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German Pronunciation: Vowel before H
 

 
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OBJECTIVE:
Notice that a vowel before the letter H becomes looooonger !!!
TASK:
Listen & repeat & memorize!
PERPLEXED?
Maybe you need to eat something!
WHERE TO NEXT?
Look yonder ->
For the convenience of YOU, the learner, you'll find an alphabet box in the upper corner of the right column on many pages, just so you can practice spelling words ... over & over again!

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Vowel before H

Don't try to learn everything on this page at one sitting. You can refer back to this page over & over again, so you can take off into the Internet in any direction (from anywhere) and when you want to figure out a particular sound, come back to this page and LOOK FOR THE SOUND IN QUESTION.

... unless of course you're somewhat anal retentive and have to know everything at one time. Of course you are welcome to attack the whole alphabet at once, then go on to sing it.

BOTTOM LINE: If you had been born in Köln THAT SAME MOUTH wouldn't have any problem speaking 100% absolutely, totally, completely, and utterly AKZENTFREI ... You would NOT have an accent. Period. So, ... how much you gonna practice? OK ... so you would speak "Kölsch."

Normal Vowels
 
 
These are words with "longer" vowel sounds, due to the H.
A
Hahn lahm Stahl Bahn kahl
Ä
ae wählen Krähe Mähne Zähne ähnlich
E
zehn weh Zeh Reh seht
I
ihn ihm ihnen ihr ihrem
O
wohnen Ohren hohl Sohle Mohn
Ö
oe Söhne Höhle Möhre Föhn höher
U
* Kuh Stuhl Buhle Uhr Huhn
Ü
ue Mühle kühl Stühle führen Brühe
Be aware that there are many variables involved in learning pronunciation.
When you learned your language, you applied sounds, tones, nuances, and many other variables that you "imported" from your parents, from the folk of your region, as well as from your educators.
Be ready to hear other pronuncations of these sounds from people in different regions: especially from the Bavarians (no insult intended at all)!