German IPA vowels

[i:]

pronounced roughly like "eat" (ex: wir, die, ihnen, Liebe, Tyrol)

[I]

pronounced roughly like "kick," but brighter (ex: ich, bitten)

[e:]

pronounced roughly like the middle sound of the triphthong in "failed" (ex: Leben, Weg, Sehnen, Beet)

[ɛ:]

between [e:] and [ɛ], but long (ex: spät, Tränen, Hähne)

[ɛ]

similar to "pet" in English (ex: Essen, Nächte, weg, vertraut)

[a]

subtly brighter than [a:] (ex: hat, kann, Wald)

[a:]

similar to "Bob" in English (ex: Vater, Rad, Saal, Mahler)

[ɔ]

like "sorrow" in Canadian English (ex: Gott, von)

[U]

right between "foot" and "tooth" (ex: Kuß, muss)

[o:]

approaching end of triphthong in "flow" (ex: Lob, Trost, Sohn, Boot)

[u:]

similar to "soothe" (ex: Fuß, Gruß)

[y:] mixed vowel

tongue like [i:]; lips like [u:] (ex: müde, Lyrik)

[Y] mixed vowel

tongue like [I]; lips like [U] (ex: Glück, rhythmisch)

[ø:] mixed vowel

tongue like [e:]; lips like [o:] (ex: Zauberflöte, schön, höchst)

[ə] (schwa)

similar to last vowel in "Brian" (ex: geben, Angel, Todesahnung)

[œ] mixed vowel

tongue like [ɛ]; lips like [ɔ] (ex: Töchter, Götter, könntest)

[ae] (or [aI]) diphthong

roughly like "my" or "die" (ex: deine, Mai, Hain, Meyer, Bayern)

[ao] (or [aU]) diphthong

roughly like "how now, brown cow" (ex: faul, Zauber)

[ɔø], (or [ɔI] or [ɔY]) diphthong

roughly like "foiled, ahoy" (ex: Freund, Träume (but not "Matthäus"))