What Does Umlaut Do?

Umlauted characters ä, ö, and ü help learners and native speakers pronounce words correctly. These small changes in the pronunciation of a vowel can change the meanings of words. For example, the only difference between schon (already, previously) and schön (beautiful) is the pronunciation of the vowel.

What does an umlaut do to a letter?

Umlauts are assimilations or vowel harmonies. This means that one of the sounds was changed to make another similar sound that is easier to say.

What does umlaut do in English?

An umlaut is a symbol that is written over vowels in German and some other languages to indicate the way in which they should be pronounced. For example, the word 'für' has an umlaut over the 'u. '