German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Kaffee" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce der Kaffee in German?

der Kaffee is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /deːɐ̯ ˈka.feː/. It means “coffee.” dair KA-fay. In Germany the stress falls on the FIRST syllable, and the ee at the end is a long 'ay'.

dair KA-fay. In Germany the stress falls on the FIRST syllable, and the ee at the end is a long 'ay'.

der Kaffee /deːɐ̯ ˈka.feː/

First syllable in Germany, which sets it apart from both English and French. Austrians and some southern speakers say ka-FEE with the beat at the back and a different final vowel, so this is one of the few everyday words where the standard pronunciation genuinely varies by country.

Listen: der Kaffee

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Sound it out

K A k followed by a short burst of breath.

a Short and open, kept short by the doubled f.

ff A single sound. Doubled consonants in German never lengthen the consonant itself.

ee A long 'ay'. German ee is never the 'ee' of English see.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich trinke morgens Kaffee.

I drink coffee in the morning.

Listen: Ich trinke morgens Kaffee.

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Ich trinke morgens Kaffee uses morgens, an adverb formed with an old genitive -s ending that means in the mornings, habitually. It is not a plural. The sentence needs no article before Kaffee, since the drink is being referred to generally.

Where English speakers slip

English coffee and French café both pull the stress to the wrong place — English to a different vowel pattern, French to the back. German puts the beat on KA-. The ending is the second correction: ee is a long 'ay', so the word finishes like the English word fay rather than fee.