German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "können" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce können in German?

können is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈkœ.nən/. It means “can / to be able to.” KUHN-en with a short front-rounded ö — say the 'e' of bed, then push your lips forward without moving your tongue.

KUHN-en with a short front-rounded ö — say the 'e' of bed, then push your lips forward without moving your tongue.

können /ˈkœ.nən/

First syllable, and the modal keeps that stress through its whole paradigm. What changes instead is the vowel itself: the infinitive has the umlauted ö, but the singular forms drop it entirely — ich kann, du kannst — so the stressed vowel switches identity while the stress position never moves.

Listen: können

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Sound it out

k A k with a light puff of air.

ö The short front-rounded vowel. Set your mouth for the e in bed, keep the tongue exactly there, and round the lips. It is neither the 'uh' of but nor the 'oh' of go.

nn Written double, said once. The doubling is there to mark the vowel short.

en An unstressed ending, which in fast speech reduces toward a syllabic n.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich kann gut kochen.

I can cook well.

Listen: Ich kann gut kochen.

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Ich kann gut kochen shows exactly that vowel change: the modal appears as kann with a plain short a, nothing rounded about it. The infinitive kochen goes to the end of the sentence, and its ch is the throaty ach-laut because it follows the back vowel o.

Where English speakers slip

Most beginners produce either 'KOH-nen', substituting a plain o, or 'KUR-nen', importing the English vowel of nurse. Neither has the right tongue position. The reliable route in is through 'eh': say bed, hold the vowel, then round your lips as though about to whistle, and keep the tongue forward. If the tongue slides back you have said o instead.