German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "Entschuldigung" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce Entschuldigung in German?

Entschuldigung is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɛntˈʃʊl.dɪ.ɡʊŋ/. It means “excuse me / sorry.” ent-SHOOL-di-goong. Four syllables with the weight on the second, and the t plus sch fuse into a single ch sound as in church.

ent-SHOOL-di-goong. Four syllables with the weight on the second, and the t plus sch fuse into a single ch sound as in church.

Entschuldigung /ɛntˈʃʊl.dɪ.ɡʊŋ/

The main beat falls on SCHUL, the root of the word — Schuld means guilt or debt, so an apology is literally a de-guilting. German prefixes such as ent-, be-, ver- and ge- are permanently unstressed, so however long the word grows, the stress stays anchored to the root syllable.

Listen: Entschuldigung

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Sound it out

Ent- An unstressed prefix: short open 'e' as in bet, then nt. Because ent- is a prefix, it can never take the stress.

tsch The t ending the prefix collides with the sch beginning the root and the two fuse into the ch of church. Say 'ent-shool' fast and the affricate happens by itself.

ul Short 'oo' as in book — not the long oo of school — followed by a light, forward l.

dig A quick, unstressed 'dih' with a hard g.

ung The noun ending: 'oong', with the ng of sing. The g is not released separately.

Hear it in a sentence

Entschuldigung, wo ist der Bahnhof?

Excuse me, where is the station?

Listen: Entschuldigung, wo ist der Bahnhof?

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Entschuldigung, wo ist der Bahnhof? uses the noun as a standalone interjection ahead of the question. The question word wo forces ist straight after it, and Bahnhof is a compound of Bahn plus Hof with the stress on BAHN, the first element. The h in Bahn is silent and only marks the long a.

Where English speakers slip

Its sheer length makes people hunt for the stress and guess wrong, usually landing on the last syllable — ent-shul-di-GUNG — which sounds badly off. Anchor it on SCHUL. Beginners also pull the t and the sch apart into 'ent-shool' with a visible seam, where native speakers fuse them so the word starts 'ent-choo' with no gap at all.