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The Umlaut in German: Theory and Exercises Based on chapter 5.8 of Rundblick 2 and online Speaking Practice Chapter 5, 9.9 and 11.8

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Umlaut /: Spelling Both the capital letter and the small letter , distinguish themselves from the non-Umlaut O/o by adding two dots above the letter: Oo.

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Umlaut /: Length [/:] Just like O/o, the Umlaut version / can be either a short sound or a long sound (often double consonants denote shortness and double vowels or a h after the Umlaut denote length): Long: schon [o:n], schn [:n] Short: offen[fn], ffnen [fnn] Tipp: If you can read the phonetic alphabet (words in [ ] brackets), you notice that the long vowels are always indicated by a colon :

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Umlaut and O contrast: Whilst the mouth position of both o and is pretty similar, the position of jaw and Adams Apple changes: For the o, the lips are pursed, the teeth are apart, the bottom jaw is dropped, the tongue loose in the bottom of the mouth. For the , the mouth is a little wider, the Adams Apple moves slightly up, the lower jaw closes slightly, the tongue presses against the bottom teeth and the sound is higher in pitch. This difference is best practised in front of a mirror: place your fingers softly on your Adams Apple and say a few times: Ohren (ears, plural) hren (to hear)

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Umlaut and O contrast: /:] Phonetic symbol: [/:] schn ffnen zwlf Kln Phonetic symbol: [/o:] schon offen Zwo (alternative to Zwei) Koblenz

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Umlaut and O contrast in action:

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The Umlaut /: What is it good for? 1. It is often used for the plural form of nouns: Example: der Sohn (son, singular) die Shne (sons, plural) 2. It distinguishes number/tenses in verbs: Example 1: ich kann (I can, 1 st person singular) ihr knnt (you can, 2 nd person plural) Example 2: ich mochte (I liked, simple past of mgen) ich mchte (I like, present tense of mchten) 3. It distinguishes completely different words: Example: schon (already) schn (beautiful)

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Test Yourself 2: what do you hear o [/o:] or [/:]?. BrotVogel Ohr Sohn mochte mchte Brtchen Lwe Lsung Mbel Tchter Bogen

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Test Yourself 2: what do you hear short [ ] or long [ : ]? short [] long [:]? zwlf die Shne (plural) ffnen Franzsisch knnen die Tchter (plural) die Hhen (plural) der Lwe schn hren die Schlsser (plural)

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Your turn to practise: the / [/:] sound Please repeat the following words after me (I say each word 2x): Kln das Brtchen die Vgel (plural) Franzsisch zwlf die Lsung knnen die Shne (plural)

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Your turn to practise: using both the [/:] and the [/o:] sound: Please repeat the following words after me: Mchte mochte mchte Lsung Losung Lsung ffnen offen ffnen Brtchen Brot Brtchen Franzose Franzsisch Franzose offen geffnet offen zwo zwlf zwo hoch hher - hoch

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Thank you Thank you Thank you very much for listening to this recording. Remember, you can play this screencast as often as you like. You may wish to save the link to this recording. All materials used in this screencast were produced by the author, Eva Staiger.