German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "der Regenschirm" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce der Regenschirm in German?

der Regenschirm is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /deːɐ̯ ˈʁeːɡn̩ˌʃɪʁm/. It means “umbrella (pl. Regenschirme).” dair RAY-gn-sheerm. A compound of Regen and Schirm, with the beat firmly on the first element.

dair RAY-gn-sheerm. A compound of Regen and Schirm, with the beat firmly on the first element.

der Regenschirm /deːɐ̯ ˈʁeːɡn̩ˌʃɪʁm/

The first element wins, so the loudest syllable is at the very front of a four-syllable word — which is exactly what an English speaker would not guess. The word contains two r sounds in different roles: a scraped consonant at the start and a vowel-darkening one inside Schirm.

Listen: der Regenschirm

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Sound it out

Re The uvular r and a long 'ay', carrying the main stress.

gen A hard g collapsing onto a syllabic n, so the element ends 'gn'.

Schirm sh, a short i, the uvular r darkening it, and a closing m. This element takes a secondary beat.

Hear it in a sentence

Nimm den Regenschirm mit!

Take the umbrella!

Listen: Nimm den Regenschirm mit!

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Nimm den Regenschirm mit! splits mitnehmen, sending the prefix mit to the end. Nimm is the du-imperative of nehmen with its stem vowel shortened to i and the h gone entirely — so the command looks nothing like its own infinitive.

Where English speakers slip

Learners put the stress on SCHIRM because that is the part that means umbrella. German compounds always weight the first element. The two r sounds are the other work: the opening one is a full back-of-throat scrape, while the one in Schirm merely colours the vowel before the m.