Diphthongs

Diphthong is a fancy word for saying that two vowels are next to each other and they make one sound. In German the diphthongs include: “AI”, “AU”, “ÄU”, “EU”, “EI”, and “IE”. 

AI

The combination of “A” and “I” make the sound like the English long “I” sound. 

Examples:

der Mai [maɪ̯] - May (month) 

der Hai [haɪ̯] - shark 

der Kaiser [ˈkaɪ̯zɐ] - emperor 

AU

This is pronounced like someone stepped on your toe. In fact, the German spelling for “ow” is “aua” and is pronounced like a person with a Boston accent saying “hour”. 

Examples:

das Haus [haʊ̯s] - house 

die Maus [maʊ̯s] - mouse 

kauen [ˈkaʊ̯ən] - to chew 

auch [aʊ̯χ] - also 

auf [aʊ̯f] - on 

ÄU

Adding an umlaut, those two little dots above the letter “A”, makes it sound like you are trying to get someone’s attention in a British pub. Äu, mate.

Examples:

die Häuser [ˈhɔɪ̯zɐ] - houses 

die Mäuse [ˈmɔɪ̯zə] - mice 

der Räuber [ˈʀɔɪ̯bɐ] - robber

EU 

This is pronounced in exactly the same way as “ÄU”. If you remember from earlier, “Ä” is pronounced like the German long “E” sound, which means that “EU” would logically have the same pronunciation as “ÄU”. 

Examples:

neu [nɔɪ̯] - new 

scheu [ʃɔɪ̯] - shy 

die Freude [ˈfʀɔɪ̯də] - joy

EI & IE

This same sound you get when combining “A” and “I”, can also be created using a combination of “E” and “I”. If you are an English speaker, the two possible combinations of E and I are incredibly confusing, because they are generally pronounced in the opposite way English speakers think they should be. If the “I” is second, it is the English long “I” sound. If the “E” is second, it sounds like the English long “E” sound.

EI Examples: 

schreiben [ˈʃʀaɪ̯bn̩] - to write 

drei [dʀaɪ̯] - three 

das Bein [baɪ̯n] - leg 

IE Examples 

nie [niː] - never 

Sie [ziː] - you (formal) 

das Bier [biːɐ̯] - beer