The German Consonant: G
The German letter 'g' is most often pronounced exactly as the
initial sound in the English word 'gum' when it appears at the
start or the middle of a word.
Click on the examples in the
table below to hear German words containing the letter 'g' at
their start or their middle.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter 'g' in initial position | ||
| glauben - to believe | Gabel - fork | Glück - luck |
| gestern - yesterday | gelb - yellow | gefallen - to please sb. |
| Letter 'g' in medial position | ||
| aufhängen - to hang up | Morgen - morning/tomorrow | Vogel - bird |
| Auge - eye | Magazin - magazine | bringen - to bring |
In some cases, German words taken from the French language are pronounced similar to the initial sound in the English word 'gentle'.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Letter 'g' in words taken from French | ||
| Rage - rage | Ingenieur - engineer | Massage - massage |
| Blamage - disgrace | Genie - Genius | Passage - passage |
The German letter 'g' also has two different pronunciations when appearing as the last letter in a word. When it forms an 'ig' suffix of a word, it's pronounced as the heavy 'ch' letter combination discussed in an earlier lesson, otherwise, it's prounounced as the English letter 'k'.
| Examples with Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| 'Ig' combination in final position | ||
| König - king | lockig - curly | billig - cheap |
| traurig - sad | Essig - vinegar | Honig - honey |
| Letter 'g' in final position | ||
| Zug - train | Flug - flight | Tag - day |
| Weg - way | Zeitung - newspaper | Erfolg - success |
To summarize, the German letter 'g' is most usually pronounced as in the English word 'gum' when it appears at the start or in the middle of a word. But when in the middle of a German word taken from the French language, it may be pronounced as in the English word 'gentle'.
Also when it appears at the end of a word, if it is preceeded by an 'i' (i.e forming an 'ig' suffix), it's pronounced exactly as the German 'ich' combination, otherwise, it's pronounced as the English letter 'k'.