e / ee / é / ë / ä

The Many E Sounds: E, EE, É, Ë and Ä

Level 1

The letter e comes in five spellings, and each one tells you the sound. ee is a long e (Deel). é is a short closed e (drénken). ë is a short uh (Bësch). A stressed e and ä sound like the a in English cat (besser, Bäcker).

How It Works

  • ee is always a long, steady e, a bit like the ay in English day without the glide at the end: Deel (part), Freed (joy), Been (leg).
  • é is short and closed, close to the e in English bed said with tighter lips. It is written only before ch, ck, ng, nk and x: drénken (to drink), Gléck (luck), Stéck (piece). Before ch, many speakers today say it just like ë. The short words ech, mech, dech, sech and meng, deng, seng never take the accent.
  • ë is a short, relaxed uh sound, like the a in English about. It is never written before ch, ck, ng, nk or x: Bësch (woods), mëll (soft), Mëllech (milk).
  • e in a stressed syllable sounds close to the a in English cat: besser (better), Fest (party). In an unstressed syllable it is a weak uh: maachen, Mantel.
  • ä has the same cat sound. It is written when a related word has a (or o): Mann and Männer, Kapp and Käpp, baken (to bake) and Bäcker (baker).

Don't confuse these with the gliding vowels éi and äi, as in Béier (beer) and Zäit (time). Those are covered in diphthongs.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech drénken e Glas Waasser.

    I drink a glass of water.

    drénken has é because nk follows.

  2. Mir ginn all Sonndeg an de Bësch spadséieren.

    We go for a walk in the woods every Sunday.

    The ë in Bësch is the short uh sound.

  3. Ech hätt gär e Stéck Kuch.

    I'd like a piece of cake.

    Stéck has é before ck. The ä in hätt sounds like the a in cat.

  4. Dat ass vill besser.

    That's much better.

    The stressed e in besser sounds close to the a in cat.

  5. D'Freed war grouss.

    The joy was great.

    Freed has ee, the long e.

  6. D'Männer schaffen am Gaart.

    The men are working in the garden.

    Männer has ä because the singular is Mann.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing ë before ch, ck, ng, nk or x.

    Ech drënken e Glas Waasser.
    Ech drénken e Glas Waasser.

    Before nk, the spelling is always é, never ë.

  • Writing e where a related word has a.

    D'Menner schaffen am Gaart.
    D'Männer schaffen am Gaart.

    The plural of Mann is written with ä, because the singular has a.

  • Writing a long e with a single letter.

    D'Fred war grouss.
    D'Freed war grouss.

    A long e is written ee in Luxembourgish.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

e / ee / é / ë / äLevel 1The Many E Sounds: E, EE, É, Ë and Ä

Learn This First

Before The Many E Sounds: E, EE, É, Ë and Ä, learn Long and Short Vowels.