French → German
German uses 43 sounds. You already own 21 of them from French. The other 22 are the work — and 21 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: palatal → velar
German: to sing · written "ng", "n before k"
No /ɡ/ after it, unlike English 'finger'.
Your /ɲ/ is the one in montagne (mountain).
the move: close → near-close
German: child · written "i (short)"
Your /i/ is the one in lit (bed).
the move: close → near-close
German: mother · written "u (short)"
Your /u/ is the one in jour (day).
the move: close → near-close
German: five · written "ü (short)", "y"
Your /y/ is the one in tu (you).
the move: longer
German: father · written "a (long)", "aa", "ah"
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: longer
German: lake · written "e (long)", "ee", "eh"
Your /e/ is the one in été (summer).
the move: longer
German: cheese · written "ä (long)", "äh"
Many speakers say /eː/.
Your /ɛ/ is the one in mère (mother).
the move: longer
German: love · written "ie", "i (long)", "ih", "ieh"
Your /i/ is the one in lit (bed).
the move: longer
German: bread · written "o (long)", "oo", "oh"
Your /o/ is the one in eau (water).
the move: longer
German: beautiful · written "ö (long)", "öh"
Your /ø/ is the one in peu (little).
the move: longer
German: good · written "u (long)", "uh"
Your /u/ is the one in jour (day).
the move: longer
German: door · written "ü (long)", "üh"
Your /y/ is the one in tu (you).
the move: mid → near-open
German: mother · written "-er (final)", "r after a vowel"
Vocalised r — sounds like a light 'uh'. Tür /tyːɐ̯/.
Your /ə/ is the one in petit (small).
the move: postalveolar → palatal
German: I · written "ch (after front vowels, consonants, in -chen)", "-ig"
Whisper a 'y' (as in yes) hard. Ich-Laut.
Your /ʃ/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: plosive → fricative
German: stream · written "ch after a, o, u, au"
Ach-Laut — from the back of the throat.
Your /k/ is the one in quand (when).
the move: plosive → affricate
German: time · written "z", "tz", "c (before e, i)", "-tion"
Your /t/ is the one in table (table).
the move: fricative → affricate
German: German · written "tsch"
Your /ʃ/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: fricative → affricate
German: horse · written "pf"
Your /f/ is the one in fleur (flower).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: my · written "ei", "ai", "ey", "ay"
ei is always /aɪ/ (like English 'eye'), never 'ay'.
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
German: house · written "au"
Your /a/ is the one in chat (cat).
Words you may say identically
Two or more German sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in French sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
house
After a vowel h is silent and lengthens it: sehen /ˈzeːən/.
Closest thing you own: — but labiodental → glottal.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| French | German | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | This is the one that surprises everyone: French words have NO fixed stress. Prominence lands on the last syllable of the rhythmic GROUP, not of the word — so the same word is stressed differently depending on where it sits. 'Un chocolat' stresses -lat; 'un chocolat chaud' moves it to chaud and the word chocolat loses it entirely. There are no French minimal pairs by stress, because there is nothing to contrast. | Contrastive in a very German way: with separable-vs-inseparable prefix verbs, the stress tells you which grammar you are in — and therefore what the sentence means. Otherwise stress sits on the stem syllable, and the unstressed prefixes (be-, ge-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-) never take it. |
What you have that German doesn't
15 sounds with no job in German. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your French has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned German from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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