LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "bald" in German?
BALT. A short open a, a bright l, and the written d hardening into a t at the end.
One clipped syllable, and the word takes moderate emphasis since it carries the temporal point of the sentence. Its comparative is irregular — eher rather than balder — so unlike most German adverbs it does not simply add an unstressed syllable to make a comparison.
Listen: bald
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Hear it in a sentence
Wir sehen uns bald.
We'll see each other soon.
Listen: Wir sehen uns bald.
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Wir sehen uns bald uses uns reciprocally, meaning each other rather than ourselves, which is how German expresses 'see you soon'. Sehen has its silent h and two syllables, so the sentence flows softly until the hard t of bald closes it off.
Where English speakers slip
The English word bald is an unhelpful twin: its vowel is a diphthong, its l is dark, and its d stays voiced. German changes all three — a short clipped a, a bright forward l, and a final t. Say 'balt' with the vowel of the German word Mann and the word lands correctly.