German · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "schließen" in German?

Q: How do you pronounce schließen in German?

schließen is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈʃliː.sn̩/. It means “to close.” SHLEE-sn. sch is sh, ie is a long 'ee', and the ß is a plain hissing s.

SHLEE-sn. sch is sh, ie is a long 'ee', and the ß is a plain hissing s.

schließen /ˈʃliː.sn̩/

First syllable, with the long 'ee' carrying real duration. The ß is doing double duty as a stress cue: because it only appears after long vowels, seeing it tells you the stressed syllable is a long one, which is useful when you meet an unfamiliar word on the page.

Listen: schließen

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Sound it out

schl sh running straight into a bright l, with no vowel between them. English cannot start a word this way, so it needs conscious practice.

ie One long 'ee' as in see, held steady from start to finish.

ß Always an unvoiced s. Its presence here confirms the vowel before it is long — modern spelling reserves ß for after long vowels and diphthongs, and uses ss after short ones.

en Collapses onto the n. Careful speech allows a faint schwa, but ordinary speech does not.

Hear it in a sentence

Bitte schließ die Tür.

Please close the door.

Listen: Bitte schließ die Tür.

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Bitte schließ die Tür drops the -e from the imperative, which is the ordinary spoken form — schließe would sound formal or written. Tür holds the long front-rounded ü followed by the vocalised r, so the sentence ends on one of German's harder vowels with nothing after it to hide behind.

Where English speakers slip

Two written characters mislead. The ß gets read as a capital B by newcomers, and the schl cluster gets simplified to 'sl'. Both are worth attacking directly: ß is an s, and the cluster needs the sh held before the l arrives. Beyond that, keep the vowel long — the ß is telling you so, and shortening it makes the word sound clipped.