German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "eins" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce eins in German?

eins is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aɪ̯ns/. It means “one.” Sounds like English 'ines' rhyming with pines: ei is 'eye', and the s at the end is a hiss rather than a buzz.

Sounds like English 'ines' rhyming with pines: ei is 'eye', and the s at the end is a hiss rather than a buzz.

eins /aɪ̯ns/

One syllable taking the full weight, which matters when counting — Germans give each number its own strong beat, eins-zwei-drei, with no reduction anywhere. Inside compound numbers the prominence shifts, as in einundzwanzig, where ein gives way to the twenty.

Listen: eins

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Sound it out

ei The 'eye' diphthong, as in mine. Same rule every time — ei says 'eye'.

n A simple n, made with the tongue tip just behind the teeth.

s Final s is always unvoiced in German: a hiss, not the buzz English gives the s in pins.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich möchte nur eins.

I want just one.

Listen: Ich möchte nur eins.

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Ich möchte nur eins uses the standalone counting form, complete with its s. The moment it modifies a noun it drops that s and takes an article ending instead: ein Buch, einen Kaffee. That is why 'just one' is eins here, while 'one book' would be ein Buch.

Where English speakers slip

Getting ei wrong — 'eens' instead of 'eyens' — is the classic, and it is worth over-correcting early because the same letter pair shows up in nein, mein, klein, Wein and dozens more. A subtler error is buzzing the final s: English voices s after n automatically in pens and wins, but German keeps it a clean hiss at the end of a word.