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German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "die Kuh" in German?
dee KOO. A long, firmly rounded 'oo' with the h as a silent length marker.
Nothing follows the vowel but a silent letter. The plural Kühe fronts that vowel to a long ü and adds a schwa, so the plural is both longer and much harder to pronounce — 'KUE-uh' rather than anything resembling the singular.
Listen: die Kuh
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Hear it in a sentence
Die Kuh frisst Gras.
The cow eats grass.
Listen: Die Kuh frisst Gras.
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Die Kuh frisst Gras uses fressen rather than essen, because German has separate verbs for animals eating and people eating. Using essen for a cow would sound faintly comic, and fressen applied to a person is an insult — a distinction English simply does not make.
Where English speakers slip
Pronouncing the h gives an unwanted breath at the end of the word; it is silent. The plural is the real work: Kühe demands the long front-rounded ü, which shares nothing with the singular's back 'oo' except the rounding. Practise the two forms back to back to feel the tongue move forward.