German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "hundert" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce hundert in German?

hundert is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈhʊn.dɐt/. It means “hundred.” HOON-dut. A short 'oo' as in book, and the -ert ending softening to 'ut' with no real r in it.

HOON-dut. A short 'oo' as in book, and the -ert ending softening to 'ut' with no real r in it.

hundert /ˈhʊn.dɐt/

Stress on HUN-, with -dert unstressed. That holds as the word grows: in zweihundert the main weight moves onto ZWEI and hundert keeps only a secondary beat, which is the general pattern for German compound numbers.

Listen: hundert

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Sound it out

h A breathed h, always pronounced when a German word starts with it.

u Short 'oo' as in put, kept short by the two consonants stacked after it.

nd The n and d run straight together with nothing between them.

ert Unstressed, with the r vocalising into a dark 'uh' and the t crisply released. It lands somewhere near 'ut'.

Hear it in a sentence

Das Buch hat hundert Seiten.

The book has a hundred pages.

Listen: Das Buch hat hundert Seiten.

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Das Buch hat hundert Seiten drops any word for 'a' — German says hundert Seiten where English needs 'a hundred pages'. Seiten carries the ei diphthong and a voiced initial s, coming out 'ZY-tn' with the usual reduced ending.

Where English speakers slip

The u is the trap. English readers see hundert, think of hundred, and lend it that word's lax central vowel. German wants a genuinely rounded, back 'oo' — short, but properly formed. Then the ending: American speakers insert a full r, where standard German has no r consonant there at all, only a vowel colouring that fades straight into the t.