Indicating vowel lengt
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Vowel length is inconsistently represented in German spelling – compare the following where all words contain the same long a, e, o or u sound respectively: Saal, Stahl, Tal; Tee, Mehl, beten; Boot, Lohn, bot; Fuß, Schuh. h is commonly used after a vowel to indicate that the vowel is long, although this indication is usually superl uous, e.g. mahlen (to grind) and malen (to paint), sieh (look) and sie (she/they). This is called in German a Dehnungs-h ( dehnen ‘to lengthen, stretch’). In a minority of words a, e and o are doubled to show they are long, e.g. Saal, Beet, Boot. Otherwise a single consonant following a, e and o usually indicates that those vowels are long, e.g. Tag, Gen, Kot, Vater, beten, boten. Conversely, a short vowel is usually followed by two or more consonants, which may be the same or different, e.g. Männer, Pommern, sprechen, fanden, Stadt, Wespe. |
