German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "für" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce für in German?

für is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /fyːɐ̯/. It means “for.” fuer — an f, then a long ü with the lips rounded and the tongue forward for 'ee', then the r melting into 'uh'.

fuer — an f, then a long ü with the lips rounded and the tongue forward for 'ee', then the r melting into 'uh'.

für /fyːɐ̯/

Weight goes to the noun that follows, leaving für light and quick — but light does not mean shortened. German keeps the ü long even in this unstressed position, which is one reason a full-length vowel in a small word sounds so characteristically German to English ears trained on reduced prepositions.

Listen: für

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Sound it out

f An f exactly as in English.

ü Long and front-rounded. Hold a long 'ee', keep the tongue exactly where it is, and round the lips. If the tongue slides back you get 'oo' instead, which is the usual failure.

r Vocalised into a dark 'uh' at the end of the syllable, so the word finishes on a vowel rather than a consonant.

Hear it in a sentence

Das Geschenk ist für dich.

The present is for you.

Listen: Das Geschenk ist für dich.

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Das Geschenk ist für dich shows für governing the accusative, which is why the pronoun is dich and not dir. Geschenk carries the unstressed prefix ge-, so its beat lands on SCHENK, and its final k is fully released. The whole phrase, für dich, is a set piece worth memorising as a rhythmic unit.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers reach for one of two familiar words: fur, which has the wrong vowel and an American r, or 'foor', which keeps the rounding but loses the forward tongue position. Neither is close. There is also a vocabulary tangle nearby — für means for, vier means four, and viel means much — so a wobbly vowel here can genuinely be misheard as a number.