German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "neugierig" in German?

NOY-gee-rikh. The eu is 'oy', the g is hard, and the -ig ending is pronounced like ich.

neugierig /ˈnɔʏ̯ˌɡiː.ʁɪç/

NEU- takes the beat, since the word is neu plus gierig. That compound structure explains the meaning too — literally new-greedy, someone hungry for what is new — and the second element keeps a secondary beat on its long 'ee'.

Listen: neugierig

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Sound it out

neu The 'oy' diphthong of boy, carrying the main stress.

gie A hard g and a long 'ee'.

r A real uvular consonant, since a vowel follows it.

ig The -ig ending, pronounced exactly like the word ich rather than with a hard g.

Hear it in a sentence

Kinder sind sehr neugierig.

Children are very curious.

Listen: Kinder sind sehr neugierig.

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Kinder sind sehr neugierig uses the plural verb sind, which comes out 'zint' with a voiced s and a devoiced d. Kinder shows the softened -er ending, so the sentence has a plural noun and a plural verb both hiding small consonant rules.

Where English speakers slip

The eu draws a 'yoo' from English readers on the model of neutral, giving 'NYOO-gierig'. It is 'oy'. The g then needs to stay hard and the -ig ending needs the palatal hiss, so the word requires the three most frequent German spelling corrections all at once.