German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Hund" in German?

dair HOONT. A short but properly rounded 'oo', and the final d hardening into a t.

der Hund /deːɐ̯ hʊnt/

One clipped vowel with nowhere for stress to go. The plural Hunde adds a schwa, and that vowel restores the d's voicing — so 'HOONT' becomes 'HOON-duh'. The alternation is completely regular and this word is the standard textbook example of it.

Listen: der Hund

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Sound it out

H A genuinely breathed h. German never drops an h that opens a word.

u Short 'oo' as in put, genuinely rounded — not the flat central vowel of English hunt.

n A simple voiced n, needing no adjustment from English.

d Devoiced to t. German hardens b, d and g to p, t and k at the end of a word.

Hear it in a sentence

Der Hund bellt laut.

The dog barks loudly.

Listen: Der Hund bellt laut.

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Der Hund bellt laut has bellt with a doubled l marking its vowel short, and laut carrying the 'ow' diphthong. The adjective laut works as an adverb with no ending added, which is what German does instead of an -ly suffix.

Where English speakers slip

This is the classic devoicing word, and learners still say 'hoond' because the spelling says so. The final d is a t. The vowel is the second correction: English hunt has an unrounded central vowel, while German wants the lips genuinely rounded for a short back 'oo'.