LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "das Mädchen" in German?
dass MAYT-khn. The ä is long, the d hardens to a t before the suffix, and -chen is always the soft ich-laut.
MÄD- takes the weight, since diminutive suffixes never take stress. The -chen suffix also does something grammatical: it makes every noun it attaches to neuter, which is why this word for a girl takes das rather than die — a fact worth knowing before it causes confusion.
Listen: das Mädchen
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Das Mädchen singt schön.
The girl sings beautifully.
Listen: Das Mädchen singt schön.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Das Mädchen singt schön has singt with the velar nasal before its t and schön with the long front-rounded ö. The neuter article on a word meaning girl looks wrong to English speakers until you notice the -chen, at which point it becomes entirely regular.
Where English speakers slip
The -chen suffix is always the soft ich-laut, even after a back vowel — Kuchen has the throaty ch, but Kühchen would not, and the difference is the suffix boundary. Learners also voice the d, when the syllable split Mäd-chen strands it and hardens it to a t. Both details are small and both are audible.