German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "etwas" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce etwas in German?

etwas is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈɛt.vas/. It means “something.” ET-vass. A glottal catch, a short e, the w as a v even in mid-word, and an unvoiced final s.

ET-vass. A glottal catch, a short e, the w as a v even in mid-word, and an unvoiced final s.

etwas /ˈɛt.vas/

ET- takes the beat and the second syllable stays light. In casual speech the word often shortens to was, which is confusing when was is also the question word — but the reduced form is unstressed while the question word takes the beat, so the rhythm keeps them apart.

Listen: etwas

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Sound it out

e Short and open, as in bed, with a light glottal stop in front of it.

t A crisp t closing the stressed syllable.

w English v. The rule applies wherever the letter appears, not only at the start of a word.

as A short open a and an unvoiced final s.

Hear it in a sentence

Möchtest du etwas trinken?

Would you like something to drink?

Listen: Möchtest du etwas trinken?

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Möchtest du etwas trinken? uses the polite modal möchtest, which has a short front-rounded ö followed by the soft ich-laut and then the du ending. The infinitive trinken goes to the very end, as it must after a modal, so etwas sits comfortably in the middle.

Where English speakers slip

Learners internalise that w equals v at the start of a word and then forget it in the middle, producing 'ET-wass'. The rule has no positional limit. The final s is the other check — English would voice it after a vowel, but German keeps a word-final s as a clean hiss every time.