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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "der Bär" in German?
dair BAIR. A long, open ä with the r melting into a vowel behind it.
One held vowel, and this is another weak masculine noun — den Bären, dem Bären — so the inflected forms add an unstressed syllable that turns the vocalised r back into a real scraped consonant. The base form has no consonantal r at all.
Listen: der Bär
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Hear it in a sentence
Der Bär schläft den ganzen Winter.
The bear sleeps all winter.
Listen: Der Bär schläft den ganzen Winter.
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Der Bär schläft den ganzen Winter states a duration in the bare accusative, hence den ganzen Winter with its matching masculine endings. German needs no preposition for stretches of time, which is why the phrase looks like a direct object.
Where English speakers slip
The English word bear is close in vowel but carries a genuine r for American speakers, and that r is the thing to remove. Non-rhotic English speakers are already very near the target. The ä also needs to be properly long — shortening it pushes the word toward the vowel of bet, which is a different sound.