Pronunciation of v in German

Rules

• in the name of the letter v ;
• in the frequent prefix ver- and all words constructed with it, such as vergessen, Vertreibung etc.;
• in the following words and all their derivations: Vater ; Veilchen, Veigerl ; Veitstanz ; Vers ; Vesper ; Vest, Veste ; Vettel ; Vetter ; Viech ; Vieh ; viel ; vier ; Vize ; Viztum ; Vlies ; Vogel ; Vogt ; Volk ; voll ; von ; vor ;
• in the following given names: Eva, Veit, Veltin, Volbrecht and all those beginning with Volk-, such as Volker;
• at the beginning of German family and place names, apart from names of foreign descent and few exceptions ;
• at the beginning of Dutch family and place names; word-initial v is actually traditionally pronounced in Dutch, although is currently very common in the northern varieties, found in the Netherlands.

• where it occurs in the middle of a word stem, usually following the stressed vowel, as in Leverkusen, but also in November ;
• in family and place names which are neither German nor Dutch.

• in the word Evangelium, where both alternatives may be considered standard;
• in the words Larve and Nerven, where is the standard form and is used only by few speakers;
• in a number of words, such as Vikar, Viper, Vitrine, where is the standard form and is used only by few speakers.