1. The Umlaut “Ü” in German: Theory and Exercises
Based on chapter 5.8 of Rundblick 2 and online Speaking Practice Chapter 7.8 and 9.9

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3. . . . . U u Umlaut Ü/ü: Spelling
Both the capital letter Ü and the small letter ü, distinguish themselves from the non-Umlaut U/u by
adding two dots above the letter:
. .
. . U u

4. Umlaut Ü/ü: Length [ƴ/ƴ:]
Just like U/u, the Umlaut version Ü/ü 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: Stuhl [‘ʃtu:l] , Stühle [‘ʃtƴ:lǝ]
Short: stumm [‘ʃtʊm], Stück [‘ʃtƴk]
Tipp: If you can read the phonetic alphabet (words in [ ] brackets), you notice that the long vowels are always indicated by a colon “:”

5. Umlaut “Ü” and “U” –contrast:
Whilst the mouth position of both “u” and “ü” is pretty similar, the position of jaw and Adam’s Apple changes: For the “u”, the lips are even more pursed than the “o” and slightly pulled back, the teeth are apart, the bottom jaw is dropped, the tongue loose in the bottom of the mouth. For the “ü”, the lip position remains the same but the lower jaw draws back into the mouth even more, the Adam’s Apple moves slightly up, the tongue presses against the bottom teeth and the sound is higher in pitch. U Ü
This difference is best practised in front of a mirror: place your fingers softly on your Adam’s Apple and say a few times:
“Mutter”(mother, singular) – “Mütter” (mothers, plural)
“Stuhl” (chair, singular) – “Stühle” (chairs, plural)

6. Umlaut “Ü” and “U” –contrast:
Phonetic symbol: [ƴ/ƴ:]
English equivalent: none
Phonetic symbol: [ʊ/u:]
English equivalent: put, pool
Die Küsse (plural)
Das Stück
Die Übung
berühmt
Der Kuss
Der Student
Die Uhr
beruhigen (to calm)

7. Umlaut “Ü” and “U” – contrast in action:

8. The Umlaut Ü/ü: What is it good for?
1. It is often used for the plural form of nouns:
Example: der Bruder (brother, singular) – die Brüder (brothers, plural)
2. It distinguishes number/tenses in verbs:
Example 1: ich muss (I have to, 1st person singular) – ihr müsst (you have to, 2nd person plural)
Example 2: ich fuhr (I drove, simple past of “fahren”) – ich führe (I would drive , subjunctive of “fahren”)
3. It distinguishes completely different words:
Example: die Küche (the kitchen) – der Kuchen (the cake)

9. Test Yourself 1: what do you hear – “u” [ʊ/u:] or “ü” [ƴ/ƴ:]?
. .
unter
Müsli
Küche
Mund
Hügel
früher
musste
Kuchen
Mütter
Hut
Gruß
würde

10. Test Yourself 2: what do you hear – “short ü” [ƴ] or “long ü” [ƴ:]?
Der Hügel
Das Stück
Der Müll
Die Stühle (plural)
führen
Das Müsli
München
Die Mütter (plural)
müde
Die Übung

11. Your turn to practise 1: the “Ü” [ƴ/ƴ:] sound
Please repeat the following words after me (I say each word 2x):
berühmt
Brüssel
das Gemüse
frühstücken
Das Büro
die Übung
müssen
die Küsse (plural)

12. Your turn to practise 2: using both the “Ü” [[ƴ/ƴ:] and the “U” [ʊ/u:] sound:
Please repeat the following words after me:
über - unter - über
Büro – bunt - Büro
Küsse – Kuss – Küsse
München – munter - München
wurde – würde - wurde
Stuhl – Stühle - Stuhl
mutig – gemütlich - mutig
Kuchen – Küche - Kuchen

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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.