German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "das Wochenende" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce das Wochenende in German?

das Wochenende is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /das ˈvɔ.xn̩ˌʔɛn.də/. It means “weekend (pl. Wochenenden).” dass VOKH-n-en-duh. A compound of Woche and Ende, with a small glottal catch at the seam between them.

dass VOKH-n-en-duh. A compound of Woche and Ende, with a small glottal catch at the seam between them.

das Wochenende /das ˈvɔ.xn̩ˌʔɛn.də/

The first element wins, as it does in every German compound, so the beat is on WO- with a secondary one on -EN-. That leaves four syllables with the loudest at the very front, which is the exact opposite of what an English speaker would guess from the word's length.

Listen: das Wochenende

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Sound it out

Wo A v and a short rounded o.

chen The throaty ach-laut, selected by the back vowel before it, releasing into a syllabic n.

En A short open e with a glottal stop in front — the seam between the two halves of the compound is marked, not glided over.

de A voiced d and an unstressed schwa.

Hear it in a sentence

Am Wochenende bleibe ich zu Hause.

At the weekend I stay home.

Listen: Am Wochenende bleibe ich zu Hause.

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Am Wochenende bleibe ich zu Hause fronts the time phrase and therefore puts bleibe ahead of ich. Zu Hause is a fixed expression meaning at home, and am is the compulsory contraction of an and dem — so the sentence has two set pieces bracketing the verb.

Where English speakers slip

The glottal catch at the compound seam is the detail learners miss: without it, Wochen and Ende blur into 'wo-khe-NEN-de' and the word loses its internal structure. German marks the join. Beyond that, the ch is the throaty variant because of the o in front, and the stress belongs at the very front despite the word's length.