German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "die Mutter" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce die Mutter in German?

die Mutter is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /diː ˈmʊ.tɐ/. It means “mother (pl. Mütter).” dee MOOT-uh. A short but properly rounded 'oo', and an -er ending that softens into a dark 'uh'.

dee MOOT-uh. A short but properly rounded 'oo', and an -er ending that softens into a dark 'uh'.

die Mutter /diː ˈmʊ.tɐ/

Loud on MUT-, quiet on -ter. The plural Mütter fronts the vowel to a short ü and changes nothing else, so the two forms differ purely in vowel colour — one of the cleanest umlaut plurals in German, since no ending is added at all.

Listen: die Mutter

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Sound it out

M A plain m — close the lips and hum.

u Short 'oo' as in put, genuinely rounded. Not the flat central vowel of English mutter.

tt Written double, said once. The doubling marks the vowel short.

er The ending softens to an open 'uh', tongue lying flat and still.

Hear it in a sentence

Meine Mutter kocht sehr gut.

My mother cooks very well.

Listen: Meine Mutter kocht sehr gut.

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Meine Mutter kocht sehr gut has kocht carrying the throaty ach-laut before its t, since the ch follows a back o. Sehr and gut both contain long vowels, so the sentence slows down noticeably in its second half after the clipped vowels of the opening.

Where English speakers slip

The English word mutter supplies an unrounded central vowel, and that is what most learners produce. German wants the lips rounded and the tongue back. The ending then needs no r at all. Both corrections apply equally to Butter and Futter, so the word is a useful template.