German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "das Geld" in German?

dass GELT. Hard g, a short open e, a bright l, and the final d hardening into a t.

das Geld /das ɡɛlt/

The noun takes the weight; the article does not. This word is normally uncountable, so it has no everyday plural, and that means the devoiced final t is essentially permanent — unlike Land or Kind, there is no inflected form waiting to restore the d's voicing.

Listen: das Geld

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Sound it out

G Hard g as in get, never soft.

e Short and open, with the jaw dropped a little further than in English bed.

l Bright and forward — English darkens l before a consonant, which would swallow the vowel.

d The d hardens into a t because nothing follows it.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich habe nicht genug Geld.

I don't have enough money.

Listen: Ich habe nicht genug Geld.

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Ich habe nicht genug Geld puts two devoiced consonants back to back: genug ends in a g that hardens to k, and Geld ends in a d that hardens to t. Saying the phrase slowly makes the rule audible twice in three syllables.

Where English speakers slip

Voicing the final d is the standard slip, and the bright l is the second. English gelled and held both have the dark l that must not appear here. Keep the tongue tip forward and let the word end on a clean t, and it stops sounding like an English word read aloud.