Projekt: Von A bis Z (P)

Blogging through the alphabet - AUF DEUTSCH

Letter of the day:  P

FOODS:  *Pfirsich (peach); *Pfannekuchen (pancake); *Pflaume (plum); Pute (turkey); Plätzchen (cookie)

ANIMALS:  der Pinguin (penguin); das *Pferd (horse)

COMMON NAMES:  Peter, Petra, Paul, Pauline, Phillip

CITIES:  Passau, Pegnitz, Pressath, Potsdam

Schloss (castle) Sanssouci - in Potsdam, a city bordering Berlin

WORDS YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE:  der Pirat (pirate); die Polizei (police); der Poltergeist

VERBS:  plaudern (to chat); packen (to pack); *pflanzen (to plant); putzen (to clean)

GERMAN BRANDS/COMPANIES:  Porsche (vehicles), Puma (athletic wear)

VOCAB TIDBIT: ***********
The German sound "*PF" is used in a lot of words, as evidenced above - here are some more - Pfund (pound), Pfennig (penny), Pfeil (arrow), as well as IN words such as TroPFen (drop) and KoPF (head).

Although the German 'pf' sound is written as two letters, it should be articulated as one single sound. It is called an affricate, which means that is made up of an quick explosion at the start of the sound's articulation - the 'p' stage -, immediately followed by a slow fricative closure - the 'f' stage.