How to Pronounce 'Guten Morgen': German Pronunciation Guide

Q: How do you pronounce Guten Morgen in German?

Guten Morgen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩/. It means “good morning.” GOO-tn MOR-gn. Both -en endings collapse into a syllabic n, with no vowel left between the consonant and the n.

How do you pronounce "Guten Morgen" in German?

GOO-tn MOR-gn. Both -en endings collapse into a syllabic n, with no vowel left between the consonant and the n.

Guten Morgen /ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩/

This is a two-word phrase and it carries two stresses, one on GU- and one on MOR-, with the greeting as a whole peaking on Morgen. Both stressed syllables are the first syllable of their word, which is the German default for native vocabulary and stays true no matter how many endings pile up afterwards.

Listen: Guten Morgen

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Sound it out

Gu A hard g as in go, then a long, tense 'oo'. The u is long because it sits in an open syllable, Gu-ten, and German long u is tighter and more firmly rounded than English oo in food.

-ten In normal speech this is not 'ten' but a t released directly into an n: GOO-tn. The e disappears entirely.

Mor A short o, close to the British vowel in dog, followed by the uvular r — a soft scrape at the very back of the mouth, not the American bunched r.

-gen The same collapse again: the g goes straight into a syllabic n, giving 'gn'. Very careful speech allows a faint schwa, but nobody says a full MOR-gen.

Hear it in a sentence

Guten Morgen, Frau Weber!

Good morning, Mrs Weber!

Listen: Guten Morgen, Frau Weber!

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Guten Morgen, Frau Weber! reveals why Guten ends in -en: it is a masculine accusative adjective ending, a fossil of the fuller phrase 'I wish you a good morning'. Frau in direct address takes no article at all, and Weber comes out VAY-ber — the w as v again, with the -er thinning to a soft 'uh'.

Where English speakers slip

Beginners give both -en endings a full vowel, producing a laboured 'GOO-ten MOR-gen' that marks a learner instantly. Germans reduce them to a hum, letting n become the entire syllable. The o in Morgen is the second trap: English speakers stretch it toward 'more', where German keeps it short and lets the r do the colouring.