German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Kopf" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce der Kopf in German?

der Kopf is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /deːɐ̯ kɔpf/. It means “head (pl. Köpfe).” dair KOPF. The pf at the end is a single affricate — p and f produced in one continuous motion.

dair KOPF. The pf at the end is a single affricate — p and f produced in one continuous motion.

der Kopf /deːɐ̯ kɔpf/

Nothing to choose between syllables here, so the interest is in the consonant cluster that closes the word. The plural Köpfe fronts the vowel to a short ö and adds a schwa, and having a vowel after the pf makes the affricate considerably easier to produce.

Listen: der Kopf

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Sound it out

K An aspirated k — breath escapes audibly after the release.

o A clipped, rounded o. Unrounding it turns it into a different vowel entirely.

pf One sound, not two. Close the lips for the p and release straight into the f without a gap. It is one of the most distinctively German consonants, appearing in Pferd, Apfel and Kopf.

Hear it in a sentence

Mein Kopf tut weh.

My head hurts.

Listen: Mein Kopf tut weh.

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Mein Kopf tut weh uses the fixed expression wehtun, which German writes as one verb but splits in a sentence. Weh has a long 'ay' with a silent h, so the sentence closes on an open held vowel after the clipped cluster of the noun.

Where English speakers slip

English has no pf at the end of a word, so speakers drop one half or the other and produce 'kop' or 'kof'. Both parts must be there and they must be continuous — close for the p, then release into the f rather than pausing between them. Practise it in the plural first, where the following vowel gives the cluster somewhere to go.