German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "geben" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce geben in German?

geben is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈɡeː.bn̩/. It means “to give.” GAY-bn. Hard g, a long 'ay', and an ending that collapses onto the n.

GAY-bn. Hard g, a long 'ay', and an ending that collapses onto the n.

geben /ˈɡeː.bn̩/

First syllable throughout, though the stressed vowel changes shape in the du and er forms: gibst and gibt have a short i where the infinitive has a long 'ay'. That e-to-i alternation runs through a whole class of strong verbs, and the stress stays welded to the same syllable while the vowel underneath shifts.

Listen: geben

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Sound it out

g Hard as in get, never the soft g of gentle. German g is hard at the start of every syllable.

e Long 'ay', flat and steady, made long by the open syllable ge-.

b Kept voiced by its position at the head of the second syllable.

en Reduces to a syllabic n, giving 'bn'.

Hear it in a sentence

Gib mir bitte den Schlüssel.

Give me the key, please.

Listen: Gib mir bitte den Schlüssel.

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Gib mir bitte den Schlüssel is an imperative, and the du-imperative of this verb is bare gib — no ending, and the stem vowel already shortened to i. Mir is dative because it is the recipient, den is masculine accusative for the thing given. Schlüssel opens with the schl cluster and holds a short front-rounded ü.

Where English speakers slip

The soft g of English gem is the reflex to unlearn: German g is hard everywhere it begins a syllable, no matter which vowel follows. Learners also lengthen the imperative gib back into the infinitive's long vowel, saying 'geeb'; the imperative genuinely has a short i, and keeping it short is part of what makes the command sound like a command.