LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "machen" in German?
MAKH-n. A short a, then the throaty ach-laut, then an n that swallows its vowel.
Weight on MA-, ending unstressed, as with every infinitive. Because this verb spawns so many separable compounds — aufmachen, zumachen, mitmachen — it is a good one for hearing how the prefix steals the main stress while machen keeps a secondary beat and remains recognisable underneath.
Listen: machen
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Hear it in a sentence
Was machst du am Wochenende?
What are you doing this weekend?
Listen: Was machst du am Wochenende?
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Was machst du am Wochenende? contracts an and dem into am, which is compulsory. Machst stacks the ach-laut directly onto st, a cluster with no English equivalent. Wochenende is a compound of Woche and Ende, stressed on WO-, with a second ach-laut inside it and a small glottal stop at the seam before -ende.
Where English speakers slip
The universal substitution is a plain k — 'mahken' — which is understandable but flattens the most characteristic sound in the language. Start by whispering the k, then let the air keep flowing instead of stopping it: that continuous scrape is the ach-laut. Learners who overcorrect toward the soft ich-laut are equally off, since the back vowel a selects the throaty version.