German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "das Jahr" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce das Jahr in German?

das Jahr is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /das jaːɐ̯/. It means “year (pl. Jahre).” dass YAHR, or 'YAH-uh'. The j is a y, the h is silent, and the r melts into a vowel.

dass YAHR, or 'YAH-uh'. The j is a y, the h is silent, and the r melts into a vowel.

das Jahr /das jaːɐ̯/

Weight on the noun, with the article slipping by ahead of it. The plural Jahre adds an unstressed schwa and, in doing so, turns the vocalised r back into a real consonant — the r is only a vowel when nothing follows it, so the plural sounds noticeably different from the singular.

Listen: das Jahr

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Sound it out

J A consonantal y. The letter j has no dʒ value in German at all.

ah A long open a, with the h as a silent length marker.

r The syllable closes on a dark vowel where the r is written.

Hear it in a sentence

Nächstes Jahr fahre ich nach Rom.

Next year I'm going to Rome.

Listen: Nächstes Jahr fahre ich nach Rom.

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Nächstes Jahr fahre ich nach Rom opens with a time phrase, which occupies first position and forces fahre ahead of ich. Nächstes has a long ä followed by the soft ich-laut, and nach takes the throaty variant — two different ch sounds in one short sentence.

Where English speakers slip

The initial j draws an English j, and the h invites a breath in the middle. Both are wrong: y at the front, nothing at all where the h is written. The vocalised r at the end is the third piece, and non-rhotic English speakers get it for free — their pronunciation of the word yah is very close to the target.