German Consonants 'sp' and 'st' - Paul Joyce

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http://joycep.myweb.port.ac.uk/pronounce/consonsp.html

The German Consonants 'sp'

and 'st'

Pronunciation Homepage

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Glossary

The German consonants 'sp' and 'st'

German Consonants
1. The letter 'b'

2. The letters 'ch'

3. 'ch' at the start of
words

4. 'chs' and 'ck' sounds

5. The letter 'd'
6. 'd' plus another
consonant
7. The letter 'f'
8. The letter 'g'

9. 'gn' and 'ng' sounds

10. Loan words
containing 'g'
11. The letter 'h'
12. The letter 'j'

13. The letter 'k'

14. 'k' plus another
consonant
15. The letter 'l'

16. The letter 'm'

17. 'm' plus another
consonant
18. The letter 'n'

19. 'ng' and 'nk' sounds

20. The letter 'p'
21. 'p' plus other
consonants
22. The 'pf' sound
23. The letter 'q'

24. The consonantal 'r'

25. 'r' plus another
consonant
26. The vocalic 'r'
27. The letter 's'

28. The 'sch' sound

29. 'sp' and 'st' sounds

30. The letter 't'
31. 't' in consonant
clusters
32. The letter 'v'
33. The letter 'w'
34. The letter 'y'
35. The letter 'z'

German Pronunciation
Homepage

German Consonants

When they occur at the beginning of a word, the German consonant

combinations 'sp' and 'st' are pronounced 'schp-' and 'scht-'
respectively. To practise these sounds, click either here or on the
sound icon on the left. The eight words that you will hear are supplied in the
box below along with an English translation:

Strae
(street)

Sounds 1: 'sp' and 'st' at the start of a word

Stadt
(town; city)
Sport
(sport)
Spiel
(sport)

Stein
(stone)

Stoff
(material)

Speisekarte
(menu)

Sparkasse
(savings bank)

But when 'sp' and 'st' occur in the middle or at the end of a word, then
these consonant combinations are pronounced as they would be in
English. This means that 'sp' is pronounced as it would be in the
English word 'lisp' and 'st' is pronounced as it would be in the English word
'lost'. Click either here or on the sound icon on the left to listen to six words
in which 'sp' and 'st' appear in either medial or final position.
Sounds 2: 'sp' and 'st' in medial and final position

Wespe
(wasp)

Knospe
(bud)

Liste
(list)

Husten
(cough)

Donnerstag
(Thursday)

Gast
(guest)

An exception to the above rule occurs when words beginning with 'sp'
and 'st' are used as the final element in a compound noun. Although
these sounds are positioned in the middle of the compound noun, the
consonant combinations are still pronounced as they would be at the start of
a word, i.e. as 'schp-' and 'scht-'. Click either here or on the sound icon on
the left to hear four compound nouns containing 'sp' and 'st' in medial

4 Apr 2016 1:11 PM

German Consonants 'sp' and 'st' - Paul Joyce

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http://joycep.myweb.port.ac.uk/pronounce/consonsp.html

position.
Sounds 3: 'sp' and 'st' within compound nouns

Hauptstadt
(capital city)
Ballspiel
(ball game)

Hauptstrae
(high street)

Profisport
(professional sport)

German Football

German Letter-writing
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How to pronounce the German consonant 't'

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Portsmouth University

School of Languages and

Area Studies
Study German at
Portsmouth
German Extension
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4 Apr 2016 1:11 PM