German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Himmel" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce der Himmel in German?

der Himmel is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /deːɐ̯ ˈhɪ.ml̩/. It means “sky.” dair HIM-ml. A breathed h, a short i, and an -el ending that collapses onto a syllabic l.

dair HIM-ml. A breathed h, a short i, and an -el ending that collapses onto a syllabic l.

der Himmel /deːɐ̯ ˈhɪ.ml̩/

Weight up front, with the second syllable swallowed. The -el ending is a common German noun suffix and it behaves like -en: unstressed, and in ordinary speech reduced until the consonant becomes the whole syllable. Recognising it tells you at once where the stress is not.

Listen: der Himmel

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Sound it out

H A breathed h opening the word, always pronounced in German.

i Short and lax, as in sit, kept short by the doubled m.

mm Two letters, one sound. German doubles a consonant to mark the vowel before it as short.

el Reduces to a syllabic l — the m releases straight into it with no vowel between, exactly as -en reduces onto an n elsewhere.

Hear it in a sentence

Der Himmel ist heute blau.

The sky is blue today.

Listen: Der Himmel ist heute blau.

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Der Himmel ist heute blau ends on blau, whose au is the 'ow' of house. Heute contributes the oy diphthong, so the sentence moves through three quite different vowel shapes in its last three words while the noun at the front stays clipped and short.

Where English speakers slip

The -el ending draws a full vowel out of learners, giving 'HIM-mel' with three clear beats. German has two, and the second is really just an l with a hum in front of it. The word also has a Hollywood reputation that encourages over-enunciation — resist it, and let the ending fall away.