German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "die Nummer" in German?

dee NOOM-uh. A short but properly rounded 'oo' and an -er ending that softens into 'uh'.

die Nummer /diː ˈnʊ.mɐ/

Weight up front, ending soft — the same heavy-light shape as Mutter, Fenster and Wetter. The plural Nummern simply adds an n to the softened ending, so nothing rhythmic changes at all between one number and several.

Listen: die Nummer

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Sound it out

N An ordinary n, with the air passing through the nose.

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

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

er Reduced to a dark 'uh'. No r consonant survives, so the word ends on a vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Wie ist deine Nummer?

What's your number?

Listen: Wie ist deine Nummer?

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Wie ist deine Nummer? asks 'how is your number' rather than 'what is', which is the same idiom German uses for names. Deine takes the feminine ending, and wie opens the question on a v sound and a long 'ee'.

Where English speakers slip

English number supplies an unrounded central vowel and a fully pronounced r, and both get carried across. German wants the lips rounded for a short back 'oo' and the ending reduced to a plain vowel. Say 'NOOM' then 'uh', with no tongue curling at the end.