LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "das Haus" in German?
dass HOWS. A breathed h, the au as the 'ow' of house, and a final s that hisses rather than buzzes.
Das passes by unstressed and Haus takes the whole beat. The plural is where things get interesting: Häuser fronts the au to äu, which is pronounced 'oy', so the singular and plural have completely different vowels — 'HOWS' against 'HOY-zuh'.
Listen: das Haus
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Wir kaufen ein Haus.
We're buying a house.
Listen: Wir kaufen ein Haus.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Wir kaufen ein Haus repeats the au diphthong in both kaufen and Haus, so the sentence is a compact drill for that vowel. Ein stays endingless because Haus is neuter, and neuter accusative looks exactly like neuter nominative.
Where English speakers slip
English house has a voiced s in its plural and a voiced s in the verb, and that habit leaks into the German singular, giving 'howz'. German keeps a word-final s unvoiced. The plural is the other thing to know early: äu is 'oy', which is why Häuser sounds nothing like the English plural houses.