German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "billig" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce billig in German?

billig is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈbɪ.lɪç/. It means “cheap.” BIL-likh. A short i, a bright l, and the -ig ending pronounced like the word ich.

BIL-likh. A short i, a bright l, and the -ig ending pronounced like the word ich.

billig /ˈbɪ.lɪç/

BIL- is loud and -ig is not, as it always is. That means the word's two syllables have very different weights despite looking symmetrical on the page, and letting the second one fade is part of what stops German adjectives sounding recited.

Listen: billig

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Sound it out

b A plain b, though released with less breath than the English one.

i Short and lax, as in sit. The doubled l keeps it short.

ll One bright, forward l — the doubling marks the vowel, not the consonant.

ig A word-final -ig hisses at the hard palate — the g never surfaces as a stop.

Hear it in a sentence

Das Hemd war sehr billig.

The shirt was very cheap.

Listen: Das Hemd war sehr billig.

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Das Hemd war sehr billig uses war, the past tense of sein, with a long a and a vocalised r. Hemd ends in a devoiced d, so it sounds like 'hemt'. The sentence therefore contains two separate final-devoicing moments if you count the g of billig, which hardens into a hiss rather than a k.

Where English speakers slip

Two habits collide at the end of this word. English speakers say a hard g, and they also darken the l in the middle on the model of English fill. Neither belongs. Keep the tongue tip forward for a bright l, and finish on a palatal hiss. The pair billig and wichtig share the same ending, so one correction covers both.