German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "die Sonne" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce die Sonne in German?

die Sonne is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /diː ˈzɔ.nə/. It means “sun.” dee ZON-uh. The s buzzes like a z, the o is short and rounded, and the final e is a schwa.

dee ZON-uh. The s buzzes like a z, the o is short and rounded, and the final e is a schwa.

die Sonne /diː ˈzɔ.nə/

Say SON-ne as two beats, heavy then light, which is the shape of almost every German noun ending in -e. This one has no everyday plural, so the rhythm never varies — and the compounds built on it, Sonnenschein and Sonnenbrille, keep the primary stress right here on the first syllable.

Listen: die Sonne

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Sound it out

S Voiced, so the word begins with a buzz rather than a hiss.

o Short and rounded, close to the vowel in British hot. The doubled n keeps it short.

nn Said once despite the doubled spelling — it is the vowel the doubling describes.

e The soft neutral ending vowel — the second syllable of English butter.

Hear it in a sentence

Die Sonne scheint.

The sun is shining.

Listen: Die Sonne scheint.

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Die Sonne scheint is as short as a German sentence gets. Scheint opens with sch as sh, carries the 'eye' diphthong, and ends in nt, so the two words between them cover a voiced s, a sh, a diphthong and a consonant cluster in five syllables.

Where English speakers slip

'SON-uh' with a hissed s, which loses the buzz German requires in this position. The vowel is the other correction: English sun has an unrounded central vowel, while German wants the lips rounded and the sound placed further back, short but genuinely an o.