LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "das Geschäft" in German?
dass guh-SHEFT. The ge- prefix is an unstressed schwa, sch is sh, and the ä is a short open e.
Because ge- is an unstressed prefix, the weight goes to the syllable after it, since ge- is an unstressed prefix. The plural Geschäfte adds a schwa behind it without moving anything, and compounds such as Geschäftsmann keep the primary stress here while adding a secondary one on the second element.
Listen: das Geschäft
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Das Geschäft schließt um sieben.
The shop closes at seven.
Listen: Das Geschäft schließt um sieben.
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Das Geschäft schließt um sieben has schließt opening with the schl cluster, holding a long 'ee', and ending on ß plus t. So the sentence contains two sh sounds in adjacent words, one starting a stressed syllable and one starting a verb.
Where English speakers slip
Put the weight on the prefix and you get 'GE-schäft', which German never does with this prefix. The ä is the second point: learners treat it as an a with decoration and produce 'shaft', when it is genuinely the vowel of bed. Say 'guh-SHEFT' and the word lands correctly.