LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "der Student" in German?
dair shtoo-DENT. 'sht' at the start and the beat on the last syllable.
The final syllable takes the weight, which is what German does with this class of Latin borrowing. This is also a weak masculine noun, so it adds -en outside the nominative singular — den Studenten — and the stress stays put while the ending is added.
Listen: der Student
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Hear it in a sentence
Der Student lernt in der Bibliothek.
The student studies in the library.
Listen: Der Student lernt in der Bibliothek.
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Der Student lernt in der Bibliothek uses in with the dative for a location. Bibliothek stresses its last syllable too, bi-bli-o-TEK, and its th is a plain t — German has no th sound and simply ignores the h in Greek borrowings.
Where English speakers slip
English student is front-stressed and starts with a plain st; German is back-stressed and starts with 'sht'. Both need changing at once. The feminine form Studentin adds an unstressed -in, and the weak-noun ending -en in the other cases is a third thing learners forget.