i think you mean the 'sharp' and the 'soft' s. examples: sharp s: die Soße (the sauce), der Fuss (the foot)--> a ß is basically a sharp s- ss AND ß are pronounced sharp. soft s: die rose (the rose)- its just a simple s, therefore its pronounced the soft way. -------------- ss/ß: sharp s: soft --------------

I suppose you mean "voiced" (stimmhaft) and "voiceless" (stimmlos). Transcriptions in English often use "z" for the voiced s and "s" for the voiceless s, the IPA symbols are also [z] and [s]. As far as I know, ss (after a short vowel) and ß (after a long vowel) are always voiceless, initial s is voiced, final s is voiceless. Initial 'st' and 'sp' are pronounced like 'schp' and 'scht', non-initial 'st' and 'sp' are pronounced with voiceless s. (There are local variations for this rule, that's how you can recognize people from northern Germany or from Suebia). I think middle s is nearly always voiced, at least I can't think of a counterexample at the moment. But for a native speaker it's always difficult to give rules, maybe one of the non-native speakers can make these rules more precise.