Learn German/Lesson 1

There are different letters in the German alphabet introduced in German such as: 
The Umlauts:
There are three umlauts used in the German language, Ää, Öö and Üü. They can be written as ae, oe and ue.
The Esszett (ß): Although it may look like a B for English speakers, it makes up an SS and makes a sharp s- sound as if you were hissing. There is no uppercase of the Esszett and it is never used at the beginning of words.
== Die, Das and Der ==
There are three ways of using the word "The" in German. In the German language, there is a neuter, feminine and masculine noun as well as definite and indefinite articles. 
Der Mann is an example of "The Man" in German. Der is the Masculine version for The, not always will it correlate with an actual gender though as Das Mädchen (the girl) isn't Feminine, it is Neuter. Die Frau (the woman) is Feminine.