German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "kommen" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce kommen in German?

kommen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈkɔ.mən/. It means “to come.” KOM-en, with a short, properly rounded o — the double m is the clue that the vowel stays short.

KOM-en, with a short, properly rounded o — the double m is the clue that the vowel stays short.

kommen /ˈkɔ.mən/

First syllable, which stays put across the paradigm. This verb is a workhorse for separable compounds — ankommen, mitkommen, zurückkommen — and in every one the prefix takes the primary stress while kommen carries a clear secondary beat, so the root remains audible no matter how much is stacked in front of it.

Listen: kommen

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Sound it out

k A k with a light puff of air after it.

o Short and open, close to the vowel in British hot. It is a real rounded o, not the flat central vowel English uses in come.

mm Written double, said once. The doubling marks the vowel short.

en An unstressed ending, reducing toward a syllabic n.

Hear it in a sentence

Kommst du mit uns?

Are you coming with us?

Listen: Kommst du mit uns?

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Kommst du mit uns? is a yes-no question, which German forms by putting the verb first with no equivalent of English do. Mit takes the dative, hence uns rather than a different form, and the du ending -st gives the sentence a crisp cluster right at the start.

Where English speakers slip

English come has an unrounded central vowel, and that vowel walks straight into German kommen for most beginners. German wants the lips rounded and the sound placed further back — short, but genuinely an o. Learners also sometimes lengthen it toward 'kohmen', which the doubled m rules out. Short and rounded is the target.