Die besten deutschen Filme

The Best German Films

In alphabetical order with year and director
Original German titles shown in italics
*Title may only be available in PAL DVD/video without subtitles
Recently Added Titles in red.
Full German Movie Index by Title
1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) Werner Herzog
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
2. The American Friend (1977) Wim Wenders
3. Beyond Silence (1996) Caroline Link
Jenseits der Stille
4. Blue Angel, The (1930) Joseph von Sternberg
Der blaue Engel
5. Boat Is Full, The (1982) Markus Imhoof
Das Boot ist voll is about Switzerland during WWII.
6. Das Boot (1981) Wolfgang Petersen
7. BRD Trilogy (1970s) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
DVD set: The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, Lola
8. Brother of Sleep (1995) Joseph Vilsmaier
Schlafesbruder
9. (2005) Oliver Hirschgbiegel
Der Untergang
10. Europa, Europa (1991) Agnieszka Holland
Hitlerjunge Salomon
11. Faraway, So Close (1993) Wim Wenders
In weiter Ferne, so nah
12. Fitzcarraldo (1982) Werner Herzog
13. Good-Bye Lenin! (2003) Wolfgang Becker
14. Go, Trabi, Go* (1990) Peter Timm
15. Harmonists, The (1997) Joseph Vilsmaier
Comedian Harmonists
16. Heimat (6-film series) Edgar Reitz
Heimat (now on Region 1 DVD)
17. The Inheritors (1997) Stefan Ruzowitzky
Die Siebtelbauer
18. Lives of Others, The* (2006)
Das Leben der Anderen is about the East German Stasi.
19. M (1931) Fritz Lang
20. Marlene (1986) Maximilian Schell(Interview with Dietrich in Ger. & Eng.)
21. Marriage of Maria Braun, The (1978) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Die Ehe der Maria Braun (part of Fassbinder's BRD Trilogie)
22. Men* (1990) Doris Dörrie
Männer - a German comedy!
23. * (2003)
 Das Wunder von Bern was Germany's 1954 soccer win.
24. Mostly Martha (2001) Sandra Nettelbeck
Bella Martha/Fünf Sterne
25. Mystery of Kaspar Hauser, The (1974) Werner Herzog
Kaspar Hauser
26. Nasty Girl, The (1990) Michael Verhoeven
Das schreckliche Mädchen
27. Nosferatu, the Vampyre (1979) Werner Herzog
Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht
28. Nowhere in Africa (2001) Caroline Link
Nirgendwo in Afrika - Acad. Award Best Foreign Film
29. Rosenstrasse (2004) Margarethe von Trotta
Rosenstraße
30. Run Lola Run (1998) Tom Tykwer
Lola rennt is one of the best German films ever
31. Sophie Scholl - The Last Days (2004) Marc Rothemund
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten TageTopic: 'The White Rose' (see below)
32. Stalingrad (1992) Joseph Vilsmaier
33. The Tin Drum (1979) Volker Schlöndorff
Die Blechtrommel
34. White Rose, The* (1983) Michael Verhoeven
Die weiße Rose (anti-Nazi group; true story)
35. Vaya con Dios* (2002) Zoltan Spirendelli
36. Wings of Desire (1987) Wim Wenders
Der Himmel über Berlin
37. Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, The (1993) Ray Müller
Die Macht der Bilder: Leni Riefenstahl

German is a much more phonetically consistent language than English. This means that German
words almost always sound the way they are spelled—with consistent sounds for any given
spelling. (e.g., the German ei — as in nein — spelling is always sounded EYE, whereas German
ie — as in Sie — always has the ee sound.)

In German, the rare exceptions are usually foreign words from English, French, or other
languages.

Any student of German should learn the sounds associated with certain spellings as soon as
possible. Knowing them, you should be able to correctly pronounce even German words you
have never seen before.

Now that you know how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet in German, let's talk about some
terminology. It is helpful to know, for instance, what diphthongs and paired consonants are.

German Diphthongs
A diphthong (Greek di, two + phthongos, sound, voice) is a combination of two vowels that
blend and are sounded together. Instead of being pronounced separately, the two letters have one
sound or pronunciation.

An example would be the au combination. The diphthong au in German always has the sound
OW, as in English “ouch." The au is also part of the German word autsch, which is pronounced
almost the same as “ouch” in English.

Grouped or Paired Consonants in German

While diphthongs are always vowel pairs, German also has many common grouped or paired
consonants that have a consistent pronunciation as well.

An example of this would be st, a very common combination of the consonants s and t, found in
many German words.

In standard German, the st combination at the beginning of a word is always pronounced like
scht and not like the st found in English “stay” or “stone.” So a German word such as Stein
(stone, rock) is pronounced schtine, with an initial sch-sound, as in “show.”

Here are more examples of paired consonants:

Diphthongs
Diphthong
Aussprache
Double Beispiele / Examples
Pronunciation
Vowels
ai / ei eye bei (at, near), das Ei (egg), der Mai (May)
au ow auch (also), das Auge (eye), aus (out of)
eu / äu oy Häuser (houses), Europa (Europe), neu (new)
ie eeh bieten (offer), nie (never), Sie (you)

Grouped Consonants
Buchstabe Aussprache
Beispiele / Examples
Consonant Pronunciation
ck k dick (fat, thick), der Schock (shock)
After a, o, u and au, pronounced like the guttural ch in Scottish
"loch" - das Buch(book), auch (also). Otherwise it is a palatal
ch >> sound as in: mich (me), welche (which),wirklich (really). TIP:
If no air is passing over your tongue when you say a ch-sound,
you aren't saying it correctly. No true equivalent in English. -
 Although ch doesn't usually have a hard k sound, there are
exceptions: Chor,Christoph, Chaos, Orchester, Wachs (wax)
Both letters are (quickly) pronounced as a combined puff-
pf pf sound: das Pferd (horse), derPfennig. If this is difficult for you,
an f sound will work, but try to do it!
das Alphabet, phonetisch - Some words formerly spelled with
ph f
ph are now spelled with f:das Telefon, das Foto
qu kv die Qual (anguish, torture), die Quittung(receipt)
schön (pretty), die Schule (school) - The
sch sh German sch combination is never split, whereas sh usually is
(Grashalme, Gras/Halme; but die Show, a foreign word).
At the start of a word, the s in sp/st has a sch sound as in
sp / st shp / sht
English "show, she." sprechen(speak), stehen (stand)
das Theater (tay-AHTER), das Thema (TAY-muh), topic -
th t Always sounds like a t (TAY). NEVER has the English th
sound!

German Pronunciation Pitfalls

Once you've mastered diphthongs and grouped consonants, the next item to concentrate on is
how to pronounce other letters and letter combinations found within German words. For
instance, a "d" at the end of a German word usually has a hard "t" sound in German, not the soft
"d" sound of English.

In addition, the fact that English and German words are often identical or very similar in spelling
can lead to pronunciation errors.

Letters in Words
Aussprache
Spelling Beispiele / Examples
Pronunciation
final b p Lob (LOHP)
final d t Freund (FROYNT), Wald (VALT)
final g k genug (guh-NOOK)
silent h - gehen (GAY-en), sehen (ZAY-en)
When h follows a vowel, it is silent. When it precedes a vowel (Hund), the h is pronounced.
German th t Theorie (TAY-oh-ree)
German v f Vater (FAHT-er)
In some foreign, non-Germanic words with v, the v is pronounced as in English: Vase (VAH-
suh), Villa (VILL-ah)
German w v Wunder (VOON-der)
Zeit (TSITE), like ts in "cats"; never like an
German z ts
English soft z (as in "zoo")
Similar Words
Pronunciation Pitfalls
Wort Aussprache
Comments
Word Pronunciation
Bombe
BOM-buh The m, b, and e are all heard
bomb
Genie The g is soft, like the s sound in
zhuh-NEE
genius "leisure"
Nation The German -tion suffix is
NAHT-see-ohn
nation pronounced TSEE-ohn
Papier
pah-PEER Stress on the last syllable
paper
Pizza The i is a short vowel because of the
PITS-uh
pizza double z

Pronunciation Guide to German Letters

Here are some common German words that will give examples of how the letters of the German
alphabet are pronounced:

A - der Apparat, der Vater, ab, aktiv, alles

Ä - der Bär, der Jäger, die Fähre, die Ärzte, mächtig

B - bei, das Buch, die Bibel, ob, halb

C - der Computer, die City, das Café, C-Dur, die CD

D - durch, dunkel, das Ende, der Freund, das Land

E - elf, er, wer, eben, Englisch

F - faul, Freunde, der Feind, das Fenster, der Fluss

G - gleich, das Gehirn, gegeben, gern, das Image

H - haben, die Hand, gehen (silent h), (G - das Glas, das Gewicht)

I - der Igel, immer, der Fisch, innerhalb, gibt

J - das Jahr, jung, jemand, der Joker, das Juwel

K - kennen, der Koffer, der Spuk, die Lok, das Kilo

L - langsam, die Leute, Griechenland, malen, locker

M - mein, der Mann, die Lampe, Minuten, mal

N - nein, die Nacht, die Nase, die Nuss, niemals

O - das Ohr, die Oper, oft, das Obst, das Formular

Ö - Österreich, öfters, schön, die Höhe, höchstens

P - das Papier, positiv, der PC, der Papst, pur

R - das Rathaus, rechts, unter, rund, die Reederei

S - die Sache, so, das Salz, seit, der September

ß/ss - groß, die Straße, muss, das, Wasser, dass

T - der Tag, täglich, das Tier, die Tat, die Rente

U - die U-Bahn, unser, der Rubel, um, der Jupiter

Ü - über, die Tür, schwül, Düsseldorf, drücken

V - der Vetter, vier, die Vase, aktiv, Nerven

W - wenn, die Woche, Treptow (silent w), das Wetter, wer

X - x-mal, das Xylofon, Xanthen

Y - der Yen, der Typ, typisch, das System, die Hypothek

Z - zahlen, die Pizza, die Zeit, zwei, der Kranz