German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "schlafen" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce schlafen in German?

schlafen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈʃlaː.fn̩/. It means “to sleep.” SHLAH-fn. sch is sh, the a is long, and the ending collapses onto the n.

SHLAH-fn. sch is sh, the a is long, and the ending collapses onto the n.

schlafen /ˈʃlaː.fn̩/

SCHLA- takes the beat, and the third person fronts the vowel to ä without shifting the beat: er schläft. That umlaut in the du and er forms marks this as a strong verb, and the long vowel stays long even as its colour changes.

Listen: schlafen

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Sound it out

schl An sh followed directly by a bright l. English has no such cluster at the start of a word, so it takes deliberate practice — say sh, then l, then run them together without a vowel between.

a Long and open, as in father, stretched by the open syllable.

f A simple unvoiced f, top teeth against the lower lip.

en Reduced to a bare nasal hum with no vowel in front of it.

Hear it in a sentence

Ich schlafe gern lange.

I like sleeping in.

Listen: Ich schlafe gern lange.

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Ich schlafe gern lange uses gern to express enjoyment, since German has no verb meaning to like doing something. Lange here is an adverb rather than an adjective, and its final e is a schwa. The sentence is really 'I sleep gladly long', which is a useful reminder of how differently German assembles this idea.

Where English speakers slip

Because English cannot begin a word with 'shl', speakers simplify it to 'sl', producing 'slafen'. The fix is mechanical: hold the sh a moment, then add the l without letting a vowel sneak in. Watch the vowel too — the a is long and open, so 'SHLAF-en' with a short vowel edges toward a different rhythm entirely.