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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "der Mann" in German?
dair MAN with a short, open 'ah'. The doubled n is the spelling's way of keeping the vowel short.
The noun takes the weight and der leans on it unstressed. The plural Männer fronts the vowel to a short ä and adds a softened -er ending, so it comes out 'MEN-uh' — a change of vowel colour rather than a change of rhythm, which is the standard German umlaut plural pattern.
Listen: der Mann
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Hear it in a sentence
Der Mann dort ist mein Onkel.
That man over there is my uncle.
Listen: Der Mann dort ist mein Onkel.
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Der Mann dort ist mein Onkel uses dort to point at a specific person. Onkel begins with a glottal catch and has the velar nasal before its k, and mein stays endingless because it precedes a masculine nominative noun.
Where English speakers slip
The English word man has a flat, fronted vowel that German does not use here — German wants a proper open 'ah'. There is also a homophone to be aware of: the impersonal pronoun man sounds exactly the same, so only capitalisation and context distinguish 'the man' from 'one'.