The German Consonant: F
The letter 'f' is exactly similar to its English counterpart. Whether it's at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, just go ahead and pronounce it exactly as you do in English. Click on the examples in the table below to hear how words having the letter 'f' are pronounced in the German language.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter 'f' in initial position | ||
| Familie - family | finden - to find | Freund - friend |
| falsch - false | Flug - flight | Farbe - colour |
| Letter 'f' in medial position | ||
| treffen - to meet | Büffel - buffalo | gefallen - to please sb. |
| Apfel - apple | Elefant - elephant | kaufen - to buy |
| Letter 'f' in final position | ||
| steif - stiff | Kopf - head | Chef - boss |
| Bahnhof - station | Knauf - knob | Brief - letter |
The letter combination 'pf' might sound a bit strange to English speakers, but in German, both the 'p' and 'f' are pronounced.
To summarize, the German letter 'f' is pronounced exactly as in English; no matter its position within a word.