Getting started on German pronunciation: long and short vowels (part I - "a")
You've always wanted to learn German but aren't quite sure what it sounds like? Or you already have some knowledge of German, but want to work on your pronunciation?
Well, here we go.
Let's first get started with the vowel "a".
As in many other languages, the standard vowels in German are a, e, i, o and u. All of them can be pronounced either short or long, depending on their location in a word.
Long and short a
The spelling for the long a can either be "aa", "ah" or "a".
It sounds pretty much like the "a" sound in the English word "spa". You need to watch out that your mouth is wide open and that the sound doesn't glide off to the English "uh" sound.
Examples are:
Bahn (train)
kam (came)
Staat (state)
Schlaf (sleep)
lahm (lame)
Saat (crop, seed)
For the audio file please click below.
Now let's take a look at the short a
The spelling for the short a is always "a".
The short a is pronounced really short and clipped. Its pronunciation is between the English vowels in the words "hut" and "hot".
Examples are:
Bann (ban, spell)
Kamm (comb)
Stadt (city)
schlaff (slack)
Lamm (lamb)
satt (full, having eaten enough)
Again, please click below to listen to the words:
Now, compare the pronunciation of the long and short a:
Bahn - Bann
kam - Kamm
Staat - Stadt
Schlaf - schlaff
lahm - Lamm
Saat - satt
Now try to indentify the short and long a in the following short text:
Ich war gestern Abend seit langem mal wieder auf einer Party. Dort traf ich Annika, die lange Haare hat. Wir tanzten und tranken Cola und Limonade - Alkohol gab es keinen mehr.
You'll find the solution below the audio file.
[Solution:
short a: langem, traf, Annika, lange, hat, tanzten, tranken, Alkohol
long a: war, Abend, mal, Party, Annika, Haare, Cola, Limonade, gablangem, traf, Annika, lange, hat, tanzten, tranken, Alkohol
Please note: The "a" in "auf" belongs to a different category, the diphtongs (in this case "au") which I will be talking about some other time.


