LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "die Maus" in German?
dee MOWS, rhyming with English house. The au is 'ow' and the final s is a clean hiss.
Rhythmically the diphthong is the whole word. The plural Mäuse fronts au to äu, which is pronounced 'oy', and adds a schwa — so 'MOWS' becomes 'MOY-zuh', and the s buzzes because it now sits between vowels. Almost nothing survives the change.
Listen: die Maus
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Die Maus versteckt sich unter dem Tisch.
The mouse hides under the table.
Listen: Die Maus versteckt sich unter dem Tisch.
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Die Maus versteckt sich unter dem Tisch has versteckt with its unstressed ver- prefix and the 'shp'-style cluster in the middle — 'sht' here, since st opens the stem. The reflexive sich is obligatory, and unter takes the dative for a position.
Where English speakers slip
The singular is easy for an English speaker, which is exactly why the plural catches people out: Mäuse is 'MOY-zuh' and bears no audible resemblance to the singular at all. Learn the pair together. Reading au as 'aw' is the other, smaller risk in the base form.