LingoDrop
German · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "niedrig" in German?
NEE-drikh. The ie is a long 'ee', the r is throaty, and the -ig ending sounds like ich.
NIE- takes the weight and the suffix takes none, as always. The word divides neatly into a long stressed vowel and a compressed second syllable, which is the characteristic shape of German -ig adjectives — and once you hear it in one of them, niedrig, billig, wichtig and traurig all fall into the same rhythm.
Listen: niedrig
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Der Tisch ist zu niedrig.
The table is too low.
Listen: Der Tisch ist zu niedrig.
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Der Tisch ist zu niedrig uses zu as a degree word meaning too. Tisch ends in the sh sound, so the sentence starts with a definite article, moves through a sh, and finishes on a palatal hiss — three different fricative-ish endings in a very short space.
Where English speakers slip
The -ig ending gets a hard g from almost every learner, and it is worth treating as a single rule to fix once: word-final -ig is the soft ich-laut in standard German. The vowel is the other check, since ie invites the 'eye' reading and gives 'NYE-drig'. It is a long, steady 'ee' with no movement in it.