LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "das Land" in German?
dass LANT. A bright l, a short open a, and the final d hardening into a t.
The noun owns the beat and das barely registers. Its plural, Länder, changes two things at once: the vowel fronts to a short ä and the added ending puts the d in front of a vowel, so it recovers its voicing — 'LANT' becomes 'LEN-duh', which sounds almost like a different word.
Listen: das Land
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Hear it in a sentence
Italien ist ein schönes Land.
Italy is a beautiful country.
Listen: Italien ist ein schönes Land.
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Italien ist ein schönes Land gives the adjective the -es ending, since Land is neuter and ein carries no gender marking of its own. Italien stresses its second syllable, i-TA-li-en, and schönes needs the long front-rounded ö.
Where English speakers slip
Nearly every learner voices that final d, giving 'land' as in English. German hardens it to t. The l is the second correction: English land has a fairly bright l, but German is brighter still, and letting it darken pulls the a backwards toward a vowel German does not use here.