This deep dive covers The four German sibilant patterns within ch, sch, st- and sp- (ich-Laut and ach-Laut) for GCSE German. Revise ch, sch, st- and sp- (ich-Laut and ach-Laut) in Phonics: German Sounds and Spellings for GCSE German with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 2 of 4 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

📖 The four German sibilant patterns

1. The two 'ch' sounds

The letters ch stand for two different sounds, and which one you say depends entirely on the vowel just before it.

Sound	When	Examples	Like
ich-Laut (soft)	after e, i, ä, ö, ü, ei, and consonants	ich, mich, Milch, möchte, Mädchen	a soft hiss, like a cat
ach-Laut (hard)	after a, o, u, au	auch, Buch, Nacht, machen, doch	throaty, like clearing your throat

2. sch, st-, sp- and final -ig

These spellings look unusual to English eyes, but each maps to one reliable sound.

Spelling	Sound	Examples
sch	English 'sh'	Schule, schön, Tisch, Deutsch
st- (word start)	'sht'	Stadt, Straße, stehen, Student
sp- (word start)	'shp'	spielen, Sport, sprechen, Spaß
final -ig	ich-Laut '-ish'	wichtig, zwanzig, günstig

Common nouns to learn with their article and plural: die Schule (die Schulen), der Tisch (die Tische), die Stadt (die Städte).

⭐ The dictation rule

You hear 'sht' and 'shp', but you write st- and sp-. Never write 'sht' or 'shp'. And the English 'sh' sound is always sch in German — never a bare 'sh'.

3. Annotated examples

Foundation: Ich gehe zur Schule in der Stadt. (I go to school in the town.)

Schule = 'sh' sound, spelled sch
Stadt = starts with the 'sht' sound but is spelled st-

Higher Der Student spricht jeden Tag Deutsch und Spanisch. (The student speaks German and Spanish every day.)

Student, spricht and Spanisch all begin with the 'sht'/'shp' sound
spricht = sp- 'shp' at the start + ch as the soft ich-Laut at the end

Practice questions for ch, sch, st- and sp- (ich-Laut and ach-Laut)

How is the 'ch' pronounced in the German word 'Buch' (book)?

A. Like the English 'sh' in 'shop'
B. Like 'ch' in the English word 'church'
C. A hard, throaty sound made at the back of the throat — like Scottish 'loch' (ach-Laut)
D. Like the letter 'k'

1 markfoundation

How is 'st' pronounced at the START of the German word 'Straße' (street)?

A. 'sht' — like 'sht' in 'shtreet'
B. 'st' — exactly like English 'st' in 'street'
C. 'shp' — like the start of 'Spiel'
D. 'sk' — like English 'sc' in 'school'

1 markfoundation

Quick recall flashcards

ich — how is the 'ch' pronounced?

Soft ich-Laut: 'ish'. Because the 'ch' comes after the vowel 'i', it is the soft, hissing sound, never the throaty ach-Laut. The same applies to mich (mish) and dich (dish).

die Straße — how does it begin?

'SHTRAH-suh'. The 'st-' at the start is pronounced 'sht', and the ß is a sharp 'ss' sound. Noun: die Straße, die Straßen.

The four German sibilant patterns