German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "er" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce er in German?

er is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /eːɐ̯/. It means “he.” AIR — a long 'ay' with the r melting into a soft 'uh'. Nothing like the English hesitation noise spelled the same way.

AIR — a long 'ay' with the r melting into a soft 'uh'. Nothing like the English hesitation noise spelled the same way.

er /eːɐ̯/

Subject pronouns give their weight to the verb, so er passes through a sentence lightly. It gains stress only in contrast — ER arbeitet, she does not — and when it does, the long vowel stretches rather than getting louder, which is how German marks emphasis on words that have nowhere else to go.

Listen: er

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Sound it out

e Long 'ay', held flat with no glide toward 'ee'. The vowel keeps its full quality even though the pronoun is unstressed.

r Vocalised into a dark 'uh', so the word is really two vowels in a row rather than a vowel plus a consonant.

Hear it in a sentence

Er arbeitet im Büro.

He works in the office.

Listen: Er arbeitet im Büro.

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Er arbeitet im Büro contains the contraction im, which is in plus dem and is compulsory in ordinary speech. Büro is a borrowing and breaks the usual first-syllable rule, taking its stress on the second: bü-RO, with a long o at the end and a front-rounded ü at the start.

Where English speakers slip

The written form matches the English filler sound uh, and that is precisely what English speakers produce — a lazy central vowel. German er has a long, tense 'ay' at its core and finishes on a distinct second vowel. Say the word air, then remove any r-colouring from your tongue, and you are close. It should never sound like a moment of hesitation.