German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "geradeaus" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce geradeaus in German?

geradeaus is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɡəˌʁaː.dəˈʔaʊ̯s/. It means “straight ahead.” guh-rah-duh-OWS. Four syllables with the main beat right at the end, on AUS.

guh-rah-duh-OWS. Four syllables with the main beat right at the end, on AUS.

geradeaus /ɡəˌʁaː.dəˈʔaʊ̯s/

The main beat lands on the very last syllable, which is unusual for a German word and happens because this is really gerade plus aus, with the directional element taking the weight. Any word ending in a stressed -aus, -ein or -an in this way is worth flagging, since it breaks the first-syllable habit that governs most native vocabulary.

Listen: geradeaus

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Sound it out

ge The ge- prefix, reduced to a g and a neutral 'uh'. It never takes the stress.

ra The uvular r followed by a long open a. This syllable carries a secondary beat.

de A voiced d and another schwa, very light.

aus The 'ow' diphthong plus an unvoiced s, preceded by a small glottal catch at the seam. This is the stressed syllable.

Hear it in a sentence

Gehen Sie immer geradeaus.

Keep going straight ahead.

Listen: Gehen Sie immer geradeaus.

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Gehen Sie immer geradeaus is a formal imperative, which German builds by putting the verb first and the pronoun Sie straight after it. Immer opens on a glottal catch, and so does the -aus at the end of geradeaus, so the sentence contains two of those small hard onsets.

Where English speakers slip

Learners front-load the stress and say 'GE-rade-aus', which is the German default but wrong here. Put the weight at the back. The seam between gerade and aus is the other detail: German inserts a small glottal catch there rather than gliding the schwa into the diphthong, which keeps the compound's two halves audible.