German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "die Zahnbürste" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce die Zahnbürste in German?

die Zahnbürste is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /diː ˈtsaːnˌbʏʁs.tə/. It means “toothbrush (pl. Zahnbürsten).” dee TSAHN-buer-stuh. A compound: z is 'ts', the a is long, and the st in Bürste is a plain st rather than 'sht'.

dee TSAHN-buer-stuh. A compound: z is 'ts', the a is long, and the st in Bürste is a plain st rather than 'sht'.

die Zahnbürste /diː ˈtsaːnˌbʏʁs.tə/

The first element, ZAHN-, takes the primary beat with Bürste following more quietly — the invariable German compound pattern. The plural Zahnbürsten adds a syllabic n at the very end and disturbs nothing, since the ending was already unstressed.

Listen: die Zahnbürste

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Sound it out

Zahn 'ts' from the z, a long open a with a silent h, and a closing n. This element takes the main stress.

Bür A short front-rounded ü with the uvular r behind it, darkening the vowel.

ste A plain s plus t and an unstressed schwa. The 'sht' rule does not apply because these letters straddle a syllable boundary rather than opening a stem.

Hear it in a sentence

Meine Zahnbürste ist blau.

My toothbrush is blue.

Listen: Meine Zahnbürste ist blau.

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Meine Zahnbürste ist blau closes on blau with its 'ow' diphthong. The noun itself is a good test: it needs a 'ts', a long a, a silent h, a short front-rounded ü, a darkening r and a plain st, all before the sentence even reaches its verb.

Where English speakers slip

The st inside Bürste is the trap for anyone who has learned the 'sht' rule: it applies at the start of a word or stem, and here the s closes one syllable while the t opens the next. Say 'BUER-stuh', not 'BUER-shtuh'. The z at the front is the other correction, and it is always 'ts'.