* Ä, Ö, Ü: These represent the vowels /ɛ/, /œ/, and /y/ respectively. They are often called "Umlauts".
* ß: This character represents the sound /s/ at the end of a word, after a long vowel or diphthong. It is essentially a ligature of two "s"s.
Here are some examples of words that use these special characters:
* Äpfel: Apples
* Ölfarbe: Oil paint
* Überraschung: Surprise
* Straße: Street
German also uses diacritics to modify the pronunciation of certain letters. For example:
* Ä, Ö, Ü: As mentioned above, these are considered diacritics as they modify the pronunciation of "a", "o", and "u".
* é: This diacritic can be found in some borrowed words, such as "Répertoire".
* ü: This diacritic can be found in some words, such as "Rügen" (an island in Germany).
While the Latin alphabet is the base for the German script, the pronunciation can differ significantly from English. German has a more consistent pronunciation system, and there are rules governing how letters and combinations of letters are pronounced. For instance, "ch" can be pronounced as /x/ or /k/, depending on its position in the word.
In summary, German uses the Latin alphabet with some additional characters and diacritics. The pronunciation of these characters and combinations of letters can be different from English, and requires learning specific rules and pronunciation patterns.