German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "das Ende" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce das Ende in German?

das Ende is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /das ˈʔɛn.də/. It means “end (pl. Enden).” dass EN-duh. A glottal catch, a short open e, and a real schwa at the end.

dass EN-duh. A glottal catch, a short open e, and a real schwa at the end.

das Ende /das ˈʔɛn.də/

Heavy then light, with the beat on the short e. The d keeping its voicing is worth noting: in Abend and Wind the same letter hardens to t, but here the schwa behind it protects it — devoicing is entirely about position, and this word shows the protected case.

Listen: das Ende

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Sound it out

E Short and open, as in bed, preceded by a light glottal stop because the word begins on a vowel.

nd Said back to back. English sometimes slips a vowel in here; German never does.

e An unstressed schwa. Because the d is not at the end of the word, it stays fully voiced.

Hear it in a sentence

Das ist das Ende des Films.

That's the end of the movie.

Listen: Das ist das Ende des Films.

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Das ist das Ende des Films uses the genitive des Films with its -s ending, which German adds to masculine and neuter nouns in that case. There are glottal catches before both ist and Ende, so the middle of the sentence has two small audible breaks.

Where English speakers slip

Learners glide ist straight into Ende, producing 'is-tende'. German keeps a small hard onset before the vowel. The final schwa is the second habit, since English instinct silences a final e — here it is a full syllable, and dropping it leaves a word that does not exist.