German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "das Wort" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce das Wort in German?

das Wort is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /das vɔʁt/. It means “word (pl. Wörter).” dass VORT. The w is a v, the o is short, and the r darkens it before the final t.

dass VORT. The w is a v, the o is short, and the r darkens it before the final t.

das Wort /das vɔʁt/

A single beat, but this noun has two plurals with different meanings: Wörter for individual vocabulary items and Worte for words strung together into speech. Both keep the stress on the same vowel, and both restore a vowel after the r, which makes it audible as a consonant again.

Listen: das Wort

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Sound it out

W Pronounced as a v. There is no w-sound anywhere in German for this letter.

o A short o with the lips genuinely rounded — close to British hot, not the flat American vowel.

r Before a consonant the uvular r colours the vowel rather than sounding as a separate consonant.

t A clear t with audible aspiration at the end of the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich kenne dieses Wort nicht.

I don't know this word.

Listen: Ich kenne dieses Wort nicht.

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Ich kenne dieses Wort nicht uses kennen rather than wissen, because German distinguishes being familiar with something from knowing a fact. Dieses takes the neuter accusative ending, and nicht travels to the end to negate the whole statement.

Where English speakers slip

The w gets read as an English w, and the r pulls the vowel toward the English word wart. German wants a v at the front and a short rounded o darkened from the back of the throat. The two plurals are the other thing worth knowing early, since choosing the wrong one is a genuine vocabulary error rather than a slip.