German pronunciation follows consistent rules — once you learn a sound, it's pronounced the same way every time (unlike English). A few sound combinations trip up every beginner at first.
Types you should know
ch (after a,o,u)
a throat-clearing sound, like Scottish "loch"
ch (after e,i)
a soft "hy" sound, like a gentle "h"
sch
like English "sh"
ei
sounds like English "eye"
ie
sounds like English "ee"
eu / äu
sounds like English "oy"
Examples
German
English
ich
I — ISH (soft ch)
Buch
book — BOOKH (hard ch)
Schule
school — SHOO-luh
nein
no — NINE
sie
she/they — ZEE
Memory trick: "ei" says its own name in the alphabet — "eye"; "ie" is the opposite of what English does — it says "ee", not "eye".
⚠ Common mistake: English speakers often swap ei and ie. "nein" (no) rhymes with "mine"; "sie" (she) rhymes with "tree".