"Die Jungen essen Äpfel."

Translation: The boys eat apples.

[SlyRatchet]

Is there anyway to tell the difference between Apfel and Äpfel in oral speech? seems kind of redundant to me.

[cheeseyfighter]

"Apfel" sounds like "up"+"fell" and "Äpfel" sounds like "app" (from application, or Epson) + "fell"

[JeanReno77]

No they don't, "Apfel" sounds like "Ap"+"Fell" and "Äpfel" sounds like "ep" and "Fell".

[deactivated user]

Apfel = /ˈapfəl/

Äpfel = /ˈɛpfəl/

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:German_pronunciation

[JeanReno77]

Actually, this argument is pretty unnecessary. Scroll up and click on the speaker and you can hear that it is 'Epfell'

[deactivated user]

Duolingo uses /ˈɛpfəl/.

[JeanReno77]

Woah, ok. I've re-read this entire thing. It's my fault, by having relatively similar colour schemes, I got you mixed up with 'Cheesy Fighter' who did say that it was pronounced like our English 'A'. There's the confusion, I was correcting him, not you. I'm sorry.

[JeanReno77]

I see what that says, but it's wrong. Look further down their page on the Umlaut itself ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%84 ) and it clearly says it is pronounced as an 'E'. This is a good example of Wikipedia both contradicting itself, and being wrong. But forgetting about technology, listen to any German speak, you will hear it pronounced as an 'e'.

[deactivated user]

How's it wrong? /'epfəl/ is just an alternative pronunciation. By the way, I'm a native speaker of German.

[JeanReno77]

It won't let me reply to your last comment, as the thread is too long. So, you seem to be a native speaker of a few languages going by your levels :) - but anyway, what I will now say is, if the umlaut is pronounced 'A' still (as you say), then are you saying that the link I posted is wrong, as it says that it is pronounced 'e'. Because if you are native, ( I'm not) I know people who are, and would agree that Äpfel is pronounced Epfell, then maybe there's regional variation in Germany? I'm adamant that it is, so I'm interested to know why you say differently, if that means were both right somehow.

[deactivated user]

if the umlaut is pronounced 'A' still (as you say)

I didn't say that.

The standard pronunciation of "Äpfel" is /ˈɛpfəl/. /ˈepfəl/ is a regional variation. It's not common to pronounce the short "ä" (standard pronunciation /ɛ/) as /e/, but it is relatively common to pronounce the long "ä" (standard pronunciation: /ɛː/) as /eː/. Note that the Wiktionary page only gives an English approximation, not an exact equivalent. I'm using the IPA because it's unambiguous.

This is what /ɛ/ sounds like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel

This what /e/ sounds like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel

[Marianne310512]

Thank you!

[deactivated user]

"A" and "Ä" are completely different sounds.

http://duolingo.com/#!/comment/26507

[Kevin496801]

Yes, the singular for Apfel has NO umlaut over the A and is pronounced ah-p ful. The plural for Äpfel has the umlaut over the Ä and is pronounced ap-ful.

[Mahmoud_Habib]

The word "Junge" is masculine, so, why is it that when we get the plural form of it, it becomes "Jungen" not "Junger"?

[digodk]

I believe that's what we would call an excepetion

[vladimirbedural]

Without articles, how do you know if its plural or singular?

[shalafandaquisha]

Wait so does Jungs mean boys or does Jungen mean boys

[circularsquare]

Jungen.

[KshitijP]

Jungen means boys

[Shahadab93]

When to use essen and isst in plural ?

[KarinGrant]

You never use isst with a plural noun. Isst is used for singular nouns or er/sie/es.

[Iulio7]

When do I use essen and when do I use isst?

[Aldo10276]

There is a mistake here probably. In German and in English there is not the same sentence. Which is right?