German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "möglich" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce möglich in German?

möglich is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈmøːk.lɪç/. It means “possible.” MURK-likh with a long ö. The written g hardens to a k because it lands at the end of a syllable.

MURK-likh with a long ö. The written g hardens to a k because it lands at the end of a syllable.

möglich /ˈmøːk.lɪç/

MÖG- carries the beat and -lich carries none of it. The syllable boundary is what makes this word interesting: because the suffix begins with a consonant, the g gets stranded at the end of the first syllable and hardens there, which is a devoicing you can hear inside a word rather than only at its edge.

Listen: möglich

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Sound it out

m A plain m — close the lips and hum.

ö Long and front-rounded: start from a long 'ay', hold the tongue, and round the lips. No r-colouring anywhere in it.

g Devoiced to k, because the -lich suffix pushes it to the end of its syllable. The same rule that turns Tag into 'tahk' operates inside this word.

lich The unstressed adjective suffix, ending in the soft ich-laut.

Hear it in a sentence

Das ist leider nicht möglich.

Unfortunately that's not possible.

Listen: Das ist leider nicht möglich.

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Das ist leider nicht möglich stacks two soft palatal hisses at the end, one closing nicht and one closing möglich. Leider carries the 'eye' diphthong and the softened -er ending, giving 'LY-duh', so the sentence moves from a diphthong through a hiss to a rounded vowel and out on another hiss.

Where English speakers slip

Most learners keep the g voiced and say 'MUR-glikh', splitting the word as mö-glich. German splits it as mög-lich, which strands the g and hardens it to k. Add the usual ö difficulty on top — English speakers substitute the vowel of burn, which brings an r that has no place here — and the word needs both fixes to sound right.