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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "das Kleid" in German?
dass KLITE. The ei is 'eye' and the final d hardens into a t.
The diphthong owns the word. The plural Kleider adds a softened -er ending, which puts the d in front of a vowel and restores its voicing — so 'KLITE' becomes 'KLY-duh', and the plural also happens to mean clothes in general as well as dresses.
Listen: das Kleid
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Das Kleid ist sehr elegant.
The dress is very elegant.
Listen: Das Kleid ist sehr elegant.
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Das Kleid ist sehr elegant closes on a borrowing that stresses its final syllable, e-le-GANT, and releases its t fully. So the sentence pairs a front-loaded native noun with a back-stressed foreign adjective, which is a common shape in modern German.
Where English speakers slip
Reading ei as 'ee' gives 'kleed' and voicing the final d compounds it. It is 'KLITE'. The plural is worth knowing early too, since Kleider does double duty for dresses and for clothing generally — so Kleider kaufen might mean either, depending on context.