German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Anfang" in German?

dair AN-fang. A glottal catch at the start, and the ng at the end is a single nasal with no g released.

der Anfang /deːɐ̯ ˈan.faŋ/

AN- takes the beat, exactly as it does in the verb anfangen from which this noun comes. That consistency is useful: an- is a stressed separable prefix wherever it appears, so recognising it in a noun tells you where the weight goes without any further thought.

Listen: der Anfang

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Sound it out

An A short open a with a light glottal stop in front, taking the stress. It is the same prefix as in anrufen and anfangen.

f A simple unvoiced f, breath only and no buzz.

ang A short a and the single velar nasal of singer. No separate g follows it.

Hear it in a sentence

Am Anfang war es schwer.

At the beginning it was hard.

Listen: Am Anfang war es schwer.

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Am Anfang war es schwer contracts an and dem into am, and there is a small glottal catch between am and Anfang so the two do not fuse. Schwer opens with the sh-plus-v cluster and holds a long 'ay' before its vocalised r.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers release a hard g at the end, on the model of finger, giving 'AN-fang-g'. German stops at the nasal. The glottal catch after am is the other detail, and dropping it produces 'a-manfang', which runs two words into one and immediately marks a non-native rhythm.