LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "ein" in German?
EYEN, one syllable rhyming with mine. The letters ei say 'eye'.
The indefinite article is weak by nature and hands its beat to the noun, though unlike English a it never reduces its vowel to a mumble — the diphthong survives intact. When ein means one rather than a, the emphasis returns and the diphthong stretches: ein Bier for a beer, EIN Bier for a single beer.
Listen: ein
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Ich habe ein Auto.
I have a car.
Listen: Ich habe ein Auto.
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Ich habe ein Auto works because Auto is neuter, and neuter accusative looks identical to the nominative — no ending is added. Auto begins on the au diphthong preceded by a small glottal stop, so ein Auto does not slur into one word; you can hear the seam between them.
Where English speakers slip
Reading ei as 'ee' gives 'een', which is the recurring German vowel error and worth drilling once for the whole family of words. The second habit is imported from English function words: speakers weaken the article toward 'uhn'. German holds the full diphthong. Colloquial speech does have a reduced form, written 'n, but that is a genuine contraction rather than a lazy vowel.