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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "der Preis" in German?
dair PRICE — the English word exactly. The ei is 'eye' and the final s is a clean hiss.
One beat carried by the diphthong. The plural Preise adds a schwa, and that puts the s between two vowels — where German always voices it — so the plural buzzes where the singular hisses: 'PRICE' against 'PRY-zuh'.
Listen: der Preis
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Der Preis ist zu hoch.
The price is too high.
Listen: Der Preis ist zu hoch.
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Der Preis ist zu hoch uses zu in its degree sense and closes on hoch with the throaty ach-laut. Remember that hoch loses its ch entirely when it takes an ending, becoming hohe, so the bare predicate position in this sentence is the only place you hear the consonant.
Where English speakers slip
The German and English words are nearly identical in sound, so the singular is easy — the plural is where learners go wrong, saying 'PRY-suh' with a hiss. A single s between vowels is voiced in German. The other thing to note is that der Preis also means a prize, which is a second meaning the English word shares.