different, but it's not
going to be hard for you to say.
"The head." —"Der Kopf"
" der Kopf."
'Or the skirt." "der Rock."
"der Rock"
Or the sun in this case, the one
in the sky, making everything nice
and shiny, giving us warmth and
life, "die Sonne" "die Sonne."
Okay, so that's, "ooh" or "oh" could
be depending if it's long or short.
Now, and then the
umlaut is, Ö
That could be short,
for example, "a spoon."
"der Löffel"
"der Löffel,"
Or, it could be long,
"Öl," that's the "oil."
"Öl," "Öl,"
Or "bad," like a bad person.
"Böse"
"Böse." And then we could have pairs.
Very often, and that's where the umlaut
idea come is very often the case.
So for example, all of these
are singular, plural examples.
So.
"der Mann," "the man," "der Mann,"
and the plural is "die
Männer." "die Männer."
So Mann with an R, " ah" (a) letter
A, and then we have, umlaut ah (ä)
in the plural, "die Männer" I'm just
going to give you another few examples.
Keep repeating them after "der Ball"
" die Bälle"
Oh, by the way, as always, before we
go into the whole thing here, I'm going
to give you quite a few examples of
words and I think it is a little tough
if you don't have them written up.
So I highly suggest to you that you
download the cheat sheet or the free PDF
that goes with this, episode, and I am
going to put it, bettergerman.info/umlaute
so go there and you can download it there.
So then we have "die Hand,"
"the hand." "die Hand," die Hand
" die Hände" " die Hände"
I am going to put a few more examples
in the PDF for you to download, but I
don't want to make the episode too long.
So let's go, we just did the "O," yes,
and now if you "O" pair examples, okay.
For example, this could
also be long or short.
So das Loch, that's a hole, das Loch
" die Löcher"
That's a short example.
Or "der Topf"
" die Töpfe"
that's "a pot." Could be a
flower pot or a pot for cooking.
"der Topf"
"die Töpfe."
And then to give you an example
with a long vowel, the oven or,
something used for heating, "der Ofen"
"die Öfen."
" der Ofen" "die Öfven"
Or "the floor."
"der Boden."
"die Böden,"
"die Böden.
All right.
Or let's move to U, the last vowel.
The last umlaut also.
So the normal letter to U and that
seems to be for some reason, the
one where I have seen that there're
the most difficulties in students.
So if you have difficulties
here, don't be desperate.
Don't worry.
Just keep practicing, keep
trying it, keep hearing it.
And then, you will be able to say it.
The thing that is happening here, if
there is a sound that you don't have
in your own language, you're not used
to hearing, it is very hard to say it.
it's not super hard, it's just the
point is you will not be able to
hear it at first because it's a sound
that you're not familiar with and you
actually have to first learn to hear
it, and then once you actually start to
hear it, you will be able to say that.
I've learned that actually
from one of my students.
This was many, many
times ago, at that time.
I didn't teach German.
At that time I was teaching
a one of my students English.
It was a private lesson in English, and
we were actually chatting a little bit
and, she told me, or she tried to teach
me her name and it was, it had sounds
in it that I was familiar with it, and
I think I spent hours, it just felt like
hours and I wasn't even able to hear it.
So anyway, don't be surprised.
It can happen sometimes.
For some people it is very easy and
for some people it takes a little
bit to, to be able to hear it.
Don't get upset.
It's just the way it is.
It's the same thing for kids.
Some kids learn speaking fast.
They speak when they're a year old.
Some people start speaking
when they're three years old.
That doesn't even mean that they're
smart or not smart, even though there
are markers and whatever things.
In actual life, people just learn
with different speed and even within
the same subject, when you observe
yourself, you will learn some
things faster and some things not.
Like some words you will remember
easily and some words will
come to you with more practice.
the thing is, don't
waste your time on like,
"Oh no! Why can't I do that?"
Just practice calmly and quietly.
You can do that.
Okay, good.
So last letter here, last umlaut,
let's do a few examples for, U, first.
So it's U and Ü.
The couple is U and Ü.
U, like for example, "der Mund"
Again, this could be shorter or long,
"der Mund" would be a short one.
that's for U or "Mutter," "the Mother"
"Mutter," " Mutter"
or "Kuss," that's "a kiss."
"der Kuss" and just to give
you a few long U's " der Hut."
That's "a hat."
"der Hut.
der Hut."
Or a train is "der Zug" " der Zug,"
So these are long ones.
And now let's do some umlauts.
For example, a short one would
be "die Küche" " die Küche"
That's "the kitchen"
"die Küche"
Or
"a bowl"
" die Schüssel" " die Schüssel"
And just to have a few long ones too.
a long one, just an Ü would
be, "die Tür" "die Tür"
And now let's do another
pair, with U and Ü.
So like "Mutter," that's "the mother" and
the plural is "die Mütter" " die Mütter."
That's a short one.
Or a long one would be "der
Bruder" it's "the brother."
"der Bruder"
" die Brüoder." "die Brüder"
And, der Kuss, we've had that, "the kiss."
"die Küsse", "die Küsse"
Or "die Fuß"
"die Füße" " die Füße"
Alright.
So, as I said, go download
the PDF if you haven't.
This is probably someone that I would
go and, visit again and listen to again.
And, by the way, if you're like a
beginner and you're haven't gone into
pronunciation at all, I highly suggest
to you to first listen to the podcast
Episode 18, that's where I go over the
alphabet and there I introduce those.
So in my course, the "Get Talking"
course, there is more pronunciation
drills, and there will be a
pronunciation course coming up.
So if you are following me, following
my podcast, you will hear when I have
the actual pronunciation course ready.
That's probably going to
be the end of this year.
So hope that this is helping you.
what you would like me to help
you with, and absolutely, I'm
thrilled to hear from you.
So you can always let me know, you can
write to me at podcast@bettergerman.info,
or if you like the podcast, then
please leave a review, leave a
five-star review, and I will absolutely
read every review that I get.
And, subscribe, yes, of course,
and tell other people about it.
That would mean a lot, and it helps
me to continue to, do the podcast.
So talk to you soon, and bye-bye!
Cheers!