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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "der Bahnhof" in German?
dair BAHN-hohf. The h in Bahn is silent and the h in Hof is breathed — both rules in one word.
Primary beat on BAHN-, secondary on -hof, the invariable German compound pattern. The plural Bahnhöfe fronts the second element's vowel to ö and adds a schwa, so the change happens entirely in the unstressed half of the word.
Listen: der Bahnhof
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Der Bahnhof ist ganz nah.
The station is very close.
Listen: Der Bahnhof ist ganz nah.
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Der Bahnhof ist ganz nah has ganz opening with a hard g and closing on 'ts', and nah with a long a and another silent h. So the sentence contains three h spellings and only one of them is pronounced — a compact demonstration of the whole rule.
Where English speakers slip
Learners either breathe both h sounds or, having learned that h can be silent, drop the one in Hof. The rule is positional: an h after a vowel is a silent length marker, and an h opening a word or a compound element is fully breathed. This word contains one of each, two syllables apart.