German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Platz" in German?

dair PLATS. A short open a and tz as a single 'ts' sound.

der Platz /deːɐ̯ plats/

The word ends on an affricate, which gives it a clipped finish. The plural Plätze fronts the vowel to a short ä and adds a schwa, which softens the ending considerably — the tz is much easier to say when a vowel follows it than when it closes the word.

Listen: der Platz

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Sound it out

Pl A p with a small puff of air, then a bright forward l.

a Short and open, kept short by the tz behind it.

tz 'ts', the same sound German writes as z at the start of a word. The tz spelling is used after a short vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Wir treffen uns auf dem Platz.

We're meeting in the square.

Listen: Wir treffen uns auf dem Platz.

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Wir treffen uns auf dem Platz uses the dative dem because the meeting takes place at the square rather than moving to it, and treffen is reflexive here with uns meaning each other. The same preposition with a motion verb would demand the accusative.

Where English speakers slip

Learners read tz as a plain t or a plain z and produce 'plat' or 'plaz'. It is a full 'ts' with both parts audible. The word also carries two meanings that trip people up in context — a public square and a seat — so Ist dieser Platz frei? on a train is asking about a chair, not a plaza.